The Basques are an intriguing European ethnic group whose aboriginal homeland, called Euskal Herria, is located at the western end of the Pyrenees and straddles parts of north central Spain and southwest France. The Basque languages is known as Euskara. Because of the unique nature of the Basque language—it is not related to any of the Indo-European languages—some people feel that the ancestors of the Basques may have been Europe’s aboriginal people.
In Ancestral Journeys: The Peopling of Europe from the First Ventures to the Vikings, Jean Manco writes:
“To English and French speakers its people are the Basques, and to the Spanish they are Vascos. The Basques identity themselves as speakers of Euskara, one of the few non-Indo-European languages today spoken in Europe. Isolated in a sea of Indo-European, Euskara ahs proved a magnet for bizarre linguistic theories. There have been numerous attempts to link it to an astounding array of other languages, none of which has survived skeptical scrutiny. Euskara has no close relationship with any other language currently spoken anywhere in the world.”
Jean Manco writes:
“It seems most likely that the ancestor of Euskara was spoken by a Copper Age group drawn to the Pyrenees by its copper resources and its moist climate, though the evidence for any particular place of origin is too slight to build upon. The Basques remain something of a mystery. Only further study of ancient DNA seems likely to resolve it.”
As sheep ranching began more profitable during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many Basques left their European homeland and came to the American west—Idaho, Nevada, Oregon—where they easily found jobs as sheepherders. Basque women followed and found jobs in the Basque boarding houses in places like Boise. The boarding houses were the cultural hubs where Basque language, music, dance, and cuisine were preserved in an English-speaking world.
Today, Boise, Idaho, has the largest concentration of Basque Americans in the United States. Most of the Boise Basques trace their ancestry to Northern Spain, specifically to Bizkaia (Vizcaya in Spanish; Biscay in English).
A large mural depicts the Basque heritage. The mural was painted in 2000 by the Letterheads, an international group of sign painters. Bill Hueg designed the mural.
According to the sign:
“For thousands of years the Basques have lived in a small area between the western end of the Pyrenees Mountains and the Bay of Biscay. Basque people refer to themselves as Euskalunak, ‘the ones who have Euskara,’ the Basque language, which remains without a known origin.”
A detail of the mural showing the sailing heritage of the Basques.
According to the sign:
“Since the 13th century Basques fished and traded along the Mediterranean and European Atlantic coasts. Their affinity for shipbuilding, navigating, and exploration took them all over the world.”
Not only were there Basques who sailed with Christopher Columbus on his first voyage to America, but by the sixteenth century, Basque whalers were in the Strait of Belle Isle in present-day Labrador. In his chapter in Cultures in Contact: The European Impact on Native Cultural Institutions in Eastern North America, A.D. 1000-1800, William Fitzhugh reports:
“Each summer this operation brought large numbers of ships and larger numbers of whaleboats (shallops) into harbors where whales were hunted, blubber was rendered, and—at the end of the whaling season, in late fall or early winter—casks were prepared for shipment to Europe.”
In her chapter in Cultures in Contact: The European Impact on Native Cultural Institutions in Eastern North America, A.D. 1000-1800, Susan Kaplan writes:
“During a single season twenty to thirty ships operated in Newfoundland and Labrador waters.”
This operation would involve about 2,000 men who would hunt the whales in small boats, and then tow the dead animal to the shore station where it would be butchered.
With regard to the early Basque presence in Canada’s Maritime Provinces, Anika Gupta, in an article in Smithsonian, reports:
“They fished cod and hunted whales, harvesting the meat and oil to sell in Europe. Historians have frequently overlooked the Basques because unlike the British, French, and Dutch explorers, the Basque interest in the New World was purely commercial.”
They didn’t plant flags, they didn’t claim land, and they didn’t impose imperial rule.
A detail of the mural showing the sheepherding heritage of the Idaho Basques.
Shown above is Laiak by Ward P. Hooper. The laiak is a tool used to prepare the earth for planting.
According to the sign on the sculpture:
“From its stone base to it seven flying ribbons, the sculpture embraces Basques in Euskadi and in Boise—seven ribbons for seven Basque provinces; stone to honor the many Basques who cut rock for Boise’s timeless buildings; an oak leaf to remember Gernika’s enduring symbol of democracy.”
Shown above is a photograph of Basque women with laiaks.
Shown above is the Basque Culture Center which is a tangible symbol of a unique Idaho community.
Shown above is the Cyrus Jacobs/Uberuaga House, the oldest surviving brick building in Boise. The house was originally built in 1864 and in 1910 it became the residence of Basque families. In 1985, the Basque Museum and Cultural Center acquired the house which is a tribute to Basque boarding house life in America.
Shown above is a depiction of Basque arborglyphs (tree carvings) which were carved throughout Idaho during the twentieth century.
According to one sign:
“Loneliness and the need for communication moved the herders to leave their mark on the world around them. The herders would use a knife to carve into an aspen tree leaving a blackened outline as the tree’s bark healed. Usually written in Basque, Spanish or English, herders carved their names, dates and other thoughts and feelings.”
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