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Welsh Settlers and Native Americans in Patagonia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Glyn Williams
Glyn Williams
Affiliation:
Welsh Settlers and Native Americans in Patagonia
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Extract

One of the geographical areas most neglected by historians of Latin America is Patagonia. This is particularly true of the second half of the nineteenth century, a period during which the area began to be opened up to European settlement. While it is true that some attention has been given to early European settlement on the one hand, and to the fate of the native Americans during the ‘Conquest of the Desert’ on the other, no one has thus far attempted to outline the nature of the relationships between the two populations. In this article I would like to initiate such an enquiry by focusing upon the relationship between the Welsh settlers in Chubut, who were the first Europen settlers successfully to occupy Argentinian Patagonia, and the nomadic populations which occupied the region at the time of arrival of these settlers. As is the case with most frontier histories, such a study should throw new light upon the ethnohistory of the native American population, especially as it focuses upon their relationship with the Argentine Government. Events such as the ‘Conquest of the Desert‘ are often viewed as a direct confrontation between the central government and the native Americans rather than as a phenomenon which must inevitably involve the frontier settlements as well.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , May 1979 , pp. 41 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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References

1 See, for example, Matthews, Abram, Hanes y Wladfa Gymreig yn Patagonia (Mills and Evans, Caernarfon, 1894);Google ScholarJones, Lewis, Hanes y Wladfa Gymreig (Cwmni'r Wasg Genedlaethol Gymreig, Caernarfon, 1898);Google ScholarBauer, John E., ‘The Welsh in Patagonia: An Example of Nationalistic Migration’, Hispanic American Historical Review, 34, No. 4 (1954), pp. 468–92;CrossRefGoogle ScholarWilliams, R. Bryn, Y Wladfa (University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1962);Google ScholarBowen, E. G., ‘The Welsh Colony in Patagonia 1865–1888. A Study in Historical Geography’, Geographical Journal, 132, No. 1 (1966), pp. 16–31;CrossRefGoogle ScholarWilliams, Glyn, The Desert and the Dream (University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1975).Google Scholar

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5 Public Record Office, London (hereafter referred to as P.R.O.), Foreign Office: Argentina (F.O. 6) 260.

6 Ibid.; The Times, 8 Sept. 1856.

7 P.R.O., F.O. 6/260.

8 An elaboration of the following discussion of the native American population in Patagonia can be found in Williams, Glyn, ‘Ecological Aspects of Tehuelche Socio-Territorial Organization’, in Browman, David L. and Schwarz, Ronald A. (eds.), Primitives, Peasants and Proletariats: Struggle for Identity in South America (Mouton, The Hague, forthcoming).Google Scholar

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10 University College of North Wales, Bangor Library Manuscript No. 11455 (hereafter referred to as B.M.S.).

11 Ibid.

12 U.C.N.W. Bangor, Rare Book Room No. AX15 78627.

13 U.C.N.W. Bangor, Rare Book Room No. AX15 78629.

14 P.R.O., F.O. 6/262.

15 Argentina Austral, 10 Apr., 1934. Original italics.

16 For a discussion of the immigration process see Williams, Glyn, ‘La Emigración Galesa a Patagonia 1865–1915’, Jarbuch für Geschichte von Staat, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft Lateinamerikas, 13 (1976), pp. 239–93.Google Scholar

17 The original of this document can be found at the Musco Regional de Gaiman, Chubut. No manuscript number.

18 Letter from Thomas Evans (Dinmol) to Ceiriog dated 20 June 1866, at the Musco Regional de Gaiman. No manuscript number; P.R.O., F.O., 6/263.

19 See fig. 10 in Williams, The Desert, op. cit.

20 Abram Matthews, op. cit., p. 25; Correspondence respecting the establishment of a Welsh Colony on the River Chupat in Patagonia. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty (1867).

21 Abram Matthews, op. cit., p. 25.

22 National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, Manuscript No. (hereafter referred to as N.L.W.M.S.) 7260C.

23 Yr Herald Gymraeg, 27 Jan. 1866.

24 Correspondence respecting … op. cit.; P.R.O., F.O. 6/263.

25 Ibid.

26 Ibid.

27 Ibid.

28 Ibid.

29 Abram Matthews, op. cit., p.27; Thomas Evans to Ceiriog, op. cit.

30 P.R.O. Admiralty Records 147/1.

31 Abram Matthews, op. cit., p. 30.

32 B.M.S., 438.

33 Correspondence respecting the Welsh Colony on the River Chupat in Patagonia. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty (1871).

34 Correspondence respecting … 1867, op. cit.

35 Abram Matthews, op. cit., p. 30.

36 Lewis, Jones, op. cit., pp. 73–2.

37 N.L.W.M.S. 12, 203C.

38 From a letter from M. D. Jones to T. B. Phillips dated 12 Mar. 1867 in the possession of Sr Tommy Williams, Esquel.

39 Ibid.

40 From letters from M. D. Jones to T. B. Phillips dated 13 Dec. 1866 and 17 May. 1872 in the possession of Sr Tommy Williams, Esquel; B.M.S., 7624.

