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

[RPW@Cy]

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.

 

[mrmandias]

Very interesting. I like it so far.

 

[RPW@Cy]

As promised, boots on the ground...

Part 3 - First Landing

Scene: waves crashing against a beach. A boat packed with men, women and children is struggling to the shore. A wave hits, the boat overturns and all fall into the water.

David Evans: Dad!

JOHN EVANS dives frantically and pulls his son to him before the wave drags him away and looks around.

John Evans: Meinir! Rhys! Dylan!

Rhys Evans: It’s alright dad, I’ve got them!

Iwan Roberts: We can’t land in this! The waves will sweep us away!

JE: We’ve come this far - we can’t turn back now!

John Evans strides towards the shore carrying his son. His other son follows, supporting his wife who is carrying their baby. After a moment’s hesitation the others follow. After a desperate struggle through the waves, Evans reaches the shore where he falls to his knees, gently puts his son down and touches his head on the ground before rising again. He looks around in wonder.

JE: And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.
---
“Cut! That’s a wrap. Well done everybody.” Peter Craig got up out of his director’s chair and headed towards where the cameraman was standing to confirm he’d captured the action. He smothered a sigh as he saw an all too familiar figure heading towards him.

“Hello professor,” he said.

“You know it really didn’t happen that way, don’t you?” Alun Morgan said. “The boats ran ashore without any problem and they barely got their feet wet, and the women in particular would have been wearing heavy coats, not shirts that clung like, like that…” He gestured towards the actress playing Meinir Evans, who was wrapping a towel around her shoulders.

“Professor, haven’t we had this conversation before? You told the story in a book, I’m telling it in a film - and films need drama, spectacle.”

“Well, yes but…”

“Excellent - I’m so glad we agree!” Craig jovially slapped Morgan on the back and strode away towards the cameraman.

----
The Carnarvon Bay arrived off the Patagonian coast near the mouth of the river the settlers would name the Afon Camwy at the beginning of September, and by the 10th of that month had completed unloading them and their supplies. The beach was not empty when they arrived however - Tom Price and John Lewis had arrived some weeks previously from Buenos Aires with tents, tools, and some goats, chickens and a mule to help the colonists get started.

The first thing the colonists did was to erect the tents for shelter. The second was to start clearing land next to the river in order to get their seeds into the ground, the sole mule proving invaluable once it was hitched to a plough. The third was to dig a canal from the river to the field to moisten the dry soil enough for the seed to germinate. Then it was matter of backbreaking hard labour on the necessities to build a colony in the wilderness - gathering and shaping rocks for working into cottages so that no-one was living under canvas when winter came around; gradually expanding the cleared land so that more could be put under cultivation next season; laying out pasture for the livestock - after dropping the colonists off the Carnarvon Bay had sailed north and acquired horses, pigs and sheep before sailing back to Britain, and the colonists themselves had acquired a small number of the wild cattle that roamed the area; and so on and so on.

Not all was toil and labour however. The vast majority of the settlers came from a non-comformist background, and the first public building to be erected in the colony was a chapel. Here it was where John Evans - who as well as being civil administrator and leader of the community was also a Methodist lay preacher - conducted the first baptism, of his granddaughter Myfanwy Evans, after two months in Patagonia and the first wedding, of Thomas Morgan and Mary Price, after three.

Thus it was that our small colony, almost completely overlooked by the outside world, entered into the year of Our Lord 1815.
---
Authors notes:
Yes, I have watched "Sweet Liberty"
"And it shall come to pass..." Exodus 12:25
Afon Camwy = River Chubut

 

[Sh3ba]

Neat timeline! Never knew the british had a clain to part of modern day patagonia. You learn something new everyday

Here is to the welsh colony succeeding

 

[Petete123123]

Terrific update. Where would this first settlement be? Near the river mouth?

BTW, I found about the British expedition. It was all part of a 5 years effort in the Straits area to explore and map it. There were two ships in it. HMS Adventure led by Phillip Parker King who also led the expedition and HMS Beagle, which would end led by FitzRoy and taking part in the well know kidnapping of 4 fueguians, and in its second voyage would take Darwin over the world.
Anyway, the effort was apparently not one of colonization as according to Spanish sources the British acknowledged the Argentine/Chilean ownership of the area.

The spot you see in the map is where the expedition established their operational base. In that place there is a cementery where the original commander of the HMS Beagle is buried.

