American Patagonians

American Patagonians, colloquially known as Royal Yankees or simply Patagonian Yankees, are Patagonian citizens of American descent. American Patagonians include immigrants and residents who are descended from migrants from the United States of America and its territories. American Patagonians have been living in the region since the American Revolution, when the first American immigrants, mostly Loyalists, arrived. Since then, the American Patagonian population has grown significantly, particularly in larger cities.

There are roughly about 1 million American descendants living in the country. Many American Patagonians chose to live in major cities such as Meliepully and other urban areas along the east coast, such as the Rawson-Lewiston metropolitan area, and Viedma, Rio Negro, across from Carmen de Patagones, Pampas, in the Metro Viedma area. Neuquen; Willow Corner, Neuquen; Valdivia, Seeland; and the Federal District of Port Byron, also have American expatriate colonies.

History
Americans have moved to Patagonia throughout history. During the American Revolution, a plurality of white Americans (5-10% of the then-American population) loyal to the British crown left the United States and settled in Patagonia. By 1783, 6,000 had settled in the British Pampas, in Rawson, and in the extreme north-western areas of the Chubut Territory. These early settlers were referred to as Royal Yankees.

A sizeable majority of Afro-Patagonians are descendants of African American slaves (Black Loyalists) who fled to Canada during the American Revolution. Similar waves of American immigrants, 30,000, lured by promises of land if they swore a loyalty oath to the King, settled in Ontario before the War of 1812. The Black Refugees in the War of 1812 also fled to Patagonia and many American slaves also came via the Underground Railroad, most settling in either Viedma, Rio Negro or Araucania.

In the outbreak of the American Civil War, Confederate immigration to Neuquen followed. These settlers, later known as the Confederates in Neuquen, faced discrimination from local citizens who blamed them as being conservative and tolerant of slavery. However the Confederates managed to integrate into the local population while at the same time retaining their Southern American culture.

In the late 19th century, at least 1,000 American settlers moved into the farming regions of the British Pampas. Many of these were immigrants (or children of immigrants) from Europe who had gone to the United States looking for farm land only to find the supply of free farmsteads there exhausted. Others were old-stock European Americans, and a small percentage were racial minorities, such as African Americans.

In 1916, Americans accounted for 13% of all the foreign-born residents of Rio Negro, 10% in Neuquen, and 8% in the districts that would make up the future Pampas, or about 40,000 in a total population of the three provinces close to 410,000. Not all stayed.

Ethnic groups
The majority of Americans are descended from Loyalists during the American Revolution, including:
 * Redheads, a pejorative used to describe people of English descent from Virginia and the Middle Colonies, who form a plurality of the population in Rio Negro, northern Chubut, and central and southern Andina.
 * Forest Scots, descendants of Ulster-Scots Loyalists from the Southern Colonies now residing in the city of Eskel, Andina.
 * African-Americans in Viedma, descendants of Black Loyalists from the United States and later Nova Scotia who relocated to the state of Rio Negro starting in 1783.
 * Pennsylvania Germans, now mostly concentrated in Osorno, Valdivia, Port Byron and Roca City.
 * A small population of Dutch Americans, colloquially known in Patagonia as Knickerbocker Yankees, resides in the city of Valdivia.
 * Rionegrine New Englanders are the descendants of Loyalist refugees from New England who relocated to northeastern Rio Negro in the wake of the American Revolution.

Notable people

 * Christian Matthew Clemons (b. 2004), rapper, singer-songwriter and music producer based in Viedma
 * Spencer William Emerald (b. 2009), Minecraft YouTuber born in Darwin and currently based in Port Byron