41 M. D. Jones to T. B. Phillips, 17 May 1872, op. cit.

42 P.R.O., F.O., 118/1448.

43 The originals of these records can be found at the Musco Regional de Gaiman. No manuscript number available.

44 See the diary of J. G. Pritchard for 1874 at the Musco Regional de Gaiman. No manuscript number available.

45 Ibid.

46 Yr Herald Gymraeg, 20 Jan. 1868.

47 Abram Matthews, op. cit., p. 42.

48 P.R.O., F.O., 118/144B.

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51 N.L.W.M.S., 1074E.

52 N.L.W.M.S., 16654C.

53 Correspondence respecting … 1871, op. cit.

54 N.L.W.M.S., 19100B; Y Dydd, 11 Mar.. 1869.

55 N.L.W.M.S., 16654C.

56 B.M.S., 10226; P.R.O., Admiralty, 147/1.

57 Abram Matthews, op. cit., p. 58; Y Drafod, 10 Apr. 1896. On one occasion when a horse had been stolen by a Chilean visitor to the settlement it was retrieved by one of the Tehuelche who recognized it while in the Andean area. The horse was confiscated by the Tehuelche who returned it to its owner almost twelve months after the theft on condition that he receive a reward of one loaf of bread each time he visited the settlement.

58 George Chaworth Musters, op. cit., pp. 112–13; Lewis Jones (1898), op. cit., p. 72.

59 P.R.O., F.O., 118–144B.

60 Abram Matthews, op. cit., p. 58; Y Drafod, 10 Apr. 1896.

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62 B.M.S., 11455.

63 B.M.S., 7626.

64 See the diaries of Lewis Jones at the Musco Regional de Gaiman. No manuscript number available; B.M.S. 7626.

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66 U.C.N.W., Bangor, Rare Book Room AX 19; B.M.S., 438.

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68 B.M.S., 7622 and 7623.

69 D. S. Davies, op. cit.

70 B.M.S., 11358.

71 B.M.S., 7670.

72 N.L.W.M.S., 7260C.

73 Abram Matthews, op. cit., p. 103.

74 P.R.O., F.O. 566/40.

75 Ibid.

76 P.R.O., F.O. 6/326.

77 Ibid.

78 See President Avellaneda's message to Congress, 11 May 1875, in P.R.O., F.O. 6/326.

79 Angelis, Pedro de, Colección de Obras y Documentos Relativos a la Historia Antigua y Moderna de las Provincias del Río la Plata, VI (Buenos Aires, 1837), p. 13.Google Scholar

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86 P.R.O., Admiralty, 147/1.

87 Report received by the Admiralty from the Captain of H.M.S. ‘Garnet’. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, 1880.

88 Lewis Jones, op. cit., pp. 116–18.

89 Report received … ‘Amethyst’ … op. cit.

90 Ibid.

91 Ibid.

92 N.L.W.M.S., I2,200A.

93 B.M.S., 11364 and 11365.

94 Lewis Jones, op. cit., p. 115; N.L.W.M.S., 10746E; P.R.O., F.O. 6/383.

95 P.R.O., F.O. 6/374.

96 P.R.O., F.O. 6/379.

97 N.L.W.M.S., 12,200A; see the letter from Dr Bernardo de Irigoyen to the Minister of War. No date, but 1883 in Archwo Histórico de la Provincia, Rawson, Chubut. No manuscript number.

98 Lewis Jones, op. cit., pp. 115–16; E. Stieben, op. cit., p. 59.

99 P.R.O., F.O. 6/383.

100 P.R.O., Admiralty 147/1; U.C.N.W., Bangor, Rare Book Room AX 14.

101 Censo Indígena Nacional (C.I.N.) Resultados Provisorios y Definitiva, 1 (Buenos Aires, 1966), p. 64.

102 Report received by the Admiralty from the Captain of H.M.S. ‘Alegrine’. Presented to both Houses of Parliament (1886).

103 B.M.S., 7667.

104 Alfred Hasbrouck, op. cit., p. 228.

105 Report received … ‘Amethyst’ … op. cit.

106 Davies, Jonathan Caredig, Darlith ar Patagonia: Yn cynnwys dariuniad o'r wlad, yn nghydag hanes y Cymry, a'u dull o fyw yn y wlad hono. Hefyd hanes yr lndiaid, a'u harferion (L. Jones, Treherbert, 1891).Google Scholar

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110 Lewis Jones, ‘Musters, Moreno, Lister a Moyano, teithwyr Patagonia’, unpublished essay written in 1882 available at the Museo Regional de Gaiman. No manuscript number.

111 D. S. Davies, op. cit.

112 Lewis Jones, op. cit., p. 114.

113 Escalada, Federico, El Complejo Tehuelche (Buenos Aires, 1949).Google Scholar

114 Sánchez-Labrador, J., Los Indios Pampas – Puelches – Patagones según Joseph Sánchez- Labrador S.J. (Buenos Aires, 1936).Google Scholar

115 Libretos del Censo Nacional (1895). Archivo Nacional, Buenos Aires.

116 Federico Escalada, op. cit.

117 B.M.S. 438.

118 Correspondence respecting … 1871, op. cit.

119 D. S. Davies, op. cit.

120 N.L.W.M.S. 10746E.

121 Lewis Jones, op. cit., p. 115.