The Basquediaspora is the name given to describe people ofBasque origin living outside their traditional homeland on the borders betweenSpain andFrance. Many Basques have left theBasque Country for other parts of the globe for economic and political reasons, with a substantial population inChile andColombia.[1][2][3]
Notably, the Basque diaspora is sometimes referred to as "the eighth province", indirectly referring to thehistorical seven Basque provinces.[4]
People of Basque descent make up 10% of Argentina's population,[5] and it was a major destination for Basquesemigrating from bothSpain andFrance in the 19th and 20th centuries. Basques have left an indelible imprint onArgentine culture and politics, with many place names and surnames, including those of several Presidents. After several generations, a sense of Basque heritage is still strong, maintained through numerousBasque cultural centres in major cities. Argentine sportspeople with Basque surnames have frequently been nicknamedEl Vasco.
The Basques arrived in Chile in the 18th century from their homeland in theBasque Country, including both theBasque Provinces in northernSpain andthe ones in southwesternFrance, as merchants and due to their hard work and entrepreneurship, rose to the top of the social scale and intermarried into the Chilean elites ofCastilian descent. This union is the basis of the Chilean elite of today. The Basque settlers also intermarried into the Mestizo population of central Chile in the middle of the colonial period to form the large Castizo population that exists in Chile today; Castizos makeup modern lower-middle and lower classes. Thousands of Basque refugees fleeing theSpanish Civil War in 1939 also settled and have many descendants in the country and have even intermarried with other Spanish ethnic groups other than Castilians as well as otherEuropean ethnic groups. Population estimates of Basque-Chileans range from 30% (5,000,000) to as high as 40% (7, 700,000).[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]
Miguel de Unamuno stated that two things could be clearly attributed to the Basques:The Jesuits and theRepublic of Chile.[14]
Colombia was one of early focus of Basque immigration; it is estimated that at least 40% of the Coffee Axis andAntioquia's population have Basque origin (2,800,000 people).[15]
A notable percentage of Peruvian people have at least one Basque surname, with more than 6 million or 18% of the national population.[16] They trace back their presence to colonial times.[17]
It is estimated that up to 10% of Uruguay's population has at least one parent with aBasque surname.[18] The first wave ofBasque immigrants toUruguay came from theFrench side of the Basque country beginning about 1824.
The first wave of Basque immigration to Venezuela consisted of Conquerors and Missionaries, during theColonization of Venezuela.[19] The second wave of Basque immigration started in 1939, as a result of theSpanish Civil War.[20]
An estimated 2% of Mexicans have some amount of Basque descent, and that community has increased in size from immigration from Spain in the early 20th century. TheSpanish Civil War in the 1930s brought over tens of thousands of refugees from theBasque Country to political asylum in Mexico and Latin America.[21]
There are about 57,000 people of Basque descent living in theUnited 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 asSpanish orFrench. It is speculated that there are many more Americans of Basque descent who still classify themselves as Spanish, French or Latin American.
The largest concentration ofBasque Americans is in theBoise,Idaho, area, where approximately 15,000 Basque Americans live.[22] Boise is home of the Basque Museum and Cultural Center[23] and hosts a large Basque festival known as Jaialdi every five years. They also host a number of other Basque festivals, including the San Inazio Festival each summer[24] and there are many Basque restaurants located in Boise.[25] A large majority of the Boise Basque community traces its ancestry toBizkaia (Vizcaya in Spanish, Biscay in English) in northern Spain.[26]
Basque immigrants comprised a big part, if not most, of the Spanish expatriate population of the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period.[27] Most of them were soldiers and sailors in the military and navy of the viceroyalty ofNew Spain, merchants, missionaries, and clergy. Families of Basque ancestry, over time, slowly integrated into the Philippine social landscape, developing themselves into some of the most prominent families in the country. Basque descendants in the Philippines today consider themselves to be Filipinos and remain influential in the business and political sectors of the country. They include theAboitiz family, theZobel de Ayala family, theAraneta family and political clans like theZubiri and the Ozámiz families.[28][29][30]
A fourth of Uruguay's three million people have at least one parent with a Basque surname.
En las primeras horas del día 9 de Julio de 1939, el paquebote Cuba, de la Compagnie Générale Trasatlatique atracaba en el puerto venezolano de La Guaira,
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