Police say around 6,000 people attended Saturday's Welsh independence march through the streets of Barry.
Ahead of the rally, YesCymru claimed support for Welsh independence had reached an ''all-time high'' following a recent survey commissioned by the grassroots movement.
The Barry march was the eighth to be staged in Welsh towns and cities since 2019 - although predictions it would be the biggest event of its kind to date fell short.
But organisers said the event was a "powerful show of unity and hope for a better future".
YesCymru chair Phyl Griffiths said: "What we've seen today in Barry is a reflection of the mood across Wales – people are ready for change, and independence is no longer a fringe idea. It's a serious, hopeful response to a broken system."
"We're seeing growing support, especially among younger generations who've had enough of being told Wales is too small or too poor. We know better – and today, thousands of people showed that we're ready to take our future into our own hands."
A post-march rally was held in King Square, which featured an all-female line-up of speakers and performers for the first time.
Keira Marshall, a Plaid Cymru candidate for Caerdydd Penarth at next year's Senedd elections, said: "How can we afford not to be independent? The UK system keeps us poor, while our children go hungry and cold."
"We are the generation bearing the brunt of this system – but we are also the generation who will change it. I cannot wait to stand here again one day, not in protest, but in celebration of a free and fair Wales."
Former Plaid leader Leanne Wood and Catalan independence activist Anna Arqué i Solsona were also among the speakers.
Tessa Marshall, a local member of the Wales Green Party, added: "We can't afford to stay shackled to the British state. Child poverty in Wales is not the result of bad choices – it's decades of underinvestment and decisions made far from communities like ours. An independent Wales can stand for children, end hunger and cold homes, and fund a decent start to life."
Current Plaid leader Rhun ap Iorwerth was also in attendance, accusing the UK Labour Government of failng to deliver on promises of change.
He said: "With recent independence polling moving again in a positive direction, Wales is clearly on a journey and it is up to us as those who believe in our nation's ability to stand on her own two feet to bring as many people as possible with us."
"As disillusionment with Westminster grows in Welsh communities, we are also seeing a growing confidence that Wales should have the right and resources to decide its own future."
Last month, a Yes Cymru survey suggested 41% of voters would back independence if a referendum took place tomorrow - with support especially strong among 25-34 year olds (72%).
In the run up to the march, organisers had highlighted the local signficance to the Barry area, which played role in the emergence of the Cymru Fydd movement for Welsh home rule in the late 19th century.
Plaid councillor Mark Hooper, one of the march's organisers, said: "This march and rally in Barry shows the ambition of the independence movement."
"Whilst others in politics fight for the lowest possible denominator, the Welsh indy movement is vibrant, hopeful and above all, youthful. Demographics are in our corner – but we must move faster."
Ahead of the march, the Vale of Glamorgan's Labour MP claimed supporters who used "the hammer of independence to solve every problem" were not "trying to solve for the interests of Wales fundamentally."
Kanishka Narayan told Bro Radio's 'Ask Your' programme: "Of course I understand frustrations about how we've been governed by particular parties."
"But the way to solve that is to come up with the answers and deliver them today - not to go on this long uncertain march of decade-plus uncertainty for Wales, which will hit the poorest and most vulnerable in our society the hardest."
And the First Minister said it would be "tough" to have an independent Wales, warning there would be a "price to pay for an ideology".
Speaking on the Chris Birch programme in January, Eluned Morgan said: "If you want to go independent, you've got to be absolutely clear that things like your pensions or the amount you can spend on your hospitals, the amount you can spend on your schools will be slashed."
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