(ORDO NEWS) — This old drawing from the Princeton Library collection shows Patagonian giants. The first mention of this race appeared in the 1520s in the report of Antonio Pigafetta, the chronicler of the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan.
In the 16th century, the first Europeans to explore the southernmost region of the South American continent returned with tales of giants.
The researchers named this country Patagonia, a region that currently belongs to the countries of Argentina and Chile.
The first mention of these giants appeared at the very beginning of the Great Age of Exploration. Ferdinand Magellan’s fleet was anchored in Port San Julian in 1520 when a giant native appeared on the shore.
A crew member named Pigafetta described him as “so tall that our heads barely reached his waist, and he had a voice like that of a bull.”
Magellan and his men kidnapped two of these highland natives, but both died at sea and their bodies were thrown overboard.
Throughout the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries there were reports of abnormally large people in Patagonia. European traders, missionaries, and military personnel continued to report sightings of people between 2 and 3.35 meters tall.
Patagonian giants became extinct in the middle of the 19th century. The last recorded contact was in 1849 with a British traveler named Bourne. It is believed that they were destroyed by infectious diseases introduced by Europeans to which they had no immunity.
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