The city has a fishing port, Puerto Rawson, on the Atlantic coast, 5 km (3 mi) down the river.
History
First wooden bridge over the Chubut River
Rawson was the first town founded by the Welsh immigrants who sailed on the clipperMimosa 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 navvies 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 nameGutyn 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 (KöppenBWk)/cold semi-desert (BSk) climate with hot summers, cool winters and low precipitation year-round.
^"The Mimosa". Clwyd Family History Society. 24 March 2013. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
^Williams (1975), p. 23.
^ a bWilliams (1975), p. 44.
^ a b c dWilliams, 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.
^ a b cWilliams (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.
^"Se bautizó el Puente del Poeta (The Poet's Bridge was baptized)". Diario Cronica (in Spanish). Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
^ a b cWilliams (1975), p. 147.
^"Estadísticas Climatológicas Normales - período 1991-2020" (in Spanish). Servicio Meteorológico Nacional. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
^"Estadísticas Climatológicas Normales – período 1991–2020" (PDF) (in Spanish). Servicio Meteorológico Nacional. 2023. Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
^"Estadística climatológica de la República Argentina Período 1991-2000" (in Spanish). Servicio Meteorológico Nacional. Archived from the original on 9 May 2023. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
^"Fin de febrero: lo destacado del mes" (in Spanish). Servicio Meteorológico Nacional. Archived from the original on 4 March 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
^"Clima en la Argentina: Guia Climática por Trelew Aero". Caracterización: Estadísticas de largo plazo (in Spanish). Servicio Meteorológico Nacional. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
^"Station Trelew" (in French). Meteo Climat. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
^"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.