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Early Welsh settlers in Patagonia, clad in national dress. |
In the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution was in full swingacross Great Britain. Mills and factories dotted the landscape ofEngland, and were soon appearing in southern Wales. Southern Wales was aprime candidate for industrialization, due to an abundance of coal, which wasvital to powering factories, as well as decent iron deposits and plenty ofwool. Wales also had an English-speaking population, having been part of GreatBritain since 1282 (except for a brief seven-year separation during the 16thcentury), so the English language and culture had had plenty of time todominate the country.
In the cities, English was more prominent than in the countryside,where the Welsh language was still widely spoken. However,industrialization drew workers (and political power) from the countryside,diminishing the Welsh culture and language. By the middle of the 19thcentury, there was a sense among the Welsh that their culture and languagemight disappear altogether. Some Welsh felt strongly enough about it totake extraordinary measures to preserve their identity. Welsh emigrantsleft Great Britain for the United States in the early 19th century, setting upWelsh towns, where their identity could be preserved. That was the idea,anyway. These new Welsh towns enjoyed varying degrees of success,particularly Utica, New York and Scranton Pennsylvania. Unfortunately,their adopted country put great pressure on the Welsh to start speaking Englishand abandon their native culture—a common demand that immigrant populations tothe United States encounter.
Welsh nationalist Michael Jones hatched a plan to establish a newWelsh colony that would be more resilient than the previous ones. Hestarted corresponding with the government of Argentina about the possibility ofcreating a Welsh land there. The Argentine government was happy to do it,and suggested they move to Patagonia, the southern part of the country.Argentina had its own interest in the Welsh moving there, too.Sparsely populated Patagonia was disputed territory between Argentina andits western neighbor Chile. Argentina wanted to secure its claim on theregion, and nothing helps a land claim like a large influx of loyal citizens.
In 1865, the Welsh started moving into the Chubut Valley. Aspromised, Argentina allowed them to retain the Welsh language without pressureto abandon it in favor of Spanish. Eventually Chile dropped its claim tothe territory, fearing war with Argentina over it. Argentina had beenworking for much of its history to subjugate all the indigenous states inPatagonia through a policy it referred to as La Conquista del Desierto,or The Conquest of the Desert. In 1884, the region where the Welshmade their new home became the National Territory of Chubut. In 1955, followingthe discovery of mineral resources in the territory, Chubut was made aprovince.
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The Chubut Valley: not quite as lush and green as the Argentine government promised. |
Patagonia was sparsely inhabited for a good reason. Thepolicy of The Conquest of the Desert offers a clue as to why. Theregion, referred to as the pampas, is not entirely desert, but it israther arid—very different from the lush, green landscape the Argentinegovernment had promised them. The agrarian settlement the Welsh hoped toform needed water, which was hard to come by. The lack of trees also meanta lack of raw materials to build houses. The local Teheulche peoplehelped the Welsh settlers figure out how to live off the harsh landscape, butit wasn’t enough. The first colony got by mostly on charity from peoplein the homeland, sending food and lumber to help them get the colony off theground. The first Welsh settlement was established late in 1865. The townwas called Rawson, in a region the Welsh referred to as Y Wladfa, on the banksof a river the Welsh named the Camwy.
Rawson was about 40 miles inland. This offered a challengeto the settlers, since a port would make it easier for supplies to bedelivered. The settlers were also plagued by floods and poor harvests, aswell as disputes over land ownership. Welsh Patagonia got off to a rockystart, and things were staying rocky.
Colonial records show it was a settler named Rachel Jenkins whoconceived of an irrigation system that would allow the valley to be properlyirrigated. This success turned things around for the colony of about 200inhabitants. Soon after, more Welsh arrived from both Pennsylvania andWales. The colony was thriving. In 1875 the Argentine governmentgranted the Welsh settlers title to the land. The strong local governmentattracted even more settlers. Not all new arrivals were Welsh, though.By 1915, nearly half the population of the Chubut Territory was fromsomewhere besides Wales. The Welsh nationalists were starting to feeltheir Welsh identity was threatened. Indeed, the Argentine government changedits attitude toward the Welsh, imposing more direct rule on Chubut. TheWelsh schools were closed, and Spanish-only education was the law of the land.Welsh-language newspapers were permitted to be published, but with agovernment growing increasingly hostile to the population, the Welsh utopiaappeared to be on the decline.
The Welsh language in Patagonia, like the Welsh identity, neverreally died out. The sudden anti-immigrant shift in sentiment did forcethe Welsh to retreat somewhat. Subdued Welsh festivals continued inChubut, and Welsh continued to be spoken at home and at church.
In 1965, the Welsh lot started to improve. On the centennialof the founding of the Welsh settlement in Patagonia, British Welsh started totake an interest in the region again. Chubut became a popular destinationfor Welsh tourists, who were also concerned about preserving their language andidentity in their home country. They discovered that the evolution of theWelsh language in Wales and that in Argentina had diverged a little—like thedivergence of English in England and North America, or French in France andNorth America—but the two versions were still mutually intelligible.
A Welsh renaissance happened in Argentina at this point.Tourism breathed new life into Y Wladfa, with Welsh festivals (known as eisteddfodau)a popular draw. Despite Argentina’s Spanish-only school system,instruction in the Welsh language has been growing. In 2017, about 1,200Argentines started taking Welsh classes. This is significant, since thenumber of native Welsh speakers in Argentina today numbers only around 5,000.Argentina has come to view the Welsh as a cultural asset. Officialgovernment websites play down (or ignore) the cultural suppression of a centuryago, and non-Welsh Argentines tour Y Wladfa in increasing numbers these days,as well.
