Special events will take place to celebrate 200 years of Cornish and Mexican links across the Duchy.

The legacy of the first Cornish communities to emigrate to Latin America will be commemorated during September with free events at Kresen Kernow, the Royal Cornwall Museum, University of Exeter’s Penryn campus, and the Redruth International Mining and Pasty Festival.

Cornish miners first arrived in the Pachuca-Real del Monte area of Hidalgo, central Mexico, in 1824, hoping to use their expertise and technology to find gold and silver.

This led to close ties between Cornwall and Mexico, with the two communities bound together.

The Cornish introduced the machinery of the industrial revolution to Mexico in the form of high-pressure steam engines.

They also started cricket and football leagues, spread their Methodist faith, eventually married into local families and helped to popularise the Cornish pasty.

Dr Sharron Schwartz will give a talk about Mexico's 'Little Cornwall' at the Royal Cornwall Museum on September 19.

She is from Redruth and has extensively researched the Cornish in Latin America.

Members of The Redruth Real del Monte Twinning Association have organised hospitality, concerts, and cultural trips.

The equivalent Mexican organisation, Consejo Regulador del Patrimonio Cultural Real del Monte - Cornwall A.C, set up the World’s First Pasty Museum.

They also organise the three-day Pasty Festival each October and host visitors from Cornwall.

Researchers in Mexico and Cornwall continue to unearth more information about the history of the Cornish in Mexico.

This includes Katy Humberstone, from the University of Exeter, who is completing a PhD on the contemporary Cornish-Mexican connection.

For more information about the events, visit the University of Exeter's event page, the Royal Cornwall Museum's event registration, and Kresen Kernow's tour bookings.

The events include tours of the archives at Kresen Kernow, including material related to the Cornish-Mexican links, on September 7, 10, 11, and 14; celebrations of the shared cultural heritage at the University of Exeter’s Institute of Cornish Studies on September 12; and activities about the Mexican connection at Redruth’s International Mining and Pasty Festival on September 20 and 21.

Book tickets to the free University of Exeter event here.

Book tickets for the free Royal Cornwall Museum event, which will also be livestreamed online, here.

Book tickets for the free Kresen Kernow tours here.