The Dream of Iolo Morganwg: An alternate history of Welsh Patagonia

I've been a member of this board for over 8 years now and in all that time despite many false starts I've never managed to develop a timeline sufficiently to make it worth publishing. Well, I think I've finally identified a scenario sufficiently obscure to be reasonably original and I've pretty much run out of excuses not to publish, so allow me to present to you...



The Dream of Iolo Morganwg: An alternate history of Welsh Patagonia

Part 1 - Dreams

“Many of the newer countries in this world have founding fathers, and these great men come from a variety of backgrounds - soldiers, landowners, even some of humble origin. But only this land of New Wales can claim as a founding father a drug addicted forger.

The extent to which Iolo Morganwg’s laudanum habit contributed to the florid and colourful imagery of “The Prophecies of Merlin” can never be known of course. What is known is the quite extraordinary impact this document had on the Welsh community of London when Iolo first announced it’s discovery, especially the infamous Sixth Prophecy which foretold, in the most colourful of terms, a Great Harrowing of the Island of Britain. This prophesied that the British people would be purged from the Earth unless they renewed themselves and rededicated themselves to the traditions of their forefathers - said traditions which by a happy coincidence had also been “rediscovered” by Iolo.”

From Breuddwyd Iolo Morganwg: Hanes Cymru Newydd (The dream of Iolo Morganwg: A History of New Wales) By Professor Alun Morgan and printed by Gwasg Prifysgol Trewatcyn. Translated and reprinted by University of Wales Press.
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The Welsh speaking community of London at the turn of the 19th Century was a hive of debate and creativity that saw itself, and especially it’s two great societies - the Gwyneddigion and the Cymreigyddion - as the heart of the nation’s literary and cultural life. The members of the societies were industrious in promoting their native culture, dictionaries and grammars were composed, ancient poetry was collected and reprinted and original works published. Or in the case of Iolo Morganwg (Edward Williams of Glamorgan) a vast torrent of original work was published which purported to be of ancient authorship “discovered” by the author. They also funded more eccentric adventures - in the 1790’s the Gwyneddigion funded John Evan’s expedition to North America to find the descendants of Prince Madog - but most importantly in 1806 a collection of notables from the community founded the Cwmdeithas Gwladychu Cymraeg, the Welsh Colonisation Society, in part as a result of discussions about the future of Cymreictod in an English speaking world that came in the aftermath of the prophecies.

The early years of the Society were ones of modest achievement. Some fundraising was undertaken and pamphlets published to raise awareness of the Society and it’s goals, but it was 1809 before the Society was able to send out it’s first expedition to seek out a site for a new colony, to South Africa. This expedition need not detain this narrative overlong however, for it found the English already well established and where they were not present in strength there were numerous well armed native societies. Regretfully, the Society was forced to the conclusion that South Africa was not a suitable venue for colonisation.

The next expedition the Society sent out departed in the spring of 1811 for South America. John Lewis, Tom Price and Henry Evans set off from Bristol in the spring of the year and arrived in Buenos Aires some four months later. Here they found a region in some turmoil as in May of the previous year the city had responded to the events of the Peninsular War by denying the authority of the Cortes in Cadiz to govern them and instead forming a revolutionary Junta to govern directly in the name of king Ferdinand VII and proceeded to wage war against those loyal to the central government. Our trio of explorers it may be assumed regarded this situation with some dismay and must have had some concern as to how they would carry out their plans in what was essentially a war zone.

It was therefore a matter of great good fortune for them that they chanced at this point to meet another of the key actors in the foundation of the colony. Henry Libanus Jones had been born in Llandinam, Montgomeryshire in 1787 but seeing little prospects there he had moved to London where he had become clerk of a trading company which, in 1810, had posted him to Buenos Aires to look for opportunities as the ongoing war opened South America up to British trade.

Jones prospered in Buenos Aires, and by 1811 was in negotiations to buy a ship of his own, a brig called El Rastrero. It was at this point that our adventurers came upon him, and Jones freely agreed to offer them work as crewmen when the Rastrero sailed south in the new year to hunt for wild cattle and explore the prospects for seal oil on the unclaimed Valdes peninsula. The brig set off as planned shortly afterwards and spent the remainder of the southern summer moored in the sheltered Golfo Nuevo on the south side of the peninsula and it’s crew, including our travellers, proceeded to explore the area around.

