Flying over the Patagonian desert, hundreds of miles of featureless arid landscape, it is hard to understand what could have driven people to emigrate to Patagonia in Argentina, leaving behind the green hills and valleys of Wales.
The answer is that sometimes dreams can be stronger than reality. Against all the odds, Welsh settlers carved out a living in this inhospitable place, and more than 150 years later their descendants are still there, 20,000 of them, claiming Welsh descent, and hundreds, some say thousands, able to speak Welsh.
To understand why a South American desert could seem preferable to Wales, you have to know what motivated that first party of emigrants, who sailed from Liverpool in 1865, aboard the ship the Mimosa. Very simply, they wanted freedom.
These people were Welsh by language and nonconformist by religion. In the mid-19th Century that made them part of the majority in Wales. But the majority didn't call the shots. If you wanted to get on you needed to be English-speaking, and also, if being an Anglican was not an absolute necessity, it certainly helped.
The answer was emigration. But where? In America, various attempts to establish Welsh colonies had failed as the colonists had been assimilated into the majority societies there. The same would be true of anywhere in the British Empire. Patagonia, however, was far enough away, eight thousand miles to be exact, to avoid other European settlers. It wasn't British, and the Argentine government would let settlers have land in order to cement their government's claim to the region.
Michael D Jones of Bala 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. 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. More...
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Richard Hughes Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
I am a cousin of Betty Jean Hughes Faber and what she did not tell you is that Annie Hughes Williams was the second wife of the famous John Daniel Evans. She had two children by her first husband Robert Charles Williams and six more by John Daniel. There is a very large family still living in Patagonia. I live in the USA and visited the family in Buenos Aires, Trevelin, and Trelew in 2001 along with my niece Dianna Hughes DiCara, and a cousin from Anglesey Eirwen Williams Jones.
Tue Jul 29 09:40:12 2008
Rebecca Dickson from Carmarthen
At school a teacher came in & her husband was from Patagonia. He came into the school and came to talk to us! It was very interesting. The man was called Fablo Lewis and his great grandad Lewis Jones had gone to Patagonia on the mimosa. we got to taste their special tea - I quite liked it everybody but else thought it was horrible!I will never for get that day.
Tue Mar 25 09:59:08 2008
Betty Hughes Faber
My grandfather Ishmael Hughes's sister was an early immigrant to Patagonia. Her name was Annie Hughes and I still have loads of distant relatives there. Annie Hughes and her husband were missionaires there. They were from Anglesy. I still have lots of relatives in Wales. I am 100% welsh extraction.
Mon Mar 5 10:25:58 2007
Samuel COLLIN, Nancy, France
I'm 16 years old and my Mum is Welsh, from Swansea and my Dad is from France. My Grampy, who is a Spanish teacher in Wales, told me that when he was learning Spanish in school, there was a new girl in his class who spoke Spanish and Welsh because she was from Patagonia. When I told this to my Spanish teacher in school, who by the way is Argentinian herself, she laughed at me and said she didn't believe me. Thanks to the info on your site, I can now prove her wrong and me right. Ca fait plaisir!
Wed Jan 10 16:47:59 2007
Eduardo Owen, originally from Tocopilla (Chile)
My grandfather, Owen Edward Owen (known as "Eduardo Owen" in Chile), and his parents, John Owen Price and Anita Jones Bates, arrived in Chile at the end of the XIX Century/beginning of the XX Century. I do not know exactly where they came from in Wales.If anyone knows anything about them, I would appreciate their assistance in finding out about my Welsh ancestors.
Sun Sep 4 05:30:21 2005
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