Rawson, Chubut
Rawson (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈrawson]) is the capital of the Argentine province of Chubut, in Patagonia. It has 24,616 inhabitants in 2010, and it is the chief town of the Rawson Department.
Rawson
Trerawson | |
|---|---|
 Aerial view | |
 Coat of arms | |
  Rawson Location of Rawson in Argentina | |
| Coordinates: 43°18′S 65°6′W | |
| Country |  Argentina |
| Province |  Chubut |
| Department | Rawson |
| Named for | Guillermo Rawson |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Damián Biss (Radical Civic Union) |
| Elevation | 4 m (13 ft) |
| Population (2010 census) | |
| • Total | 24,616 |
| Demonym | Rawsense |
| Time zone | UTC−3 (ART) |
| CPA base | U9103 |
| +54 | 0280 |
| Climate | BWk |
| Website | Official website |
The city is named after Guillermo Rawson (1821–1890), Argentine Minister of the Interior, who supported the Welsh settlement in Argentina.[1]
Rawson is located about 1,360 km (850 mi) south of Buenos Aires, some 20 km (12 mi) from Trelew, and it is served by the Almirante Marco Andrés Zar Airport in Trelew. It lies on both sides of the Chubut River.
The city has a fishing port, Puerto Rawson, on the Atlantic coast, 5 km (3 mi) down the river.
History
Rawson was the first town founded by the Welsh immigrants who sailed on the clipper Mimosa in 1865 to establish a national colony.[2][3]
At the time of founding remains of a mud-walled fortress existed on the site.[4][5] Settlers dwelled in the fortress various months while they explored the surroundings and built permanent houses.[5] It has been posited that the fort was built in 1853 by non-Indigenous hunters who entered the area to hunt feral cattle.[6] The fortress was known by various names by the settlers. One name was Yr Hen Amddiffynfa meaning "Old Fortress",[7] another was Caer Antur meaning "Fort Adventure".[5][4] Henry Libanus Jones had called it "Fuerte Paz" in his 1861 Explanatory notes on two maps of Patagonia.[5]
Between 1885 and 1890 many Italians settled in Rawson.[8] Initially many Italians worked as railway navvys but in time many moved to work in trade.[8]
The first bridge over the Chubut in Rawson was built of wood in 1889 by the carpenter and Welsh-language poet Griffith Griffiths (1829–1909), who wrote under the bardic name Gutyn Ebrill and established the Patagonia Gorsedd of Bards.[9][10][11] This bridge was destroyed by a flood ten years later, and was replaced by an iron bridge in 1917. In 2001 a decision was made to rename the iron bridge as Puente del Poeta (poet's bridge) in honor of Griffiths. A plaque was installed at the bridge with information on Griffiths.[12]
Rawson was flooded in 1899 and 1901.[8] While there had been floods before these floods caused a partial depopulation of the town with many choosing to resettle in Trelew.[13] Trelew was temporarily made capital of Chubut in 1903 as Rawson recovered from the floods. This fuelled a rivalry between the towns which was further compounded by differences in their ethnic make-up as Rawson was more Catholic and had a higher proportion of Argentines, Italians and Spanish relative to Trelew.[13] Rawson regained the capital status soon thereafter.[13]
Climate
Rawson experiences a borderline cold desert (Köppen BWk)/cold semi-desert (BSk) climate with hot summers, cool winters and low precipitation year-round.
