The Giants of Patagonia
When Magellan's ships landed in Patagonia in 1520, the crew reported meeting giants so tall that their heads barely reached the giants' waists.
What was reported
In 1520, Ferdinand Magellan's expedition spent the winter at San Julián Bay in Patagonia. Antonio Pigafetta, who kept a record of the voyage, wrote that they met a man so tall that the Europeans came up only to his waist. Magellan's crew called the people Patagones.
For the next 250 years, sailors' accounts and maps described Patagonia as a land of giants, and in 1766 reports from a British voyage again claimed people around 9 feet tall.
Explanations offered
The people they met were probably the Tehuelche, who were genuinely tall, often around 1.8 metres, while many European sailors of the time were much shorter. The reports were exaggerated in the retelling, and later expeditions measured ordinary, if tall, people.
- When
- 1520 onwards
- Where
- Puerto San Julián, Santa Cruz, Argentina
- Witnesses
- Magellan's crew and later sailors
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.