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

[RPW@Cy]

I expected the colonists to exterminate the native population of Patagonia but, since it didn't happen, this is what the flag of New Wales in 2015 could look like: a cool-looking Mapuche/Welsh combo.

I've honestly been wracking my brains as to what a flag would look like when the colony needs it's own, but I like that, a lot (At the moment they're using the red dragon without modifications, but if they need to make a point to the neighbours of the "my dad's bigger than your dad" variety they'll probably also use the Union Flag.)

Nice but they may have a Welsh Lion (ie Puma ) instead

One for the coat of arms, I'm thinking...

 

[RPW@Cy]

A 'Welsh Lion', I like that.

I note that the entry on the Guides refers to a Patagonian Army. So I am guessing down the line the country takes Patagonia as its name, with perhaps New Wales as a province or region. With Welsh-Patagonians etc.

I was wondering if someone would spot that You're on the right lines but it's actually the other way round - the country is still officially New Wales (probably "Republic of" by 21stC), but "Patagonia" is commonly used (especially in languages other than Welsh) and "Patagonian" is the preferred demonym, at least amongst those who feel it's more inclusive of native peoples and non-Welsh immigrants.

Maybe the country takes a name other than Patagonia, but a Welsh name - yet everyone else can´t pronounce it and instead calls the country Patagonia anyway.

That's probably very close to being the case. Does "Gweriniaeth Cymru Newydd" fit the bill?

 

[Herr Frage]

(probably "Republic of" by 21stC)

Ah, I hope not.

 

[Petete123123]

Fear the might of the Puma and the Dragon!

 

[fasquardon]

This is the fastest growing timeline thread I am following at the moment.

That is downright unusual for a South American ATL!

And I like both of the flags.

fasquardon

 

[Masked Grizzly]

Interesting

Regarding the name for Welsh Patagonia when it breaks away from Britain, how about something like Cambria or New Cambria (at least in English)?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambria

 

[RPW@Cy]

Thanks again to Petete123123 for reviewing this for plausibility.

Part 8 - There and Back Again

Try to arrive in Porth Niwlog on one of those days in early spring when the Foggy Harbour doesn’t live up to it’s name. It’s a sleepy place, having long since been surpassed as the main Patagonian city on the Pacific coast by Porthladd Nelson to the south, but the esplanade backing the beach has a certain charm in it’s own right especially in the early evening when courting couples parade from bar to bar in their finery. For the occasional visitor perhaps the most interesting sight is one that the young lovers usually ignore out of over-familiarity for at the end of the esplanade overlooking the old harbour is a statue of three men looking out to sea. One wears the frock coat and hat of a dapper English gentleman and is carrying a telescope, another is wearing the tunic, loose trousers and boots of a colonial guide and is carrying a musket and the third is wearing the homespun robes and puma skin cloak of an Aoniken trapper and is carrying a hunting spear. The inscription on the statue simply has three names: PETER EDWARDS - DANIEL JONES - KILCHAM. What is interesting about the statue is not it’s artistic merit (which is limited) but what it says about the sort of people the Patagonians like to see themselves as...

From “An American Journey - from the Arctic Circle to the Land of Fire” by Peter and Caroline Winston, Charleston Press, 1992.
---
Captain Edwards spent ten days in total on the Pacific coast with his sextant and other instruments, mapping the land as closely as he could and identifying landmarks so the site could be found from the sea if necessary. Finally, satisfied he had done everything he could, the small party climbed back on board their rafts and began to pole their way back up river. This was harder than sailing down river had been of course, but it was still only another three days before the two halves of the expedition were reunited, to much rejoicing. The ones left behind had used their time well, refilling their saddlebags with stocks of dried fish and meat.

Rather than head back the way they came, it was agreed they would ride south for a while to explore new lands and seek a different way home. After eight days of riding - slowed by the occasional need to hunt or gather fruits, and Edward’s determination to map as much as possible - they came to what looked like another long lake. However, on tasting the water and finding it to be salty, they realised they’d found another arm of the sea. Their luck was not wholly poor however, as they found a group of Chono indians who, after some cautious negotiation, gave them directions for a route back across the mountains.

Putting their backs to the sea, they started the climb up unto the mountains. Four days into the journey, they briefly stopped for a Christmas dinner of venison courtesy of a deer Jones shot washed down with some brandy Captain Edwards had been saving. After a moment of good cheer, they resumed their journey and on the first day of 1824 they crossed a ridgeline and saw ahead of them a lake (which in honour of the occasion they named Llyn Calennig, Lake New Year) and the beginnings of the Patagonian desert telling them they were through the mountains and on their way home.

