Rawson (; ) is the capital of the Argentine province of Chubut, in Patagonia. It has 24,616 inhabitants in 2010, and it is the chief town of the Rawson Department.

The city is named after Guillermo Rawson (1821–1890), Argentine Minister of the Interior, who supported the Welsh settlement in Argentina.

Rawson is located about south of Buenos Aires, some from Trelew, and it is served by the Almirante Marco Andrés Zar Airport in Trelew. It lies on both sides of the Chubut River.

thumb|left|Fishing trawlers in [[Puerto Rawson]]

The city has a fishing port, Puerto Rawson, on the Atlantic coast, down the river.

History

Rawson was the first town founded by the Welsh immigrants who sailed on the clipper Mimosa in 1865 to establish a national colony.

At the time of founding remains of a mud-walled fortress existed on the site. Settlers dwelled in the fortress various months while they explored the surroundings and built permanent houses. 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 ' (poet's bridge) in honor of Griffiths. A plaque was installed at the bridge with information on Griffiths.

Rawson was flooded in 1899 and 1901. While there had been floods before, these floods caused a partial depopulation of the town with many choosing to resettle in Trelew. 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. Rawson regained the capital status soon thereafter.

Climate

Rawson experiences a borderline cold desert (Köppen BWk)/cold semi-desert (BSk) climate with hot summers, cool winters and low precipitation year-round.

thumb|right|Map of the town

thumb|Homeowner and his [[Merino sheep.]]

Notable people

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  • Andrés Yllana, (born 1974), footballer
  • Sergio Bastida, (born 1979), Argentine-born Bolivian footballer
  • Gabriel Calderón, (born 1960), footballer and manager
  • Rubén Ferrer, (born 1975), footballer
  • Eduardo Sepúlveda, (born 1991), cyclist
  • Cristian Tula, (born 1978), footballer

Twinned towns

  • Blaenau Ffestiniog in Wales, United Kingdom

References

;Attribution

thumb|right|Rawson Civic Centre, the provincial parliament.

  • Interpatagonia.com: Rawson