The Welsh Heartland

Gwlad beirdd a chantorion, enwogion o fri; Ei gwrol ryfelwyr, gwladgarwyr tra mâd, Tros ryddid gollasant eu gwaed.

The land of my fathers, the land of my choice, The land in which poets and minstrels rejoice; The land whose stern warriors were true to the core, While bleeding for freedom of yore.

-- Welsh National Anthem

After six centuries of English domination, a group of stern Welsh miners yearning for the freedom of yore left their homeland and headed for Argentine Patagonia. After two months of journeying, four deaths, two births and one wedding, over 160 passengers on the Mimosa landed on these desolate shores on July 28, 1865, in search of cultural and economic freedom. They migrated down to the Chubut River Valley, where fresh water was available. Soon Rawson, Gaiman, Trelew, Dolavon and other villages were established. Welsh from the U.S. brought much-needed agricultural skills. Within several decades, Welsh villages stretched from Puerto Madryn and Rawson along the Atlantic seaboard to Esquel and Trevelín in the Andes. A railroad took international award-winning wheat to ports around the world. The Welsh succeeded where the Spaniards and Argentines had failed: they formed the first permanent towns in the Patagonian wilds.

The Welsh community in Argentina’s Patagonia continues with many of their customs to this day, including hand-carved love spoons, the bardic traditions of the Eisteddfod competitions in each community and, in Gaiman, afternoon tea. Welsh chapels throughout the region celebrate the first settlers’ arrival every July 28 with a traditional tea.