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 Flag of Y Wladfa colony | |
| Total population | |
| 70,000[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Chubut Province | |
| Languages | |
| Spanish,Patagonian Welsh,English[citation needed] | |
| Religion | |
| Protestantism (mostlyMethodism andPresbyterianism) andRoman Catholicism[citation needed] | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Welsh,Argentines,English Argentines,Irish Argentines,Scottish Argentines,Welsh Americans,Welsh Canadians,Welsh Australians,Afro Argentine |
Y Wladfa (Welsh pronunciation:[əˈwladva], 'The Colony'),[2] also occasionallyY Wladychfa Gymreig (Welsh pronunciation:[əwlaˈdəχvaɡəmˈreiɡ], 'The Welsh Settlement'),[3][4] refers to the establishment of settlements byWelsh colonists and immigrants in the ArgentinePatagonia, beginning in 1865, mainly along the coast of the lowerChubut Valley.[5]In 1881, the area became part of the Chubut National Territory of Argentina which, in 1955, becameChubut Province.[6]
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Argentine government encouraged emigration from Europe to populate Argentina and south Patagonia particularly, which until theConquest of the Desert had sparsely rural and coastal settlements.[citation needed] Between 1856 and 1875, 34 settlements of immigrants of various nationalities were established inSanta Fe andEntre Ríos. In addition to the main colony in Chubut, a smaller colony was set up in Santa Fe by 44Welsh people who left Chubut, and another group settled atCoronel Suárez in southernBuenos Aires Province.[7][8]
The Welsh-Argentine community is centred onGaiman,Dolavon,Trelew, andTrevelin.[9] There are 70,000 Welsh-Patagonians. However,Chubut estimates the number ofPatagonian Welsh speakers to be about 1,500, while other estimates put the number at 5,000.[10][11]
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The idea of a Welsh colony inPatagonia was put forward byMichael D. Jones, aWelsh nationalistnonconformist preacher[13]: 23 based inBala, Gwynedd, who had called for a new "little Wales beyond Wales". He spent some years in theUnited States, where he observed that Welsh immigrants assimilated very quickly compared with other peoples and often lost much of their Welsh identity.[13]: 22 Thus, the original proposal was to establish a new Wales overseas where Welsh settlers and their culture would be generally free from foreign domination.[14] He proposed setting up aWelsh-speaking colony away from the influence of theEnglish language. He recruited settlers and provided financing;Australia,New Zealand and evenPalestine were considered, but Patagonia was chosen for its isolation and the Argentines' offer of 100 square miles (260 km2) of land along theChubut River in exchange for settling the still-unconquered land of Patagonia for Argentina. Jones had no doubt of his right to take possession there, writing "other lands are available and they are in complete possession of savage people, such as Patagonia, and it is undoubtedly possible to make a colony in a land like this...".[15]
Patagonia, including the Chubut Valley, was claimed by Buenos Aires but it had little control over the area (which was also claimed by Chile).[13]: 23–30 Jones had been corresponding with the Argentine government about settling an area known asBahía Blanca where Welsh immigrants could preserve their language and culture. The Argentine government granted the request as it put them in control of a large tract of land. A Welsh immigration committee met in Liverpool and published a handbook,Llawlyfr y Wladfa, to publicize the scheme to form a Welsh colony in Patagonia which was distributed throughout Wales.[citation needed]
Towards the end of 1862, CaptainLove Jones-Parry andLewis Jones (after whom Trelew was named) left for Patagonia to decide whether it was a suitable area for Welsh emigrants. They first visitedBuenos Aires where they held discussions with the Interior MinisterGuillermo Rawson then, having come to an agreement, headed south. They reached Patagonia in a small ship named theCandelaria, and were driven by a storm into a bay which they namedPorth Madryn, after Jones-Parry's estate in Wales. The town that grew near the spot where they landed is now namedPuerto Madryn. On their return to Wales they declared the area to be very suitable for colonization.[citation needed]
On 28 July 1865, 153Welsh settlers arrived aboard theclipper shipMimosa.[16] TheMimosa settlers, includingtailors,cobblers,carpenters,brickmakers, andminers, comprised 56 married adults, 33 single or widowed men, 12 single women (usually sisters or servants of married immigrants), and 52 children; the majority (92) were from theSouth Wales Coalfield and English urban centres.[13]: 35 There were fewfarmers. This was rather unfortunate, particularly when they discovered that the attractions of the area had been oversold and they had landed in an arid semi-desert with little food; they had been told that the area was like lowland Wales. At the coast there was littledrinking water, and the group embarked on a walk across the parched plain with a single wheelbarrow to carry their belongings. Some died and a baby, Mary Humphries, was born on the march. John Williams was the only colonist with any form of rudimentarymedical skill. So disheartened were some settlers, they requested that the British Government settle them on the Falkland Islands. However, this request was ignored.
