Patagonian Welsh (Lower Chubut Valley)

GERALLT NASH; FERNANDO WILLIAMS

Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World 2nd Edition

Bloomsbury Publishing

Lugar: Cambridge; Año: 2021;

The lower valley of the River Chubut was first colonized by Welsh settlers in 1865.The surrounding plateau-land is arid semi-desert. By damming the river and excavating,by hand, more than 300 km (190 miles) of canals and feeder channels (by 1886) theysucceeded in irrigating the valley floor. This laid the basis for an agriculture-basedeconomy centred on wheat production and dairying, later to be replaced by alfalfa andsheep rearing. Welsh settlers quickly adapted their houses to suit the drier climate and more severetemperatures encountered in central Patagonia. The simple one or two-room cottagelayout was generally retained, but steep-pitched gables were often dispensed with infavour of shallow single-pitch roofs.