How much of their findings they shared with Jones is unknown, what is known however is that when Henry Evans returned to London (Price and Lewis stayed behind in the employ of Jones) early in 1813 it was with a report that talked about a broad land with fertile soil but a dry climate and with a great river winding majestically through it. Most importantly, a land that was quite empty of people.
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Author's notes (language, etc.):
Gwasg Prifysgol Trewatcyn - Trewatcyn University Press
Cymreictod - Welshness

It’s likely to be a running theme of this timeline that the more bizarre something sounds the more likely it is to be fundamentally OTL. For example, Iolo Morganwg not only existed, but did indeed produce a vast ream of pseudo-authentic Welsh literature and cultural archetypes. Additionally, everything mentioned in this post about Henry Libanus Jones (apart from his meeting with our explorers) is also OTL.
 
Thanks for all the kind words everyone:)

Take this to today, if possible.

Waiting for more...

I'd like to, but I honestly have no idea how far I can take this thing. I've got up to 1830 mapped out and a very rough outline up to the first world war, but that's the latest I think I can take it before butterflies get too numerous. Never say never though...

I'm really looking forward to seeing more from this.

Ask and ye shall receive:D
 
This should be the last one before we get boots on the ground in South America...

Part 2 - Towards Reality

“Fy Nghymru gwael - hyd yn hyn o'r Nefoedd, mor agos at Loegr” (“My poor Wales, so far from Heaven, so close to England.”) - The bard and pamphleteer Jac Glan-y-gors explaining why he agreed to lend his support to the efforts of the Welsh Colonisation Society.
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Evan’s report was greeted with nervous excitement by the London Welsh worthies who had commissioned it. Now that the idea of a colony that could preserve their language and culture far away from the seductions of English looked like a realistic prospect, it was time to either admit it had all been an amusing dream or to get serious. To the surprise of many, they chose the latter course.

Sadly it did not follow from this that there was much that could be done immediately as world affairs proceeded to overwhelm the dreams of a handful of eccentric Welshmen - Evans’ return had coincided with news reaching London of the scale of the disaster that had overtaken Napoleon in Russia, and for some time European affairs were all anybody wanted to talk about.

Still, some preparations were made. As the Duke of Wellington marched through Spain to the French border and four Emperors clashed on a field called Leipzig, the first prospective colonists were interviewed and a new figure was recruited to provide a respectable face to the venture.

Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn was Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire and Merionethshire, MP for Denbighshire, president of the Society of Ancient Britons and the personal owner of over 100,000 acres of North Wales, making him possibly the richest man in Wales at the dawn of the industrial revolution. He was also a patron of Welsh arts and charities and, as a direct descendant of Owain Gwynedd, had the best claim of any man living to the native title of Prince of Wales, should it be revived. Sir Watkin took little persuading to lend his name to the venture - the story that he was promised if he did that a city would be named after him in the new colony is almost certainly apocryphal, the swift founding and existence of Trewatcyn notwithstanding. Sir Watkin’s involvement added much needed credibility and stability to the project, enabling planning to pick up speed as Napoleon was driven back to Paris and the end of the war came in clear sight. It was perhaps also due to Sir Watkin’s influence that, around the time Napoleon disembarked on Elba to brood and plot in exile, an article in the London Gazette announced that the Society had received a Royal Charter to operate as the Welsh-American Company and was charged with the exploration and settlement of “Those lands claimed by His Majesty in Southern America”.

More battles were fought over the winter, and Napoleon finally went into exile in the spring of 1814 and peace returned to Europe. In Cardigan on the far side of Britain, and entirely unnoticed in the shadow of these great events, an ocean going merchantman by the name of Carnarvon Bay took on board a cargo of 76 men, 48 women and 18 children. The majority of them were from farming stock, with a smattering of blacksmiths, labourers a schoolmaster and a doctor. They also loaded a variety of supplies, chiefly seed, agricultural implements and, because they were heading into unknown lands, 120 muskets and ten barrels of powder. On Monday the 6th of June 1814 the Carnarvon Bay weighed anchor and set a course south-east with Henry Evans on Board to guide them back to South America. Appointed as leader of the expedition and first Civil Administrator of the new colony was a Cardigan merchant called John Evans who had persuaded half his family and several neighbours to join him in fleeing the poverty of Wales and seeking out a new home in a distant land.
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Author’s Note:
“Those lands claimed by His Majesty in Southern America” - the British claim to Patagonia was chiefly based on two expeditions, one by Sir Thomas Cavendish in 1587 and one by Sir John Narborough in 1670. It’s unclear to what extent Cavendish claimed land for Britain as distinct from merely exploring it, but Narborough definitely staked a claim on behalf of King Charles II. Britain made no real effort to settle the territory OTL, but the few Spanish attempts to settle tended to run afoul of a hostile visit from the Royal Navy. I don’t know when the British allowed their claim to lapse, but the RN were doing their thing into the Napoleonic Wars and I have a Victorian atlas from 1850 that marks Patagonia as British.
 
