If we believe the stereotypes, Wales has long been widely known for its rugby, choirs and sheep. (1)

Busnant Wood: the site of my Aunt's funeral in Wales.

Primary Sources

History

​In 1865, 150 Welsh people migrated to Patagonia to create Y Wladfa, ‘The Colony’. A column in the 1898 Rhyl Journal (3) - pictured left - reflects on the migration of its Welsh people. Many had previously settled in different parts of the United States, but the Welsh language was lost within a few generations - due to the necessity of speaking English - and Welsh ‘national characteristics’ were lost. The column continues by discussing the journey of Nationalist, Rev Michael D Jones who went to assess the suitability of Patagonia for a larger Welsh colony where concerns of assimilation might be avoided. 40 years prior to the article being written, Rev Jones bought land with the agreement of the Argentinian government and in 1865, the Welsh emigrants established themselves in Chubut Valley. The article glosses over the difficult early years where the settlers were forced to live in caves and had little to keep them alive until they found a peaceable connection with the local Tehuelche people and were able to establish more fertile lands and irrigation. Within a few decades, the colony grew to some 3.7 thousand residents, with schools, a place of worship, a post office, a reading room and government buildings. The article concludes with a damning literary shrug of the shoulders, suggesting that the Welsh will nonetheless become absorbed by the dominant Argentinian culture. (4)

​ ​Michael D. Jones made it clear that the Welsh should not use force against the native Patagonians and instead establish a peace between the settlers and the indigenous people. This was not only morally correct, but ensured the early survival of the settlers by giving them the skills to ride wild horses and hunt the local fare (rhea and guanaco). ​Nowadays, the Welsh settlement towns in Patagonia are Gaiman, Rawson, Trelew, Dolavon, Las Plumas, Paso de Indios and Trevelin. (6)

(5)

Welsh Language

The Welsh language evolved from Brythonic or Common Brittonic, a Celtic language spoken by the Ancient Britons beginning sometime between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. (11) St Cadfan’s church in Tywyn, North Wales, houses a gravestone with possibly the oldest example of written Welsh, thought to be from 700 AD (image, 12) and there is much Medieval Welsh poetry attributed to the bards Taleisin and Aneirin. (13)

St Cadfan's Stone (12)

The Laws in Wales Act (14)

...many of the Tehuelche learned some Welsh and there is record of their descendants competing in the annual Eisteddfod in Trelew. (17)

When you are invited to enter a Welsh speaker’s house in Patagonia, you may be greeted with ‘Pasiwch i mewn’ (‘Pass in’, which comes from the Spanish ‘Pase’) instead of the usual ‘Dewch i mewn’ (literally ‘Come in’) from Wales.

The phrase for speaking with someone on the phone is not the usual ‘Siarad ar y ffôn’ you would expect in Wales but ‘Siarad dros y ffôn’ (from the Spanish ‘Hablar por teléfono’). (20)

Song and Dance

​The Welsh National Anthem was adapted for use in Y Wladfa, keeping the tune and changing the lyrics. The first verse translates as follows: ​ 'The land of Patagonia is dear unto me A new Welsh country, kind is she True freedom we’ll breathe in this country, From the reach of oppression and treason,  ​ Land, land, I am true to my land. While the sun is in the heavens above our land, O, may the Wladfa endure.' (Image, 21)