They circled the lake until they found the outflow and followed it first east, then south and north again until after two weeks of travel the river started to break into many channels and ending in two lakes, with the ground between green and fertile. Supplies once again running low, they spent a week hunting and fishing while Captain Edwards eagerly mapped the extent of the green lands. Afterwards they followed the outflow of the easternmost of the two lakes into some of the most rugged country they had seen yet, however as the river was clearly heading north east towards the colony spirits remained high for the three weeks it took for them to reach what was clearly the Afon Camwy. Finally, on St Valentine’s Day 1824, they crossed the furthest outpost of the colony they had passed over four months earlier with only half the horses they had left with but only one man down. What would go down in Patagonian folklore as the first Guides expedition had returned home.

Author's note:
Petete123123 has also produced a map to accompany this post, which I attach below with grateful acknowledgement.

 

[thekingsguard]

Glad to see the journey so successful - I wanted to say, reading about your descriptions of the lakes and landscapes sent me on a Wikipedia binge the other day reading about it, so good on you! The Welsh Southern Cone will make quite a lovely, lively country of my reading is any indicator.

 

[Voyager75]

I really enjoy this story. Just make sure that rugby becomes just as popular in Patagonia as in Wales.

 

[Herr Frage]

Excellent, the quest was a rousing success. There is much still be mapped and explored but now a trail is blazed for settlement and travel. That lake country encountered on the return leg sounds promising for the land hungry farmers. And the company and Britain will like the grandness of stretching from sea to sea I expect.

Shouldn't something be named in honor of the sole martyr?

A wonderful monument honoring the men and the diverse heritages that have shaped this country from the start.

 

[Petete123123]

I really enjoy this story. Just make sure that rugby becomes just as popular in Patagonia as in Wales.

It will. The climate and the wind makes other options like football kinda difficult. You end up battling more the conditions than your rival. Tricky part is that wind also complicates playing rugby.

In Ushuaia and many of the comunities in the Andes have certainly as much if not more rugby than outside football. The answer by the steppe cities to the wind is inside football, but some try to have rugby anyway. I remember playing at our home turf in Ushuaia under cold and sometimes snow, but visiting Rio Grande was death. I would choose the former anytime. A wind so strong that passing or kicking the ball was gifting it. Even worst, the dammed locals knew perfectly how to use the wind for them. And to make matters better the field was nothing but pebble. Good luck being tackled over that

 

[RPW@Cy]

Not the post I was planning on posting next, but it was an idea that came to me while doing some research for something else and I wanted to get it down before I forgot. It belongs at this point in the tL anyway.

Part 9 - Outside Impressions


"By the Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, &c.

Whereas we think fit that an accurate Survey should be made of the Southern Coasts of the peninsula of South America, from the southern entrance of the River Plata, round to Chilóe; and of Tierra del Fuego; and whereas we have been induced to repose confidence in you, from your conduct of the Surveys in New Holland; we have placed you in the command of His Majesty's Surveying Vessel the Adventure; and we have directed Captain Stokes, of His Majesty's surveying Vessel the Beagle, to follow your orders.

You are therefore hereby required and directed, as soon as both vessels shall be in all respects ready, to put to sea with them; and on your way to your ulterior destination, you are to make, or call at, the following places, successively; namely; Madeira: Teneriffe: the northern point of St. Antonio, and the anchorage at St. Jago; both in the Cape Verd Islands: the Island of Trinidad, in the Southern Atlantic: and Rio de Janeiro: for the purpose of ascertaining the differences of the longitudes of those several places.

After which, you are to proceed to the entrance of the River Plata, to ascertain the longitudes of the Cape Santa Maria, and Monte Video: you are then to proceed to survey the Coasts, Islands, and Straits; from Cape St. Antonio, at the south side of the River Plata, to Trewatkin, where the civil authorities will have been instructed to provide all due assistance your expedition may require. From there, you are then to proceed to survey the Coasts, Islands, and Straits to Chilóe; on the west coast of America; in such manner and order, as the state of the season, the information you may have received, or other circumstances, may induce you to adopt.

"You are to continue on this service until it shall be completed; taking every opportunity to communicate to our Secretary, and the Commander-in-Chief, your proceedings: and also, whenever you may be able to form any judgment of it, where the Commander-in-Chief, or our Secretary, may be able to communicate with you.

Given under our hands the 16th of May 1826.
(Signed)
MELVILLE.
G. COCKBURN.

