Ceremony To Mark Anniversary of Mimosa Journey To Patagonia 150 Years Ago

On 28th May 1865 the sailing ship Mimosa set out from the port of Liverpool. On board were 162 Welsh people who were sailing across the Atlantic to set up Y Wladfa Gymreig (The Welsh Colony). In the 19th and early 20th century the government in the Argentine was encouraging emigration from Europe to populate the country outside the area of Buenos Aires. Most of the passengers were from slate-quarrying and agricultural communities in North Wales. The travellers took 60 days to reach their destination. On reaching Argentina in mid-winter they called their landing site Porth Madryn (now known as the city of Puerto Madryn). They journeyed inland and named their first settlement Trelew after Lewis Jones, a founding pioneer 

Y Wladfa still exists and now has a population of around 73,000 and a large number of Welsh-speaking Patagonians live there, mostly around Trelew in the east and Esquel in the Andean foothills. To mark the 150th anniversary of the sailing of the Mimosa to Patagonia a special ceremony, organised by the Merseyside Welsh Heritage Society (Cymdeithas Etifeddiaeth Cymry Glannau Mersi), was held in Liverpool on 30th May. A Memorial was unveiled by Liverpool's Princes Dock. Those attending the ceremony included Elan Jones, great granddaughter of Edwin Cynrig Roberts, one of the Welsh Patagonian Pioneers and Ms Alicia Castro, Argentinian Ambassador to the UK.