Hmm. I wonder if we might end up with the Falklands being recolonized slightly earlier and by Welshmen as well.
I'm genuinely undecided what to do with the Falkands. Part of me thinks that with a presence on the mainland the British will not get so excited about the Argentinians landing on the Falklands (a bit of a reverse with the OTL situation regarding Britain's claim to Patagonia as discussed previously), but then AIUI Stanley is a much better harbour than anywhere in Patagonia, so I dunno.
Incidentally, on the the subject of an Argentinian Falklands, a free gift for anybody who wants a POD. In 1813 Henry Libanus Jones (yes, him again) approached the government in Buenos Aires seeking sponsorship for an expedition to the Falklands that would involve planting a colony there. The government never replied - to be fair, they did have a war of independence on their hands at the time - but if they had...
And I am really looking forward to seeing how the Welsh interact with the Mapuche (who were at this time expanding into Patagonia themselves).
The Mapuche are at least a few years down the line - though the sad answer is probably violently at least at first, but the Tehuelche will be making an appearance in Part 4 which should get published later this week.
(As another native of the region, feel free to ask me questions about the local history also.)
fasquardon
Thanks
I'm also very curious how they will play off the local peoples. To begin with, will the locals learn Welsh to deal with them, or English?
See Part 4...
...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...
Thanks - I've been skimming BTDF as what to do with Tierra del Fuego is something I'm genuinely undecided about, though I am finding myself attracted to Petetete's suggestion of a Scottish colony. It'll probably be either something like that or end up wholly Chilean. One thing I'm finding intensely frustrating is this map of the coast south of Punta Arenas I found on Wikipedia -
Note how, apart from a couple of places founded in the 16th century and abandoned shortly afterwards the earliest settlement is "Base de Hidrografos Britanicos" - British Hydrographic Base. I've found literally nothing other than this map that refers to this base, but in deciding what to do about the straits it could be very important, as it predates even Punta Arenas by more than a decade.