Once they reached the valley of the Chubut River, their first settlement was a small fortress on the site which later became the town ofRawson, now the capital ofChubut Province.[13]: 45 This was referred to asYr Hen Amddiffynfa ('The Old Fortress').[13]: 44 The first houses, constructed from earth, were washed away by a flash flood in 1865, and new houses of superior quality were built to replace them.[13]: 45–47 The floods also washed away crops of potatoes and maize.[13]: 52 The rainfall in the area was much less than the colonists had been led to expect, leading to crop failures.
The settlers first made contact with the localTehuelche people almost a year after their arrival. After some difficult early years of suspicion and some violence, the Tehuelche people established cordial relationships with the Welsh and helped the settlement survive the early food shortages. The settlers, led by Aaron Jenkins (whose wife Rachel was the first to bring up the idea of systematic use of irrigation canals), soon established Argentina's first[citation needed]irrigation system based on the Chubut River (in Welsh,Afon Camwy, 'winding river'), irrigating an area three or four miles (five or six km) to each side of the 50-mile (80 km) long stretch of river and creating Argentina's most fertile wheatlands.[citation needed] By 1885, wheat production had reached 6,000 tons, with wheat produced by the colony winning the gold medal at international expositions atParis andChicago.
The mouth of theChubut River was difficult to navigate, being shallow and with shifting sandbanks, and it was decided that a railway was required to connect the Lower Chubut valley toPuerto Madryn (originally Porth Madryn) on theGolfo Nuevo on the southern side of theValdes Peninsula.[13]: 80–81 Lewis Jones was the driving force, and in 1884 the Argentine Congress authorized the construction of theCentral Chubut Railway by Lewis Jones y Cía. Raising funds for the project locally proved difficult, so Lewis Jones went to the United Kingdom to seek funds, where he enlisted the assistance of Asahel P. Bell, an engineer. Work on the railway began in 1886, helped by the arrival of another 465 Welsh settlers on the steamerVesta. The town that grew at the railhead was namedTrelew (Town of Llew) in honour of Lewis Jones.[13]: 86 The town grew rapidly and in 1888 became the headquarters of theCompañía Mercantil del Chubut (Chubut Trading Company). Initially the settlers were largely self-governing, with all men and women of 18 years of age or over having the right to vote.
