Y Wladfa in the context of "Conquest of the Desert"

Welsh (Cymraeg [kəmˈraːiɡ] or y Gymraeg [ə ɡəmˈraːiɡ]) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina).

Historically, it has also been known in English as "British", "Cambrian", "Cambric" and "Cymric".

The Brittonic languages (also Brythonic or British Celtic; Welsh: ieithoedd Brythonaidd/Prydeinig; Cornish: yethow brythonek/predennek; and Breton: yezhoù predenek) form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic languages; the other is Goidelic. It comprises the extant languages Breton, Cornish, and Welsh. The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython, denoting a Celtic Briton as distinguished from Anglo-Saxons or Gaels.

The Brittonic languages derive from the Common Brittonic language, spoken throughout Great Britain during the Iron Age and Roman period. In the 5th and 6th centuries emigrating Britons also took Brittonic speech to the continent, most significantly in Brittany and Britonia. During the next few centuries, in much of Britain the language was replaced by Old English and Scottish Gaelic, with the remaining Common Brittonic language splitting into regional dialects, eventually evolving into Welsh, Cornish, Breton, Cumbric, and probably Pictish. Welsh and Breton continue to be spoken as native languages, while a revival in Cornish has led to an increase in speakers of that language. Cumbric and Pictish are extinct, having been replaced by Goidelic and Anglic speech. There is also a community of Brittonic language speakers in Y Wladfa (the Welsh settlement in Patagonia).

Chubut (Spanish: Provincia del Chubut [tʃuˈβut] – from Tehuelche chupat 'transparent'; Welsh: Talaith Chubut [taˈlaɪθ ˈχɨbɨt]) 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 Andes range to the west (bordering Chile), and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. The province's name derives from the Tehuelche word chupat, meaning 'transparent', their description of the Chubut River.

The largest city is Comodoro Rivadavia in the south of the province; it had 199,369 inhabitants at the 2022 Census. The administrative capital is Rawson (27,157). Other important cities are Puerto Madryn (97,625), Trelew (104,657), Esquel (36,624) and Sarmiento (13,892). Gaiman (6,376) is a cultural and demographic centre of the region known as Y Wladfa in which Welsh-Argentines are concentrated.