Trelew (, from cy, tref "town" and the name of the founder, Lewis Jones) is a city in the eastern part of the

Chubut Province Chubut ( es, Provincia del Chubut, ; cy, Talaith Chubut) is a province in southern Argentina, situated between the 42nd parallel south (the border with Río Negro Province), the 46th parallel south (bordering Santa Cruz Province), the Ande ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

. Located in

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...

, the city is the largest and most populous in the low valley of the Chubut River, with 97,915 inhabitants as of 2010. The Trelew municipality is part of the Rawson Department, whose capital, Rawson, is also the provincial capital. Trelew is an important commercial and industrial centre for the region and is the main hub for wool processing, accounting for 90 percent of activity in Argentina. The produce of this industry is mainly shipped and exported through

Puerto Madryn Puerto Madryn (; cy, Porth Madryn), also known as ''Madryn'', is a city in the province of Chubut in Argentine Patagonia. It is the capital of the Viedma Department, and has about 93,995 inhabitants according to the last census in 2010. Puer ...

and

Puerto Deseado Puerto Deseado, originally called Port Desire, is a city of about 15,000 inhabitants and a fishing port in Patagonia in Santa Cruz Province of Argentina, on the estuary of the Deseado River. It was named ''Port Desire'' by the privateer Thomas ...

. Trelew is home to the

Museum of Paleontology Egidio Feruglio The Museum of Paleontology Egidio Feruglio (MEF, in es, Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio) is a science research and exhibition center in Trelew city, Patagonia, Argentina. Its permanent and travelling exhibitions focus on the fossil remai ...

, showcasing the paleontological heritage of the Patagonic region, and considered one of the most important of its kind in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

and the Astronomic and Planetary Observatory. The city is served by the Almirante Marcos A. Zar Airport, of both civilian and military use. The airport's runway is shared with the Almirante Zar Naval Base, home of the

Lockheed P-3 Orion The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop Anti-submarine warfare, anti-submarine and maritime patrol aircraft, maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed Corporation, Lockh ...

squadron of the

Argentine Naval Aviation ) Gulf War , anniversaries = , decorations = , battle_honours = , commander1 = President , commander1_label = Commander-in-Chief , commander2 ...

History

Trelew's foundation is linked with Welsh settlement in Argentina, the leaders of which were Captain Sir Thomas Duncombe Love Jones-Parry (of Madryn) and Lewis (Luis) Jones, who acted as spokesmen to deal with the Argentine government in the beginning of the 1860s. The town was named Trelew in honour of the latter Jones: ''tre'' meaning "town" in

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

and "Lew" being an

apocope In phonology, apocope () is the loss ( elision) of a word-final vowel. In a broader sense, it can refer to the loss of any final sound (including consonants) from a word. Etymology ''Apocope'' comes from the Greek () from () "cutting off", fro ...

for ''Lewis''. Trelew was established on 20 October 1886 as the starting point for the

Central Chubut Railway The Central Chubut Railway (in Spanish: Ferrocarril Central del Chubut) was a British-owned company that built and operated a railway line in the Argentine province of Chubut in the Patagonia region at the end of the 19th. century. History Be ...

line that would link the lower Chubut River Valley to

. Railway building equipment and 400 settlers arrived on July 28 of that same year on the steamer ''Vesta''. The line was opened in 1888 and later extended from Trelew to Gaiman,

Dolavon Dolavon ( Welsh: ''Dolafon'') is a small town in the Patagonian province of Chubut, Argentina. It has a population of 2,929 according to the . It is located close to the Chubut River, about to the west of Gaiman. The name comes from Welsh ''d ...

and finally to Las Plumas. In 1961, the line was closed.

1972 massacre

Trelew was the scene of a massacre in 1972. A breakout of political prisoners at the federal penitentiary resulted in the death of one guard and the attempted flight of about 100 individuals who opposed the military dictatorship which followed the overthrow of President

Arturo Illia Arturo Umberto Illia (; 4 August 1900 – 18 January 1983) was an Argentine politician and physician, who was President of Argentina from 12 October 1963, to 28 June 1966. He was a member of the centrist Radical Civic Union. Illia reached t ...