In January 1868, the first newspaper of the colony,Y Brut (The Chronicle), appeared;Ein Breiniad (Our Privilege) followed in 1878. Both were short-lived, only six issues of each title being circulated. Lewis Jones establishedY Drafod (The Discussion) in 1891, and this had greater longevity: a weekly issue was produced until 1961.[17]
By the mid-1880s most of the good agricultural land in the Lower Chubut valley had been claimed, and the colonists mounted a number of expeditions to explore other parts of Patagonia to seek more cultivable land. In 1885, the Welsh asked the governor ofChubut Province,Luis Jorge Fontana, for permission to arrange an expedition to explore theAndean part of Chubut. Fontana decided to accompany the expedition in person. By the end of November 1885 they had reached a fertile area which the Welsh namedCwm Hyfryd (Pleasant Valley). By 1888, this site at the foot of the Andes had become another Welsh settlement,[17] named in SpanishColonia 16 de Octubre. As the population grew here, the towns ofEsquel andTrevelin were founded.[citation needed]
In 1893, a Welsh-language newspaper calledY Drafod (The Conversation) was founded by Lewis Jones to promote Welshness in Y Wladfa.[18]
This area became the subject of theCordillera of the Andes Boundary Case 1902 between Argentina and Chile. Initially the border was defined by a line connecting the highest peaks in the area, but it later became clear that this line was not the same as the line separating the watersheds, with some of the rivers in the area flowing westwards. Argentina and Chile agreed that the United Kingdom should act as arbitrator, and the views of the Welsh settlers were canvassed. In 1902, despite an offer of a league of land per family from Chile, they voted to remain in Argentina.[citation needed]
Serious damage was caused by floods in the 1890s and 1900s, which devastated Rawson and to a lesser extentGaiman, though Trelew was not affected. There was also disagreement between the settlers and thegovernment of Argentina, which introducedconscription and insisted on males of military age drilling on Sundays. This ran counter to theSabbatarian principles of the settlers and caused much ill-feeling, though the matter was eventually resolved by the intervention of thepresident of Argentina,Julio Argentino Roca. These factors, and a lack of unclaimed farmable land, caused 234 people to leave forLiverpool aboard theOrissa on 14 May 1902, with 208 of them subsequently travelling toCanada, arriving atSaltcoats, Saskatchewan, in late June,[19] although some of these families later returned to Chubut and later migrated to Australia. Some other settlers moved toRío Negro Province in Argentina. Many of those who left Chubut were late arrivals who had failed to obtain land of their own, and they were replaced by more immigrants from Wales. By the end of the 19th century there were some 4,000 people of Welsh descent living in Chubut. The last substantial migration from Wales took place shortly beforeWorld War I, which put a halt to further immigration. Approximately 1,000 Welsh immigrants arrived in Patagonia between 1886 and 1911; on the basis of this and other statistics, Glyn Williams estimated that perhaps no more than 2,300 Welsh people ever migrated directly to Patagonia.[20]
Immigration to the area after 1914 was mainly fromItaly and other southern European countries. Welsh became a minority language. The creation[when?] of aco-operative, theCwmni Masnachol Camwy (Spanish:Compañía Mercantil de Chubut), was important. The Society traded on the settlers' behalf inBuenos Aires and acted as a bank with 14 branches. The cooperative society collapsed in theGreat Depression of the 1930s. The construction of a dam on the Rio Chubut 120 kilometres (75 mi) west of Trelew, inaugurated on 19 April 1963, removed the risk of flooding in the Lower Chubut Valley.
The Welsh have left their mark on the landscape, withwindmills andchapels across the province, including the distinctive wood and corrugated zinc Capel Salem[where?] andTrelew's Salon San David. Many settlements along the valley bear Welsh names.
During the British Government'srepatriation of the 11,313ArgentinePOWs taken during the 1982Falklands War, Welsh-speaking British merchant seamen and British soldiers from theWelsh Guards were shocked to find themselves addressed inPatagonian Welsh by an Argentine POW who was on the way home toPuerto Madryn.[21] Over the years since, close ties between Wales and Y Wladfa have been re-established.
A 2001BBC article described in detail the recent visit toChubut Province byArchdruidMeirion Evans [cy] and 30 members of theGorsedd Cymru in order to revive theGorsedd Y Wladfa in a ceremony held in a specially constructedstone circle nearGaiman.
