Rawson, Chubut, Argentina

Rawson is a city in Argentina and has been the capital of Chubut Province since the foundation of the province in 1957. The population is approximately 122,000. Rawson is 1470 km from Buenos Aires, and about 7 km from the coast, near the Peninsula Valdés.

The town was founded on 15 September 1865 by newly arrived immigrants from Wales, and it was named after Dr Guillermo Rawson, the Argentine Interior Minister of the time, who favoured the Welsh immigration. Substantial construction of government buildings in the 1970s resulted in the town being nicknamed "The little Brasilia of Patagonia" (La Pequeña Brasilia de la Patagonia).

Rawson's climate is dry, with temperatures in the range 0° to 15°C in winter, 10° to 20°C in spring and autumn, and rising to a peak of 38°C in summer.