{"id":120268,"date":"2023-10-22T07:11:53","date_gmt":"2023-10-22T07:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yourclomid.com\/?p=120268"},"modified":"2023-10-22T07:11:53","modified_gmt":"2023-10-22T07:11:53","slug":"the-tiny-towns-7000-miles-from-the-uk-where-all-the-locals-speak-welsh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yourclomid.com\/world-news\/the-tiny-towns-7000-miles-from-the-uk-where-all-the-locals-speak-welsh\/","title":{"rendered":"The tiny towns 7,000 miles from the UK where all the locals speak Welsh"},"content":{"rendered":"

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With Welsh nationalists keen to promote uptake of the Welsh language, you\u2019d be forgiven for thinking it was confined to within the country\u2019s borders – but the dwindling tongue of Cymru is still going strong in a number of towns near Antarctica.<\/p>\n

Patagonia, in Southern Argentina, is home to a few towns where Welsh is officially the second language, and the reason is a very historical one.<\/p>\n

Gaiman, Trelew and Trevelin are the urban areas which the 70,000-strong Welsh-Patagonian population is centred on.<\/p>\n

There are estimated to be between 1,500 and 5,000 Welsh speakers in this quirky corner of the globe – 7,000 miles away from Wales.<\/p>\n

The whole Welsh-Patagonian set-up is known as \u201cY Wladfa\u201d – translating as \u201cthe colony\u201d – and has a number of Welsh features across the land, including windmills and chapels. Many settlements along the Lower Chubut Valley also have Welsh names.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong> The world\u2019s most crowded city with a ridiculous 53,000 people per square mile[TRAVEL] <\/strong><\/p>\n

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They really do take Welshness seriously – there are three primary schools that teach equally in Spanish and Welsh, including Trelew\u2019s Ysgol yr Hendre, which translates as \u2018School of the Old Homestead\/Dwelling\u201d.<\/p>\n

The school was funded by former Plaid Cymru leader Dafydd Wigley and artist Sir Kyffin Williams.<\/p>\n

Every year there is a festival – \u2018Eisteddfod\u201d – that takes place in Trevelin, featuring \u201chaunting Welsh folk tunes\u201d and poetry in the \u201cunique Spanish-accented Welsh of the Patagonians\u201d, explained a BBC reporter who attended a previous edition. The festivals also include prose, musical performances, arts, folk dances, photography and filmmaking, among others.<\/p>\n

The bizarre Welsh-Patagonian connection began way back in the middle of the 19th Century, when disgruntled Welsh folks decided to set up a new colony because of fears that their country was assimilating into England with the oncoming industrial revolution.<\/p>\n

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