Every year, theEisteddfod festival takes place in the town ofTrevelin.[22] BBC reporters attended the 2001Eisteddfod del Chubut atTrelew and watched as theBardic Chair was awarded for the first time inY Wladfa to a female poet: Gaiman hotel owner Monica Jones de Jones, for anAwdl on the subject ofRhyddid ("Freedom"). The article's author continued, "The Patagonia Eisteddfod itself, while sharing those elements common to Eisteddfodau in Wales itself, nonetheless is, in other respects, quite a different affair. As well as hauntingWelsh folk tunes, and recitations in the uniqueSpanish-accented Welsh of the Patagonians, there are also rousing displays of Argentinefolk dancing which owe everything to theculture of the gauchos and nothing to the somewhat tamer dance routines of the Welsh homeland."[23]
Current Eisteddfod competitions arebilingual, in both Patagonian Welsh andArgentine Spanish, and include poetry, prose,literary translations (Welsh, Spanish, English, Italian, and French), musical performances, arts, folk dances, photography, and filmmaking among others. TheEisteddfod de la Juventud is held every September at Gaiman. The mainEisteddfod del Chubut is held every October atTrelew. Other annual eisteddfodau are held atTrevelin, in theAndes and atPuerto Madryn along theSouth Atlantic coast.[24]
In 2006, the first of atwo-Test tour toArgentina by theWales national rugby union team was played in Puerto Madryn, which was a 27–25 win for Argentina.[citation needed]
In 2019, 1,411 people undertook Welsh courses in the region, which was the highest number on record for the project.[25] During 2023-24, there were over 970 registered learners (schools and adult learners) – a rise from 623 in 2020.[26]
In 2014, Professor E. Wyn James ofCardiff University estimated that there were perhaps as many as 5,000 people in Patagonia who could speak Welsh.[27]
On 28 July 2015, celebrations took place to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Welsh migrations. TheFirst Minister of Wales,Carwyn Jones, attended the celebration.[28]
In October 2018, theBBC National Orchestra of Wales undertook an historic visit to Y Wladfa to give two concerts in a newly refurbished concert hall, that had previously been a wool factory on the outskirts of Trelew. These performances attracted thousands of local visitors and helped celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Welsh migration. Welsh harpistCatrin Finch and conductorGrant Llewelyn were part of the concerts.[citation needed]
The Welsh settlers to Patagonia settled on IndigenousTehuelche land. The Welsh were able to survive and thrive by bartering Welsh bread for meat, by learning from Tehuelche people how to hunt, and by learning from the Tehuelche how to irrigate their fields with water from the Chubut River.[29][30]
| Spanish | Welsh | English translation of Welsh name |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina | Yr Ariannin | Argentina |
| Villa La Angostura | Lle Cul | narrow place |
| Arroyo Pescado | Nant y Pysgod | fish stream |
| Colonia 16 de Octubre | Cwm Hyfryd/Bro Hydref | beautiful valley/October community |
| Fuerte Aventura | Caer Antur | fort adventure |
| Paso de Indios | Rhyd yr Indiaid | Indians' ford |
| Las Plumas | Dôl y Plu | meadow of the feathers |
| Puerto Madryn | Porth Madryn | (Port Madryn) |
| Rawson | Trerawson | (Rawson) |
| Río Chubut (from Tehuelche 'Chupat', meaning 'shining, glinting') | Afon Camwy | swirling river |
| Río Corintos | Aber Gyrants | turning estuary |
| Valle de los Mártires | Dyffryn y Merthyron | valley of the martyrs |
| Valle Frío | Dyffryn Oer | cold valley |
| Trelew | Tre Lew(is) | Lew's town |
| Dolavon | Dôl Afon | river meadow |
| Trevelin | Tre Felin | mill town |
Y Wladfa's anthem is a re-working of the Welsh anthem, "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau", called "Gwlad Newydd y Cymry" ('"The New Country of the Welsh"'). The new anthem was penned by Lewis Evans and is sung to the same tune as "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau".[31]
Patagonia is a 2011 film about the Welsh settlement in Argentina.[32]
In the BBC's 2015Patagonia with Huw Edwards,Huw Edwards travelled to Patagonia and met with descendants of the original settlers, to discuss what had survived of the uniquely Welsh culture their ancestors aimed to protect.[33]
The community still exists in Argentina today, with a population of more than 70,000.
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