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The Welsh Women of Patagonia

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Factual: History

Factual: Politics

15/10/2016

BBC Radio Wales - The Welsh Women of Patagonia

Sian Harries hears how Welsh women in Patagonia were the first in the world to vote.

Writer Sian Harries travels to Patagonia to explore how a group of Welsh women became the first in the world to get the vote.

It's 150 years since Welsh pioneers established a "little Wales beyond Wales" in Argentina. The history books are full of tales of brave men who transformed the hostile desert into luscious 'Welsh' farmland, who befriended the indigenous people, and whose success in building a colony is evidenced by the fact Welsh is still spoken there to this day. 

But what about the women who went with them?

Many believe "Without the women, the colony would never have survived" yet their stories remain unheard. 

Until now. Travelling to Patagonia herself, Sian meets the descendants of this intrepid journey and uncovers the adventures of their great-grandmothers - their courage, their indomitable strength and sacrifice. Were they granted the vote half century before the women back home in Wales? And if so why don't we know about it?

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