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Lewis Jones, founder of the colony, Trelew, Patagonia
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Chapels, tea houses and gauchos: The Welsh in Patagonia. |
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Patagonia: A welcome on the pampas
Michael D Jones, of Bala in north Wales, was the Moses who led ,or rather sent, for he never actually emigrated himself - his people to this Promised Land. An early Welsh nationalist, he energetically promoted the vision of a free, Welsh-speaking, nonconformist Wales in Patagonia.
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He knew British surveys had branded Patagonia a desert which could never support human life. But, with the aplomb of a spin doctor, he and his fellow idealist Lewis Jones - who did emigrate - glossed over that fact, and presented a considerably greener picture to the prospective emigrants.
By May 1865, enough pioneers had been found for the Mimosa to sail. Bala was the project's home area, and still holds an annual celebration , the "Gwyl y Glaniad2 ("festival of landing") - to mark the anniversary of the emigrants' first landing on 28th July.
A plaque to commemorate Michael D Jones. Translated, it reads: ‘Pioneer – of Welsh freedom – lived here in Bodiwan’
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However, this was by no means exclusively a rural project, many pioneers came from the new, industrial areas of the south Wales valleys, and they found their skills, as railwaymen or miners, worse than useless when they landed at Port Madryn, on the Atlantic shore of Argentina.
They survived - just. Reduced to near starvation on occasions, they were periodically bailed out by the Argentine government. But they persevered and secured a foothold in the Chubut valley, where a river they christened the Camwy cut a narrow channel through the desert from the Andes.
Words: Grahame Davies
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