Trevelin

History Spotlight: Welsh Settlement in Argentina's Chubut Province

In 1865, a ship containing 153 Welsh settlers (primarily from Wales' South Wales Coalfield region) sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and landed on the coast of Argentine Patagonia just south of Península Valdés, near modern-day Puerto Madryn. The Argentine government had promised the settlers land titles upon the colonization of this remote area and the settlers had been told that the area was of similar climate to lowland Wales. They soon discovered that they had arrived in a semi-arid desert with little drinking water.

Seeking more hospitable terrain (and with only a single wheelbarrow to carry their belongings), the group marched 65 km south, to the mouth of Río Chubut and began building their first settlement at the present-day town of Rawson (now the capital of the province of Chubut). Although the river valley was an improvement from the arid coastal climate, rainfall was unreliable and many crops failed. In response, the settlers established Argentina's first irrigation system, digging ditches to irrigate lands alongside the river.

By the 1880s, most of the promising agricultural land along the Chubut river valley had been privatized. A group of Welsh settlers were granted permission (by the governor of the newly formed Chubut territory) to explore and settle lands upstream, toward the Andes. A travel agency, Rifleros del Chubut, was formed and the group headed west, following Río Chubut westward and eventually reaching a fertile area which they named Cwm Hyfryd (meaning "beautiful valley"). A colony was officially founded in the valley on October 16, 1888 (and appropriately named Colonia 16 de Octubre).  A square league of land was assigned for each expeditionary of the Rifleros del Chubut and the rest was granted to the expedition's financial investors.