So in essence you are working on a much earlier Patagonian Welsh settlement, to predate Argentinian control over the entire province? Very interesting.

It does raise all sorts of interesting questions though, as to quite what one needs to do to set up a viable language community as well as a viable settlement generally. IOTL the Welsh I assume plugged into the broader Argentinian framework, which perhaps helped support the new colony in some senses whilst also providing the challenge (being absorbed into the Spanish community). But in some senses it still worked as there seems to remain a small but perhaps viable Welsh language community there. Unlike lesser attempts by the Scots Gaelic in say New Zealand.

Your TL seems to be going in the direction of a British colony of sorts. If so, it will be interesting to see if the colonists could build a Welsh colony where they can somehow retain control whilst retaining British protection against neighbours. I would imagine that sufficient English speaking migrants would turn up and it might be hard to refuse them whilst in the Empire.

There will of course be the issue with getting enough people and enough capital to build a viable colony that can stand on its own feet. Perhaps look to Canada for examples where the colonists were in some form of contest with the Americans to the South.
 
I would like to offer any help you like for this TL. As a native to Patagonia, I could certainly guide you with geography, climate, the natives, economy and whatever.

Also, may I suggest that the Welsh try to bring in fellow Celtic partnerts to this venture. Maybe this early success of a Welsh colony could mean the Scot Gaelics, the Irish speaking Irishmen and why not some Bretons try to stablish their own colonies nearby. Afterall, the more the merrier and Patagonia has enough space and distance for all of them to settle and still retain their own culture.
 
Interesting and plausible stuff. As Julius says though, I'd expect English-speaking colonists to show up at some point - especially English English-speaking colonists - and if New Wales has Welsh as its first language, what happened to them? Did they reluctantly integrate, did something nasty happen, are there little Englandtowns in the major cities?

It’s likely to be a running theme of this timeline that the more bizarre something sounds the more likely it is to be fundamentally OTL. For example, Iolo Morganwg not only existed, but did indeed produce a vast ream of pseudo-authentic Welsh literature and cultural archetypes. Additionally, everything mentioned in this post about Henry Libanus Jones (apart from his meeting with our explorers) is also OTL.

Reality Is Unrealistic :eek:
 
I would like to offer any help you like for this TL. As a native to Patagonia, I could certainly guide you with geography, climate, the natives, economy and whatever.

I was hoping you'd show up with an offer like that. Thanks:D If it's alright by you, I'd like to PM some future material and questions to help out with the plausibility of some things (especially how far north the colony goes and what happens to Tierra del Fuego)? I'm hoping to get to Patagonia myself some day - ideally in 2020 when a total solar eclipse is due to cross the southern end of Rio Negro province so I can kill two birds with one stone. I didn't want to wait *that* long before publishing this TL though...

Also, may I suggest that the Welsh try to bring in fellow Celtic partnerts to this venture. Maybe this early success of a Welsh colony could mean the Scot Gaelics, the Irish speaking Irishmen and why not some Bretons try to stablish their own colonies nearby. Afterall, the more the merrier and Patagonia has enough space and distance for all of them to settle and still retain their own culture.

I did think of doing something like that. Sadly, I suspect in this TL it would probably run aground on the fact that at this time the Welsh are pretty fundamentalist protestant and the Irish and Bretons are Catholic. But I'm not going to rule it out:cool:
 
So in essence you are working on a much earlier Patagonian Welsh settlement, to predate Argentinian control over the entire province? Very interesting.

Very much so. I got the idea for this timeline when earlier this year I accidentally gate-crashed the official reception in Cardiff to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the OTL Welsh colony (long story...) and wondered if I could find a plausible POD to make it the 200th anniversary instead. Courtesy of Henry Libanus Jones, I almost did it (the ATL colony was officially founded in 1814).


