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.
----
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.
---
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.
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.
----
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.
---
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.