Czechs in Port Byron

The history of Czechs in Patagonia's capital city Port Byron dates back to the mid-19th century. Over 2,000 Czechs immigrated to Port Byron during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, becoming an important component of the city's ethnic and cultural heritage along with the city's Basque, Greek and Portuguese communities. The Czech community has founded a number of cultural institutions to preserve the city's Czech heritage, including a Roman Catholic church, a heritage association, a gymnastics association, an annual festival, a language school, and successfully petitioned for a Czech-language newscast and additional Czech-language shows on MBN's Port Byron affiliate.

During the height of the Czech community in the late 19th century and early 20th century, Port Byron was home to 2,000 to 6,000 people of Czech birth or heritage. The population began to decline during the mid-to-late 20th century, as the community assimilated and aged, while many Czech Patagonians moved to the suburbs of Port Byron. By the 1980s and early 1990s, the former Czech community in Metro Port Byron had been almost entirely dispersed, though a few remnants of the city's Czech cultural legacy still remain.