Basque diaspora

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Main article: Basque people

The Basque diaspora is the name given to describe people of Basque origin living outside their traditional homeland on the borders between Spain and France. Many Basques have left the Basque Country for other parts of the globe for economic and political reasons, with substantial populations in Venezuela, Argentina, Cuba, Chile, Mexico, Colombia and the United States.

1 Basques in Argentina
2 Basques in Mexico
3 Basques in the United States
4 Basques in Asia
5 See also
6 Notes and references
7 External links

[edit] Basques in Argentina

Main article: Basque Argentines

People of Basque descent make up 10% of Argentina's population, and it was the main destination for Basques emigrating from both Spain and France in the 19th and 20th centuries. Basques have left a strong mark on Argentine culture and politics, with many place names and surnames, including those of several Presidents, betraying their Basque roots. After several generations, a sense of Basque heritage is still strong, maintained through numerous Basque cultural centres in major cities. Argentine sportspeople with Basque surnames have frequently been nicknamed El Vasco.

[edit] Basques in Mexico

The largest concentrations of Basque people in Mexico are found in the states of Nuevo León and Nueva Viscaya (today the state of Durango), where the Basque surname of Garza is today one of the most common in that state, as well as in the neighboring state of Coahuila. Both Durango and Viscaya are Basque names.

[edit] Basques in the United States

There are about 57,000 people of Basque descent living in the United States, according to the 2000 census. This number is highly disputed, however, since before the 1980 census there had never been a federally recognized category for Basques. As a result, Basques were usually categorized as Spanish or French. It is speculated that there are many more Americans of Basque descent who still classify themselves as Spanish, French or Latin American.

A Basque center in Boise

Christmas notice partly in Basque,
also from Boise

The largest concentration of Basque Americans is in the Boise, Idaho, area, where approximately 15,000 Basque Americans live.^[1] Boise is home of the Basque Museum and Cultural Center and hosts a large Basque festival known as Jaialdi every five years. A large majority of the Boise Basque community traces its ancestry to Bizkaia (Vizcaya) in northern Spain [1].

Other significant Basque populations in the United States are located in Reno, Nevada, and the Central Valley region of California. Reno is home to the nation's only Basque Studies Department at the University of Nevada.

There has been a Basque presence in the Americas from the age of Columbus. Basques under the crown of Castile were among the explorers, priests and Conquistadors of the Spanish Empire. Placenames like Durango and Biscayne Bay remember their foundations. Basques began to come to English-speaking America during the 1848 California Gold Rush. The first wave of Basques were already part of the diaspora who were living in Chile and Argentina and came when they heard word of the discovery of gold. When the gold rush did not pan out for most Basque immigrants, the majority turned to ranching and sheep-herding in California's Central Valley, and later in northern Nevada and southern Idaho. Many more Basques arrived from the Basque Country upon hearing of the success of their comrades in America.

Basque immigration was effectively cut off by the 1921 National Origins Quota Act. Basque immigration was restored by Nevada Senator McCarran's 1952 immigration act, which allowed a quota of 500 Basques (technically 'Spanish Sheep Herders').

[edit] Basques in Asia

There is a little known, but thriving Basque population based in Asia, especially in the Philippines. The Philippines having been a Spanish colonial asset for over 300 years, was populated by the conquistadors, merchants, clergy, sailors and entreupeneurs that were mostly of Basque origin. These families of Basque lineage over time entrenched themselves and slowly integrated into the Philippine social landscape, developing themselves into some of the most prominent families in the country. This is evident to this day in the market dominance of Basque-originating families such as the Aboitiz shipping magnates, the Zobel de Ayala family and political clans like the Zubiris and the Ozámiz. A majority of names of Iberian (mostly Castilian and Catalan) origin in the Philippines, however, come not from actual peninsular ancestors but from the Catálogo alfabético de apellidos, a list of surnames imposed on the former Spanish province’s native inhabitants by then Captain-General Narciso Clavería. As a result of this, most Basque surnames in the Philippines are a veritable indicator of actual Iberian Peninsular ancestry, while common Castilian and Catalan family names in the Philippines could very well be traced to the catalog used by the colonial administrators in issuing out family names to natives of the Philippines who did not yet use surnames.

Some of the first Christian missionaries in Asia were of Basque descent such as the Jesuit Francis Xavier who died on Sancian Island off the Chinese Coast.