The permanent European settlement of the Chubut Valley and surrounding areas began on July 28th, 1865 when 153 Welsh settlers arrived aboard the converted tea-clipper Mimosa. The Mimosa had cost £2,500 to hire for the voyage and convert to passenger use, and the fare from Liverpool to Patagonia was £12 for adults and £6 for children, although anyone willing to travel was taken on the journey regardless of ability to pay.[9] The Mimosa settlers, including tailors, cobblers, carpenters, brick makers, and miners, comprised 56 married adults, 33 single or widowed men, 12 single women (usually sisters or servants of married emigrants), and 52 children. There were few farmers, which was rather unfortunate particularly when they discovered that the attractions of the area had been oversold and they had landed in an arid semi-desert with little food. They had been told that the area was like lowland Wales. At the coast there was little drinking water and the group embarked on a walk across the parched plain with a single wheelbarrow to carry their belongings. Some died and a baby was born on the march, called Mary Humphries. John Williams was the only colonist with any form of rudimentary medical skill.
Once they reached the valley of the Chubut River, their first settlement was a small fortress on the site which later became the town of Rawson, now the capital of Chubut province. The first houses here were washed away by a flash flood in 1865, and new houses were constructed. The floods also washed away crops of potatoes and maize. The rainfall in the area was much less than the colonists had been led to expect, leading to crop failures.
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First settlers 1865 - Y Wladfa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The idea of a Welsh colony in South America was put forward by Professor Michael D. Jones, a Welsh nationalist
..........................."Ymhob pen y mae 'piniwn."-" In every head there is an opinion."-Welsh proverb....
Friday, July 27, 2012
The permanent European settlement of the Chubut Valley and surrounding areas began on July 28th, 1865 when 153 Welsh settlers arrived aboard the converted tea-clipper Mimosa
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
BBC News - Medieval manuscript The Laws of Hywel Dda back from USA for auction
Medieval manuscript The Laws of Hywel Dda back from USA for auction
The Laws of Hywel Dda book was taken to America by Welsh settlersBBC News - Medieval manuscript The Laws of Hywel Dda back from USA for auction
One of the first medieval manuscripts to be written in Welsh is going under the hammer in London, valued at between £500,000 and £700,000.
It is believed the 14th Century pocket book, called The Laws of Hywel Dda, was taken to America by Welsh settlers in the 1700s.
Sotheby's said the sale on 10 July marked its return to Britain for the first time in at least 150 years.
It is being sold by the Massachusetts Historical Society of Boston.
Tenth century Welsh ruler Hywel Dda created the country's first uniform legal system.
A sense of fairness ran through the laws, including how they dealt with the rights of women.
Dr Tim Bolton, a specialist in medieval manuscripts at Sotherby's, said the lot was the first of its kind to be auctioned for almost a century.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
This is the text that goes to the heart of Welsh identity”End Quote Dr Tim Bolton Sotherby's
He described it as a "quite unassuming" pocket book reference for a medieval lawyer.
"This is the text that goes to the heart of Welsh identity and I'm afraid, from my side and with some embarrassment, the somewhat stormy relationship with England in the Middle Ages.
"I believe there are about 60 medieval copies of the law of Hywel Dda, but actually there is almost nothing, only fragments, before the year 1250 that survive.
"And then there are only 80 books in medieval Welsh, or fragments of books, that survive for the whole of the Middle Ages. It's a tiny, tiny number."
Dr Bolton said the story behind the pocket book was remarkable.
"It first emerges in the library of William Phillips, who died in 1721, who coincidentally is a barrister. He's also a town official for Brecon.
'Hoping'
"It was seen there by the antiquarian Edward Llwyd and then William Wooton and then it just disappears.
"We do know, after a great deal of research, that his daughter Anne inherited his books and they went to her husband William Scourfield.
"We know that members of the Scourfield family are among the earliest settlers to the Pennsylvania Welsh community and it just must be that the book went out with them or their immediate descendants."
Dr Bolton said the pocket book was being sold by the Massachusetts Historical Society, and he hoped it would return home to Wales.
"After at least a century and a half away, and perhaps a leave of absence of almost three centuries, we're all rather hoping that the new buyer can carry it back to Wales," he said.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
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