| Climate data for Trelew/Rawson | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 41.3 (106.3) |
40.4 (104.7) |
39.5 (103.1) |
35.3 (95.5) |
29.5 (85.1) |
27.7 (81.9) |
24.8 (76.6) |
27.4 (81.3) |
31.3 (88.3) |
36.4 (97.5) |
38.3 (100.9) |
41.2 (106.2) |
41.3 (106.3) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 29.3 (84.7) |
28.5 (83.3) |
24.6 (76.3) |
20.3 (68.5) |
15.7 (60.3) |
12.1 (53.8) |
12.3 (54.1) |
14.6 (58.3) |
17.6 (63.7) |
20.9 (69.6) |
25.7 (78.3) |
27.9 (82.2) |
20.8 (69.4) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 21.7 (71.1) |
20.6 (69.1) |
17.1 (62.8) |
13.1 (55.6) |
9.1 (48.4) |
6.3 (43.3) |
5.9 (42.6) |
7.6 (45.7) |
10.1 (50.2) |
13.8 (56.8) |
18.0 (64.4) |
20.3 (68.5) |
13.6 (56.5) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 14.4 (57.9) |
13.4 (56.1) |
10.5 (50.9) |
7.1 (44.8) |
3.9 (39.0) |
1.5 (34.7) |
0.9 (33.6) |
1.8 (35.2) |
4.1 (39.4) |
7.5 (45.5) |
10.3 (50.5) |
12.7 (54.9) |
7.3 (45.1) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 3.0 (37.4) |
1.7 (35.1) |
−1.4 (29.5) |
−4.2 (24.4) |
−10.7 (12.7) |
−10.8 (12.6) |
−10.8 (12.6) |
−10.2 (13.6) |
−8.0 (17.6) |
−4.0 (24.8) |
−1.0 (30.2) |
1.0 (33.8) |
−10.8 (12.6) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 13.9 (0.55) |
11.3 (0.44) |
21.4 (0.84) |
28.3 (1.11) |
21.6 (0.85) |
23.4 (0.92) |
20.9 (0.82) |
13.5 (0.53) |
12.5 (0.49) |
20.9 (0.82) |
10.1 (0.40) |
12.3 (0.48) |
210.1 (8.27) |
| Average precipitation days | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 73 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 38.2 | 43.2 | 49.4 | 53.2 | 61.6 | 66.8 | 64.8 | 56.4 | 50.8 | 44.2 | 41.0 | 39.2 | 50.7 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 310.0 | 271.2 | 260.4 | 198.0 | 155.0 | 135.0 | 136.4 | 173.6 | 195.0 | 244.9 | 285.0 | 294.5 | 2,649.7 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 67.0 | 69.3 | 65.3 | 60.3 | 51.3 | 50.0 | 47.3 | 53.7 | 55.0 | 59.7 | 65.0 | 55.3 | 58.3 |
| Source 1: Servicio Meteorologico Nacional,[14] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Secretaria de Mineria (extremes, humidity and sun 1941–1990)[15] | |||||||||||||
Twinned towns
Blaenau Ffestiniog in Wales, United Kingdom[16]
References
- Williams (1975), p. 47.
- "The Mimosa". Clwyd Family History Society. 24 March 2013. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
- Williams (1975), p. 23.
- Williams (1975), p. 44.
- Williams, David. "Henry Libanus Jones: Su verdadero origen y otros aspectos de su vida, y sobre el llamado fuerte de Rawson". Historia y Arqueologia Marítima (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-11-20.
- Williams (1975), p. 45.
- Williams (1975), p. 44.
- Williams (1975), p. 149.
- "Una ciudad con identidad y acento propio (A city with its own identity and accent)". Diario Jornada (in Spanish). 15 September 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- Pravaz, Sergio (8 July 2012). "Puentes (Bridges)". Diario Jornada (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 June 2017.
- "Celtic and other Gorseddau". National Museum Wales. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
- "Se bautizó el Puente del Poeta (The Poet's Bridge was baptized)". Diario Cronica (in Spanish). Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
- Williams (1975), p. 147.
- "Statistical Data (1981-1990)" (in Spanish). National Meteorological Service of Argentina. Retrieved August 14, 2012.
- "Provincia de Chubut - Clima Y Meteorologia: Datos Meteorologicos Y Pluviometicos" (in Spanish). Secretaria de Mineria de la Nacion (Argentina). Archived from the original on January 19, 2015. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
- "Patagonian dignitaries to visit for twinning | News". Archived from the original on 2015-07-18. Retrieved 2015-06-07.
- Municipal information: Municipal Affairs Federal Institute (IFAM), Municipal Affairs Secretariat, Ministry of Interior, Argentina. (in Spanish)
- Attribution
- Williams, Glyn (1975). The desert and the dream: A study of Welsh colonization in Chubut 1865 – 1915. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-0579-9.
External links
- Interpatagonia.com: Rawson
Media related to Rawson at Wikimedia Commons