Michael Daniel Jones (March 2 1822 - December 2 1898) was a Welsh Congregationalist minister and principal of a theological college, but is best remembered as a founder of the Welsh Settlement in Patagonia and one of the fathers of modern Welsh nationalism.
Jones was born in Llanuwchllyn, Merionethshire (Gwynedd). After training for the ministry in Carmarthen and London, he emigrated and was ordained at Cincinnati. After the death of his father he returned to Wales to follow him as the principal of Bala Congregational College.
His name is closely linked with the attempt to establish a Welsh settlement in Patagonia, Argentina in the 1860s where Welsh would be the language of religion, government, trade and education.
Michael D. Jones is recognised as the first to advocate a political solution to defending Welsh identity, and therefore is seen as one of the most significant forerunners of Welsh nationalism.