. A small group of prisoners succeeded in commandeering a plane and flying to safety in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

. The rest submitted to the authorities and were returned to a military prison, where 19 were shot (three survived). The town of Trelew was searched by the military and locals were seized and taken to the

Villa Devoto Villa Devoto is a neighborhood or district located in the northwestern area of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Its administrative limits are defined by Lope de Vega, General Paz, San Martín, and Francisco Beiró Avenues; and Joaquín V. Gonz� ...

prison in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. Virtually the entire town went on strike and succeeded in securing the release of the prisoners at Villa Devoto. These incidents were documented in the book ''La Pasión según Trelew'', by

Tomás Eloy Martínez Tomás Eloy Martínez (July 16, 1934January 31, 2010) was an Argentine journalist and writer. Life and work He was born on July 16, 1934 in San Miguel de Tucumán and is generally considered an influential and innovative figure in Latin America ...

, which was originally published in 1973, but was then suppressed by the dictatorship of the '' Proceso'', and reissued in 1997.

Tourism

Trelew is the centre of tourism in the Central Meseta, the Valley of the Chubut River and the coast. Punta Tombo, the biggest

penguin Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adap ...

reserve in Argentina, is accessible from the city. An annual Eisteddfod is held in Trelew in October, a traditional festival which receives guests from across the country and from Wales, which constitutes a unique expression of Welsh culture in South America. The former Trelew railway station, which was declared a national historic monument in 1969, has functioned as a museum, ''El Museo Regional Pueblo de Luis'', since 1984.

Sports

Racing de Trelew Asociación Civil Racing Club Trelew (mostly known as Racing de Trelew) is an Argentine sports club, located in the city of Trelew, Chubut Province. The club is mostly known for its football team, which currently plays in the Torneo Argentino ...

and Huracán de Trelew are the most important local football clubs. Patoruzú Rugby Club and Trelew Rugby Club are the local clubs practicing this sport. In boxing, the Matthysse brothers, Lucas and Walter, are from Trelew, although most of their notable fights took place in the United States.

Gallery

File:Banco Nacion - Trelew.JPG, Argentina National Bank at night File:A train of ox-drawn carts leaving Trelew, Patagonia.jpg, A train of ox-drawn carts leaving Trelew,c.1880 File:pueblo de luis.jpg, Welsh People's Museum, Trelew File:Aeropuerto Viejo de Trelew - Centro Cultural por la Memoria 12.JPG, Former Airport of Trelew, now a "cultural centre for the memory".

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

, Trelew experiences a cold semi-desert climate (''BSk'') bordering on a

cold desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(''BWk''), with warm summers, cold winters and low precipitation year-round.

Notable people

* Omar Andrés Narváez, boxer * Juan Ignacio Antonio, footballer *

Lucas Matthysse Lucas Martín Matthysse (; born 27 September 1982) is an Argentine former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2018. He held the WBA (Regular) welterweight title in 2018 and the WBC interim super lightweight title from 2012 to 2013. Ma ...

, boxer * Walter Matthysse, boxer * Gustavo Caamaño, footballer * Matías Jara, footballer * Franco Niell, footballer * Daniel Pérez, footballer *

Valentina Bassi Valentina Bassi (born November 13, 1972) is an Argentine film and television actress. Born in Trelew, Chubut Province, two of the recent films she starred in as the lead, '' Un Día de suerte'' (2002) and '' El Boquete'' (2006), have been we ...

, actress *

Pablo Morant Pablo Javier Morant (born June 30, 1970 in Esquel) is a retired Argentine footballer. He played for a number of clubs both in Argentina and Spain, including Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata, Colón de Santa Fe and Hércules CF. After he ret ...

, footballer

International relations

Trelew is twinned with: *

Covilhã Covilhã () is a city and a municipality in the Centro region, Portugal. The city proper had 34,772 inhabitants in 2001. The municipality population in 2011 was 51,797, in an area of . It is located in the Beiras e Serra da Estrela subregion and ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

* Albidona,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

References

Sources

External links

Trelew Site

Project-Hiraeth – Documents the stories of the Welsh colony in Patagonia, Argentina through film, text and illustration.

City home page
(in Spanish) *

Trelew
Band which blends British folk music and South American sounds. The members are Uruguayan and Welsh and are based in Montevideo, Uruguay * Geo Links for Trelew {{Authority control Populated places in Chubut Province Populated places established in 1886 Welsh settlement in Patagonia Cities in Argentina