Your TL seems to be going in the direction of a British colony of sorts. If so, it will be interesting to see if the colonists could build a Welsh colony where they can somehow retain control whilst retaining British protection against neighbours.
I think it's unavoidable that it has to be at least nominally British for a while - Chile and Argentina are both vigorously growing during the 19th century and the Welsh colony will never be able to compete with them in terms of pure population numbers. I'm pretty much hoping the colony will remain small enough and obscure enough that the British government will overlook it's... distinctive characteristics until it does something like get into a war it can't handle with it's resources (which doesn't automatically mean with Chile or Argentina - until the 1880's various Mapuche warlords were quite capable of putting together warbands of thousands of horsemen and raiding as far as the outskirts of Buenos Aires or the Atlantic Ocean). Hopefully this is a couple of generations away though.

I would imagine that sufficient English speaking migrants would turn up and it might be hard to refuse them whilst in the Empire.
Interesting and plausible stuff. As Julius says though, I'd expect English-speaking colonists to show up at some point - especially English English-speaking colonists - and if New Wales has Welsh as its first language, what happened to them? Did they reluctantly integrate, did something nasty happen, are there little Englandtowns in the major cities?

I'm pretty much hoping at this point that for at least the first couple of decades there will always be more desirable destinations for English colonists and this will place a limit on the number going to Patagonia - at pretty much the same time as all this is going on the British government was making a big effort to encourage emigration to South Africa to dilute the numerical advantage of the Afrikaner community for example, and Canada and the USA were always high on the list. Later in the century, Australia and New Zealand will also be opening up of course. But yes, I'm expecting that as the colony grows there will be English (and Spanish) speaking enclaves in at least the major port cities.
 
Loving this. Really enjoyed visiting Puerto Madryn etc. and meeting the local Welsh-speaking community (in particular this lady).
Will watch with interest this world where they are earlier and more successful.
 
Numbers will be interesting. NZ and Australia had several different kinds of migrant, free travellers, planned settlements (look up Wakefield, the NZ Company and the Free Church settlement of Dunedin initially, then later on Gaelic and Nordic unity types), gold rushes, and government sponsored (needed for NZ).

The gold rushes and sponsored migrants providing the big numbers. The Gold Rush style would likely ruin the character of the colony. Arguably it both made the fortune of Dunedin whilst ruining the special Scottish character of the city. Those of us with Scots ancestry form between a third to a half of the Otago and Southland provinces to this day.

That being said, you could do worse but to examine the South Island for tips, as the population of the South Island is roughly comparable, a large ish area, with loads of waste land not much use for European farming and the population didn't really grow much after the late colonial period

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon_Wakefield
 
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I was hoping you'd show up with an offer like that. Thanks:D If it's alright by you, I'd like to PM some future material and questions to help out with the plausibility of some things (especially how far north the colony goes and what happens to Tierra del Fuego)? I'm hoping to get to Patagonia myself some day - ideally in 2020 when a total solar eclipse is due to cross the southern end of Rio Negro province so I can kill two birds with one stone. I didn't want to wait *that* long before publishing this TL though...

Sure thing. PM me as soon as you want. I'm glad I can help with this. Just this summer I passed through the Chubut valley while going North(it must be like the 30th time) so my memory is fresh for this.

You can come earlier. Specially to Tierra del Fuego(screw the other provinces). We are the compact package. The whole variety of landscapes in just 250km of road, instead of the thousands you have to do in the continent. It's quite a trip the continental one anyway, terrific places to visit, but one trip which deserves far more time.

I did think of doing something like that. Sadly, I suspect in this TL it would probably run aground on the fact that at this time the Welsh are pretty fundamentalist protestant and the Irish and Bretons are Catholic. But I'm not going to rule it out:cool:

Maybe they can organize it themselves?
How about a Scottish Gaelic Tierra del Fuego?
Perhaps the Irish just go to settle Southern Buenos Aires under the wing of and afraid Argentine government?

Or why don't throw in some fellow Northmen?
I guess the Norwegian would feel at home in the Pacific Coast.
 
Hmm. I wonder if we might end up with the Falklands being recolonized slightly earlier and by Welshmen as well.

That would be fun.

And I am really looking forward to seeing how the Welsh interact with the Mapuche (who were at this time expanding into Patagonia themselves).

(As another native of the region, feel free to ask me questions about the local history also.)

fasquardon
 
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Utterly Delighted...

...Petetete123123 and myself did something about British Tierra del Fuego with a very strong Welsh component, but I like your Patagonian development. PM me if you like - I'm reworking old BTDF after Pete's encouragement. I hope your Welsh Colony works...

...Must break off as determined cat Tiggy is on the bed and wants attention...:eek:
 
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