Trevelin
Trevelin is a town in southern Argentina. It has a population of around 9000.
The town is located on the eastern banks of the Percy River in the west of Argentina's Chubut Province. It is about 30km from the border with Chile.
It is one of many settlements in Patagonia which is part of Y Wladfa, an area settled by the Welsh starting in the 19th century. Trevelin was first settled by John Daniel Evans who opened the first mill in the area. The town's name (spelt Trefelin in modern Welsh) means "mill town".[1]
After a territorial dispute between Argentina and Chile in 1902, a vote was held and the locals of Trevelin decided to remain in Argentina.
The mills remained important locally until 1949, when a national law declared that Trevelin was not a "wheat-growing zone". Cattle raising then became the main source of income for the descendants of the Welsh. The moor was turned into fertile and profitable land, and they built irrigation ditches which still exist today.[2]
A replica of the mills can be found at Nant Fach Museum, about 15km south-west of Trevelin.[2]