 

[RPW@Cy]

Terrific update. Where would this first settlement be? Near the river mouth?

Yes. If you picture them hitting the beach at what is now Playa Union with the first settlement (Trewatcyn) being in the Rawson area you won't be far wrong.

BTW, I found about the British expedition..

Thanks, that's very helpful

 

[corditeman]

The British Claim...

...Fitzroy got to Fuego first in 1828 and again in 1834, this time with Matthews and Darwin. The abortive mission station was the first settlement in the Fuegan archipelago, as far as I know. So Fuego should be British!

At least if it was British, it wouldn't be split between Chileos and Argentinos - but I hope Pete's ancestors would come to Ushuaia.

 

[Petete123123]

...Fitzroy got to Fuego first in 1828 and again in 1834, this time with Matthews and Darwin. The abortive mission station was the first settlement in the Fuegan archipelago, as far as I know. So Fuego should be British!

At least if it was British, it wouldn't be split between Chileos and Argentinos - but I hope Pete's ancestors would come to Ushuaia.

Well, the first permanent settlement actually was the Anglican mission in front of today's Ushuaia. So kind of happened anyway.

It's a shame its divided. It's anyway guess. At this point one is starving in San Juan and most are starving in Europe. A shame none were Celtic. Maybe those from Asturias can claim some Brittonic ancestry?

 

[RPW@Cy]

Part 4 - First Contact

“Traditional history writing portrays Meinir Evans as a literal Mam y Wladfa - “Mother of the Colony”, stepping ashore from the longboat that carried her from the Carnarvon Bay to the beach with one child in her arms and another in her womb and giving birth two months later to the first Welsh child to be born in Patagonia. That she then went on to have another six children in the first decade of the Colony’s existence only serves to cement this comforting if stereotypical view. This work however will seek to demonstrate that if, anything, her fertility was the least interesting aspect of the life of this remarkable woman…”

From Gwlad ein Mamau: dadansoddiad fenywydd o sylfaenu'r Gymru Newydd (Land of our Mothers: a feminist analysis of the founding of New Wales) by Dr Eleri Echevarria, Prifysgol Trewatcyn.
-----
The first encounter between the Welsh settlers and the natives is one of those stories that would scarce be believed if it were not true and attested by eye-witnesses on both sides. As has been mentioned already, the Welsh believed the country to be empty when they settled it. This is because the native people who inhabited the area - a tribe known to themselves as Aoniken, but to outsiders as Tehuelche - were a nomadic people who spent the summers in the high valleys of the Andes Mountains and moved down to the coastlands for the winter. As the Welsh had arrived at the start of the southern spring to give them as much time as possible to plant their crops, they therefore naturally saw no sign of the Aoniken.

Rhys Evans, his wife Meinir and their children Dylan and Myfanwy had been granted a plot of land at the northernmost edge of the colony. One day, while Rhys and a couple of labourers yet to get their own plots were working in the field to bring in the harvest Meinir was in the yard outside the small cottage they’d built with their own hands milking a goat and singing a lullaby to little Myfanwy, who was gurgling in her crib. Out of nowhere it seemed a group of riders appeared on the horizon and began riding towards the farmstead - Rhys and one of the labourers ran back to the house, another of the labourers ran to the next farm along for help.

When the riders reached the building, Rhys had recovered the muskets he kept hidden in the storeroom and had loaded them, but there were only two men in the farmstead and perhaps a dozen in the Indian party. So far, so normal. But it was then, as things hovered on the edge of violence that things changed. There was no possibility of speaking to each other - the Welsh spoke no Aoniken, and the Indians spoke no Cymraeg - so Meinir solemnly picked up young Myfanwy, walked over to one of the Aoniken women and handed over the baby.

“Fy mhaban” she simply said. The Aoniken lady giggled in delight. “Coquet!” She replied. As this exchange took place, the blindingly obvious message - nobody brings a babe in arms to a fight - sank in on both sides and the tension eased. Food was brought out, men on both sides who could speak some Spanish found each other and a halting exchange began.

