Exploring the Giants: The average height is 4 meters?

　　Are there really giants in the world? In the Age of Discovery, explorers recorded in detail that Patagonia in South America was the hometown of giants, but the recorded giants ranged in height from 1.98 meters to 4.6 meters. So, how tall is the giant? What kind of life do they live?
　　Are there really giants in the world? In the age of great voyages, from the navigator Magellan to the biologist Darwin, it was recorded in detail that Patagonia in South America was the hometown of giants.
　　”Land of Giants” At
　　 the end of March 1520, the Magellan fleet sailing in the southern hemisphere was starving and cold, and civil strife broke out. Captain Magellan beheaded the leader of the rebels and docked the fleet in a harbor in southern Argentina, which Magellan later named “Port of San Julian”.
　　 After going ashore, the crew encountered a “two-person tall” giant. In the biting cold wind, the giant was almost naked, with his face painted red, yellow around his eyes, and a heart-shaped pattern painted on his cheeks. Instead of panicking when he saw strangers, he sang and danced in front of them. Then, at the invitation of the crew, the giant boarded the ship curiously and met with Magellan. The fleet’s “Voyage Log” recorded this meeting in detail: “The giant is too tall, the tallest of the crew, and his head only reaches his waist. He is not only tall and well-proportioned, he wore a long coat before meeting the captain. An alpaca cloak, very finely sewn, and the same alpaca boots. We looked him in the mirror, and he jumped back in fright, and brought down three or four of his crew.” Magellan called the giant ”
　　 Bata Gon,” the name of a “giant savage” in a Spanish novel. Later, the southernmost tip of America (40°-56° south latitude) was named “Patagonia”, which means “land of giants”.
　　 The latitude of Patagonia is relatively high, most of which are plateau grasslands and deserts, with an altitude of about 1000 meters, and the overall climate is relatively cold.
　　 During the berth, the crew frequently came into contact with the Batagons. In addition to their terrifying size, the Batagon people’s cold resistance is also amazing. There are about 20 people in each tribe. They move around without building a house, and sleep in small tents made of animal skins and sticks at night. They also like to fish naked, spending hours in icy water.
　　Why are the giants so tall Starting
　　 from Magellan’s fleet, the name of the Batagon people resounded throughout Europe, attracting many expeditions. They all confirmed that there were giants in the local area, but the data they brought back were more outrageous than the other: in 1579, a British fleet reported that the Batagon was “seven feet and a half” (about 2.3 meters); in 1590, a sailor who returned from an adventure According to reports, he saw a corpse with a body length of 3.3 meters; the records of other explorers ranged from 1.98 meters to 4.6 meters. It was not until Darwin visited Patagonia in 1834 that he gave more convincing figures. He wrote: “The Batagon people received us warmly, and their alpaca capes, flowing hair and shapely figure made them appear taller than they really were. I estimate their height to be about six feet (about 1.83 meters) ), some even taller, and they must be the tallest human race I have ever seen.”
　　 According to Darwin, the appearance and grooming of the Batagon people may be one of the reasons for the exaggeration of the early records. In fact, there is another factor, that is, Europeans at that time were much shorter than today, with an average height of about 1.6 meters.
　　 According to calculations by modern scholars, in the early era when prey was abundant, the average height of Batagon people should be about 2 meters, and it is not uncommon for the taller ones to reach 2.3 meters. Genetic studies have shown that the Batagon people have a high proportion of East Asian ancestry. About 23,000 to 14,000 years ago, a group of ancient Northeast Asians came to North America through the Bering Strait. They went all the way south, and one of the branches reached the southern tip of the American continent between 12,000 and 9,000 years ago, becoming the ancestor of the Batagon people.
　　 Due to the cold weather on the plateau and the inability to cultivate, the ancestors of Batagon could hardly eat grains. But here is a vast grassland, with herds of alpacas, wild deer and rheas, which provide them with rich protein. The hunting of the Batagon people is simple and rough: the hunters go out in groups to chase and intercept the herds, creating opportunities to shoot at close range. It pursues wounded prey until they are exhausted. This kind of “wolf pack” hunting amazed the Europeans who witnessed it, and they also understood why the Batagon people were so tall – they had sufficient protein and exercise.
　　Where is the giant’s bloodline now?
　　 As the colonists continued to penetrate Patagonia, the rich hunting life of the Patagonians ended. They suffered from famine and disease and became shorter and shorter. In fact, the Batagon people that Darwin saw were far less tall than they were 300 years ago. By 1995, the average height of the Batagon had dropped to around 1.75 meters.
　　 In 1816, Argentina became independent, but the Batagon people were in a desperate situation. Because Argentina was ruled by native-born European immigrants who considered Patagonia their homeland, they saw the indigenous people as enemies who “plundered and endangered their homeland.” From 1878 to 1885, the Argentine government army launched the “Conquer the Desert” operation, invaded the hinterland of Patagonia, and directly expanded the territory to the southernmost island of Tierra del Fuego. The army directly slaughtered about 1,000 aborigines, more than 15,000 people were displaced, and almost all the remaining Batagon people were sold as slaves.
　　 For more than 100 years since then, Argentina has ignored or even denied the existence of indigenous peoples in its territory. It was not until 2004 that official ethnic statistics were finally carried out: about 600,000 Argentines self-identified as indigenous, less than 1.5% of the total population. As for the language and culture of the aborigines, they have basically disappeared. Yet genetic testing found that modern-day Argentines still have 31 percent ancestry from the Batagon.
　　 Today’s Patagonia region, in addition to most of it belongs to Argentina, also has a part of Chile’s territory. The Batagon people living in Chile were later integrated into the native Mapuche people from the Andes, thus creating the largest and most martial fighting nation in South America, and they are still fighting for freedom today.