Bara Brith on the pampas: the Welsh in Patagonia

In 1865, a Welsh speaking colony was established in the valley of
the Chubut River in Patagonia Argentina. The original emigrants
sailed from Liverpool on the Mimosa and they were joined in the
1880s by a second wave of emigrants and a further colony was
established in the foothills of the Andes. Although measures were
later taken to remove some of the colonists to Canada and South
Africa, most of the settlers and their descendants remained in
Argentina. The National Archives holds a vast amount of material
relating to this relatively unknown but fascinating episode in
British history. This talk looks at the main records relating to
the history and development of the settlement from the earliest
days to modern times, and examines why the Welsh travelled to
Patagonia, what they encountered when they got there, and how the
colony developed over the years.