As it happened, the Aoniken settled in next to the colony and stayed for the winter. It was a situation that proved fruitful for both sides - the natives taught the colonists how to hunt guanaco and rhea and showed them which wild fruits and plants were safe to eat, and the colonists provided the natives with bread, fish, eggs, cheese and meat - the bread in particular proved to be so popular that it is said that “bara” was the first Welsh word many of the Aoniken learned. Not all was harmony - the Aoniken found the stern non-conformism of the Welsh bemusing, and the Welsh found the paganism with a light surface layer of Catholicism of the Aoniken exasperating - but a curious friendship was forged nevertheless. When spring came round again and the Aoniken prepared to leave, three of the landless youths of the colony left with them and two of the Aoniken children stayed behind.
---
Author’s Notes:
“Fy mhaban” – “My baby” (Cymraeg)
“Coquet!” – “Pretty!” (Aoniken)
It may be worthwhile at this point to remind readers of the observation made in the first part – that the more bizarre something sounds the more likely it is to be fundamentally OTL. The OTL Welsh colony has two versions of the first contact between the colonists and the Tehuelche, one of them – that an unnamed farmer’s wife headed off violence by showing the newcomers her new-born child – is the basis of this part (the other, that the first Tehuelche arrived during a country wedding, had an equally peaceful outcome).

 

[mrmandias]

That is just a touch too idyllic, but oh well.

 

[RPW@Cy]

That is just a touch too idyllic, but oh well.

Indeed, which is why I made a point of saying it was Based On A True Story (tm). Good relations with the Tehuelche were vital to the survival of the OTL colony - all the stuff about teaching how to hunt and to recognise what's safe to eat is also OTL, as indeed is the bit about youths going off with them to learn more about their life, sometimes nice things simply do happen. Things will get messier down the line.

 

[fasquardon]

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.

The Falklands are a really good naval base. If you want to dominate access from the Atlantic to the Pacific (or vice versa) it is really the best place to do it from in the age of sail. Particularly pre-Panama Canal.

Even today, it is a very important strategic asset.

So I suspect that Britain would still be interested in them.

fasquardon

 

[Petete123123]

Good update! The date of that first encounter should be remembered. It could make for a great Welsh Thanksgiving.

Just two notes.

First that the Tehuelche name at this time was mainly used by the Mapuche and northern Pampas. It's a Mapuche word after all. The Spanish speaking people still called them Patagones, as they had almost no contact with them, and will only take that new name after some decades of contact with the Mapuche Pampas.

The second is communicating in Spanish. I know you needed it, but it would be really unlikely to find some Aonikenk able to speak it so far south and at this time. Maybe they could just start with hand gestures and trying to learn. When there's a will there's a way the say. Take as an example Rev. Thomas Bridge in Tierra del Fuego. He by himself learnt Yaghan, which is arguably more difficult. Point being, it could proove better for future exchanges and relations that some Welsh learn the language instead of relying in Spanish.

But anyway. Keep it going. This is a really good timeline

 

[thekingsguard]

That was a touching first contact.

 

[Herr Frage]

That was a touching first contact.

Indeed, some communication transcends language.

I know some conflict at least is likely inevitable, but hopefully it will not define the relationship.

Lets see what kind of nest the red dragon makes.

 

[The Professor]

Interesting update.

And in interest of spreading puns: I always read Tehuelche as Teh Welsh

 

[Guildencrantz]

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.

Ynysoedd y Falklands yn Gymraeg!

 

[Neoteros]

Ynysoedd y Falklands yn Gymraeg!

New Wales needs a New Anglesey, after all.

The number of Welsh speakers in the old Wales might decrease as a consequence of the Welsh colonization of Patagonia, though... Welsh in ATL Wales could end up just like the Gaelic languages of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.

 

[Julius Vogel]

New Wales needs a New Anglesey, after all.

The number of Welsh speakers in the old Wales might decrease as a consequence of the Welsh colonization of Patagonia, though... Welsh in ATL Wales could end up just like the Gaelic languages of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.

Interesting risk. I don't know much about Welsh migration OTL but I had always assumed they migrated in similar numbers as other British regions, but then I later found out this wasn't always true. For example, the amount of Welsh migration to NZ in colonial times was very low, seemingly because the NZ government never sent any migration agents there. We instead made up numbers with Irish and Scots.

 

[corditeman]

Thought this might interest you...

...1860s, but intriguing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Araucanía_and_Patagonia

Loved the touch with the baby - similar to a Saga encounter in which a women brought a pot of milk or cream out to the Cape Dorset when they met the Vikings at l'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland.