28th July. The town of Puerto Madryn in the province of Chubut in Argentine Patagonia was founded on July 28, 1865, when 150 Welsh immigrants arriving aboard the clipper Mimosa named the natural port Porth Madryn in honour of Sir Love Jones-Parry (pictured), whose estate in Wales was named Madryn. Towards the end of 1862 Captain Love Jones-Parry, accompanied by Lewis Jones, had left for Patagonia to decide whether it was a suitable area for Welsh emigrants. The trip was largely financed by Jones-Parry and they first visited Buenos Aires where they held discussions with the Interior Minister. Then, having come to an agreement, they headed south and reached Patagonia in a small ship named the Candelaria, and were driven by a storm into a bay which was later named Porth Madryn . Following a favourable report from Jones-Parry and Lewis Jones, a group of 162 Welsh emigrants departed for Patagonia in the ship Mimosa in 1865. The settlement grew as a result of the building of the Central Chubut Railway by Welsh, Spanish, and Italian immigrants. This line, opened in 1888, linked the town to Trelew via the lower Chubut River valley. Puerto Madryn has about 57,571 inhabitants according to the last census in 2001 and is twinned with Nefyn, on the Llŷn Peninsula.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 23:10:00 +0000
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