To Phillip P. King, Esq., Commander of His Majesty's Surveying Vessel Adventure, at Plymouth.
By command of their Lordships.
(Signed)
J. W. CROKER."
----
Porth Niwlog, June 1829

Captain King looked at the small town he was being rowed towards with barely concealed distaste. Apparently barely three years ago this had been an open beach and frankly it looked it - as a gap opened in the mist which gave Foggy Harbour it’s name he could see what looked like a random collection of wooden hovels grouped around an apology for a pier with a single fishing boat pulled alongside. It was a British - or Welsh, at least - harbour nevertheless, and therefore he was required to pay his respects to the Master.

At least it’s an opportunity to unload my guests. He thought to himself as he looked over at David Price and Edward Powell who had embarked at Trewatkin and had spent the entire voyage so far being infernally nosey about every cove, river mouth and island they had stopped at so far, but who had expressed a wish to return home overland. Don’t they have enough land?

The Adventure’s longboat pulled up alongside the pier where Jones saw a small party gathered to meet him. Introductions - Mr Lloyd the mayor, a local businessman, and the harbourmaster - were made by a young man whose sole qualification for being there appeared to be a somewhat barbarous command of English, but who turned out to be officer in command of the local militia and therefore as close as this... outpost of civilisation got to a military man.

The mayor proudly showed his visitors around his town - which as it was home to less than two hundred people, did not take long - before heading back to his own cabin to offer his guests dinner. This at least was a respectably substantial building complete with such modern conveniences as floorboards and furniture that was free of splinters. The guests were served with a surprisingly drinkable red wine while the mayor introduced his guests to his wife, daughter and two sons. King couldn’t help but notice lieutenant Cooke brighten noticeably at being introduced to miss Lloyd, but could only hope that the lack of a common language would prevent offence from being given.

The food was also surprisingly good, a starter of fish stew followed by roast lamb with local vegetables and a dessert of stewed fruit and fresh cream, accompanied by more of the surprisingly drinkable wine, which apparently was Chilean in origin. King listened with polite interest to his host’s ambitions for the town (thankfully Powell and Price, whose English was now fluent after two years aboard the Adventure, took over the burden of interpreting), how he hoped that now King had thoroughly mapped the sea route the town could develop it’s potential for shipping timber to the east coast and as an entrepot for trade with Chile and Peru and possibly even receiving immigrant ships directly instead of via the long overland route, and so on.

As the evening headed towards midnight King made his excuses to his hosts, saying the Navy men needed to return to their ship to depart on the morning tide. Somewhat to his surprise, he was presented with a barrel of apples to be shared among the crew. He made his farewells to Powell and Price, and wished them well for the overland journey.

“A penny for them, Mr Cooke.” He said on his way back.

“Ghastly place, but has potential.”

“The town, or the Colony?”
----
Author’s note:
The orders at the start of this post are mostly OTL, adapted for the purposes of this timeline and taken from Captain King’s Narrative of the Voyages of the Adventure and the Beagle, published in 1839. Porth Niwlog is on essentially on the site of OTL Chaiten and is where the Guides reached the Pacific in previous posts.

 

[Pio2013]

Sub'd (a little late)

 

[Herr Frage]

The Beagle eh?

Niwlog seems to be coming along nicely. Two-hundred souls already and some trade with Chile. And as the mayor said the new charts may encourage more immigration from either the East or Wales directly.

But of course, if New Wales is trading with the independents that means their attention is going to be drawn even more.

 

[Dom]

Very nice, RPW@Cy. glad i caught this now so I can keep up as it's updated. Subscribed.

 

[RPW@Cy]

The Beagle eh?

Yes, this is basically the lesser known first voyage of the Beagle - Darwin was on board the second voyage, this article came about because I had this vague thought that I ought to write a "Darwin in Patagonia" post, but had no idea how to go about it, as it is this will probably stand in instead.

Niwlog seems to be coming along nicely. Two-hundred souls already and some trade with Chile. And as the mayor said the new charts may encourage more immigration from either the East or Wales directly.

But of course, if New Wales is trading with the independents that means their attention is going to be drawn even more.

Two hundred people is only about forty families, and probably represents only a single ship's worth of people. The idea really was to get a footprint on the Pacific and think about what came next later.

The trade with Chile bit is easier to understand BTW when you remember that Chiloe Island (the last major Spanish possession in South America) was conquered by the Chileans in 1826 and lies only forty miles or so away across the Corcovado Gulf from Porth Niwlog - such trade as is happening is much more likely to be with Chiloe rather than going all the way to Valparaiso.

 

[Herr Frage]

Two hundred people is only about forty families, and probably represents only a single ship's worth of people. The idea really was to get a footprint on the Pacific and think about what came next later.

