The Cornish in Latin America

Cornish miners introduced pasties to certain parts of Latin America. This one was baked and eaten in Real del Monte, Mexico!

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Below are a collection of photographs and biographies of some of the men who migrated to Latin America. Theirs was a colourful and often dangerous world of revolutions, coups and bandits, one that saw them working in the most extreme temperatures on earth. They toiled in the frozen, barren wastes of the Andes, chewing cocoa leaves to prevent altitude sickness, and they sweated under a relentless sun in the Atacama desert in areas where no rain had fallen for decades. They braved disease and a multitude of pestilential insects in the steamy jungles of Colombia and Venezuela and the humid tropical hills of Cuba and Brazil. Yet, they still managed to raise families in communities that came to resemble those they had left behind in Cornwall and most retained strong connections with organisations, friends and family in their former communities, living transnational lives. Most made return trips and some eventually retired to Cornwall. This collection of biographies will hopefully capture a little of the flavour of those times and of the formidable characters of these Cornish mining men. 
George Chalmers

George Chalmers

Sir Robert Harvey: 'El Gringo Colorado'

Sir Robert Harvey

George Hicks

George Hicks

Richard Honey: 'Gran Bretaņa'

Richard Honey

John Jose

John Jose

Charles Wesley Nicholls

Charles Wesley Nicholls

John Penberthy

John Penberthy

William Rabling

William Rabling

Francis Rule 'El Rey de la Plata'

Francis Rule

Thomas Treloar: 'The Brazilian Gold King'

Thomas Treloar

Richard Trevithick

Richard Trevithick

Sampson Waters

Sampson Waters

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