PATAGONIA

Y Wladfa, the Welsh settlement in Chubut, Argentina, is the only place where the Welsh language has greater currency than English.

(Map by Ian Gulley and Antony Smith)

The idea of directing organized emigration from Wales (Cymru) to a specific location to establish a strong community that could withstand the pressures of acculturation was supported by Michael D. Jones (1822-98), later Principal of the Congregational Theological College at Bala, who had experienced rapid linguistic and cultural shift while serving as a pastor in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States (see Celtic languages in North America). The subsequent Welsh Colony Movement finally decided on Patagonia as the venue for its ‘New Wales’, mainly because of an abundance of land and the isolation of the region from the nearest European settlement in the province of Buenos Aires.

In total, 153 Welsh people landed at New Bay on 28 July 1865. The first years were gruelling: Crops failed and by 1867 the population had dwindled to 116 members. The Argentine government offered to resettle these indiviudals elsewhere, but their leaders persuaded them that they would not survive as an independent colony. The idea of a Welsh-speaking colony was still central to the venture, and by the 1890s the colony had become a vibrant success. The Welsh had constructed an effective irrigation system for the Chubut valley and the Irrigation Company was worth an estimated ?180,000, a phenomenal sum at the time. Out of desert and chaos the Welsh settlers created fields, gardens, and orchards. They built farms, towns, chapels, roads, and a railway system. They organized an effective local government system in which business was conducted entirely through the medium of Welsh. A Welsh-medium education system was created and was overseen by a school board.

Pressures on the communities to Hispanicize were introduced in 1896 when the Argentine government took over the schools, and a monolingual Spanish policy was rigorously implemented. By the 1930s and 1940s, this policy was bearing fruit in so far as it fostered negative attitudes among the children toward all things Welsh. They were taught that Spanish was the ‘national language’ and the medium of economic, educational, and social success, whereas Welsh was an impediment to progress.

After 1912, immigration from Wales ceased and contact with Wales along with it until 1965, the centenary year. By the 1970s, most remaining Welsh speakers were older than 40 years of age, and younger people denied any knowledge of the language. Furthermore, Welsh was becoming a restricted language, used only in a finite set of social situations. Since the 1980s, however, attitudes have progressively changed. Cymdeithas Cymru-Ariannin (the Wales-Argentina Society) was instrumental in sending several pastors to minister in Welsh, which in turn led to a call for tutors to teach Welsh. These voluntary tutors have helped rekindle a sense of Welsh identity among the younger generation, and the Welsh language is experiencing a revival.

Robert Owen Jones