The trade with Chile bit is easier to understand BTW when you remember that Chiloe Island (the last major Spanish possession in South America) was conquered by the Chileans in 1826 and lies only forty miles or so away across the Corcovado Gulf from Porth Niwlog - such trade as is happening is much more likely to be with Chiloe rather than going all the way to Valparaiso.

Still it is a foothold and will grow in the mean time while they wait on what to do next.

though such proximity to Chile with the Spanish no longer a factor may lead to some tensions as the area develops. Chile I believe is better situated to claim the isles.

 

[RPW@Cy]

Part 10 - A cloud the size of a man's hand


"....after being forced to resign his office as governor of Buenos Aires in December 1832, it looked for a time as if Rosas’ political career was over. Rosas however had different ideas. While making a show of retiring to his estates south of the city and living the life of a gentleman rancher, he instead laid the groundwork for the military campaign that would serve as the basis of his comeback and which would for the first time see Argentinian forces campaign south of the Rio Negro…"

From A Great Bad Man: the life of Juan Manuel de Rosas by Major Sir Thomas Rose, published in the Journal of the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, Spring 1936 edition.
---
Medano Redondo, Colorado River Valley November 6 1833

Juan Manuel de Rosas, former dictator of Buenos Aires and now just one of her generals, was sitting at a desk in front of his command tent turning over two letters that had arrived within the last twenty four hours. He forced a calm expression on his face and slowly sipped from a glass of wine his nervous aide had poured him. The progress of the campaign had been more than satisfactory so far, those Indians who bent the knee and pledged loyalty - always to Rosas personally, not to Buenos Aires or the Confederation - were graciously allowed to remain on their lands and in possession of their herds in return for service. Those who fought however were driven into the desert where they either starved or were killed. His columns had already swept the lands north of the Colorado clear of enemies and were now driving them from the lands between the Colorado and Negro rivers. Everything had been going according to plan, until he received the first letter, from Major Ibanez, who was leading a column hunting the Cacique Cayupan south of the river. Despite knowing it by heart, he turned it over and read it again.

Your Excellency,
It is with great sorrow that I write to inform you of a development that has prevented me from achieving the mission you entrusted me…

Rosas read again how Ibanez had driven Cayupan south through the desert towards the valley of the Rio Chiquito, where he expected the Gennekenk Cacique to stand and fight as it was the last water supply available for days around. On approaching the river however, Ibanez’s men had been met by a party of strangers carrying two flags, one of which he had never heard of before, but one which was entirely too familiar to any Buenos Airean old enough to remember the events of 1806. The strangers were very polite, but refused to yield an inch. Cayupan they said had attempted to occupy the position some days previously, but the British had refused to allow him to do more than replenish his peoples’ water bottles and move on. Ibanez was also welcome to replenish his men’s water bottles and rest a day or two before returning the way he came but the British would not permit him to advance into lands they had claimed nor would they tell him in which direction Cayupan had left.

Ibanez had thought of either detouring around the British or attacking them, but could not guarantee that none of the British would survive to bear witness, so he had taken the decision to withdraw back to the Negro and inform Rosas of this development. Rosas didn’t quite trust himself to reply to this letter immediately, so he turned over the second letter, this one was from his wife.

My dearest husband,
It is with great joy that I write to inform you of the victory your friends have secured over the enemies of the Confederation…

And went on to describe how the government that had attempted to put him on trial had itself been overthrown when his supporters from the country had ridden on the city. Feeling in much better humour, he turned back to the first letter and began to draft the reply he knew he had to write, informing Ibanez that he had made the right decision.

The British can wait. We will deal with them and their comic-opera indian-loving colony when the time is right. The prize is too close for distractions now.
---
Author’s notes:
The phrase about “a great, bad man” was originally coined about Oliver Cromwell and also applied to Napoleon. I doubt Rosas would be offended by either characterisation.
The meeting between Ibanez and the Welsh party (Rosas either isn’t aware of or simply doesn’t care about any difference between British and Welsh at this point) took place at what is now Valcheta in southern Rio Negro province.


And one other thing - I've been posting updates faster than I've been writing them, and I've now run out of backlog. This means the pace of posting will probably slow down now, though I'll try to maintain at least one a week. The sad fact is that I'm having to do an awful lot of research into an area of history - South American history - that I'm not very familiar on.

 

[thekingsguard]

So now Patagonia has butterflies flapping on Argentinean history already?

 

[Herr Frage]

And so it begins. I do not know enough about Argentine history to knoow how this will affect things; but that they will be back is for certain.