MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Delegation in Argentina for preparations of 150th anniversary of Welsh immigration to Patagonia

Lord Dafydd Wigley is also the honorary chairman of the Welsh celebrations coordinating committee, which has programmed events in Wales and in Chubut

Argentina's Foreign ministry is reporting that Lord Dafydd Wigley, honorary president of the Wales-Argentina is currently in Buenos Aires and was received by Argentina's deputy foreign minister Eduardo Zuaín. Other members of the delegation include Marc Phillips and Elvey MacDonald.

 Lord Dafydd Wigley is also the honorary chairman of the Welsh celebrations coordinating committee, which this year has programmed several events both in Wales and in the province of Chubut Argentina to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first Welsh immigrants to Patagonia next July.

In 1865 just over 150 Welsh people sailed from Liverpool on board the 'Mimosa' intent on establishing a new radical, Welsh-speaking Wales in Patagonia. It would prove an influential and inspirational event in the history of Argentina.

Although the Settlement did not eventually develop along the lines envisaged by the early Welsh pioneers, Welsh culture remains an important element in the identity of Chubut province.

Welsh is still a living language there. Perhaps as many as 5,000 Patagonians speak the language today, and what is even more remarkable is how recent years have witnessed a significant revival of interest in all things Welsh, with many attending Welsh-learner classes and some schools teaching through the medium of both Welsh and Spanish.

Moreover, the pioneer spirit, sacrifice and ideals of those early Welsh settlers remain an inspiration to many today in Wales, Argentina and much further afield, points out the Wales-Argentina Society founded in 1939.

As part of the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Welsh Settlement in Chubut, the Wales-Argentina Society has published a Companion to the Welsh Settlement in Patagonia by Eirionedd A. Baskerville. It is a biographical dictionary and contains articles on over forty of the early Welsh pioneers in Patagonia and their descendants.It is an electronic publication and is available to the public on the Wales-Argentina Society’s website.