On Saturday, June 6, 2026, my dad’s sister Rosario Uberuaga Zabala died. She was on her balcony, tending her flowers, when she was struck by a heart attack. I first met Rosario in 1991, when I went to live in the Basque Country. Like most of dad’s family, I never knew her growing up. I […]
Last week I wrote about the women Erraketistak, professional racket ball players that were pioneers in the world of women’s sport. One of the very best to ever play was Maria Antonia Uzkudun, also known as Txikita de Anoeta. She began playing professionally at the age of 13 and had a stellar career that took […]
Joxe Mallea-Olaetxe, a long-time friend, is a historian who has worked tirelessly to document the history of Basques in the American West. One very visible example is his work on the arboglyphs Basque sheepherders left behind as they roamed the hills, valleys, and mountains of states such as Nevada, Idaho, and Oregon, but he has […]
Last year, the pioneering work Amerikanuak celebrated its 50th anniversary. Written by Willian Douglass and Jon Bilbao back in 1975, this book surveys the history of Basques in the Americas – not just the United States but all of North and South America. Bilbao had spent many years chronically all works written about the Basques which undoubtedly […]
The medieval history of the Basque Country is both fascinating and so convoluted. There are so many marriages back and forth between different families as royals tried to consolidate and expand power that it becomes dizzying. A great example is Tota, or Toda, Aznar of Pamplona. Her skill as a diplomat and in establishing power […]
Last week I profiled John Garamendi, one of the most prominent Basque-American politicians we have ever had in the United States. However, the distinction for the most prominent politician goes to Paul Laxalt. Governor and US Senator, he was also a close friend of Ronald Reagan and played an important role in Reagan’s presidential campaigns. […]
For centuries, the history of the Basques has been written by non-Basques – we have so little historical documentation written directly in Euskara or even by Basque themselves. Thus, when we find any hint of Basque history written by Basques, we must examine it to the fullest. The unassuming carvings left by Basque sheepherders in […]
“Make sure the next generation is better off than yours.” That is the ethos of so many immigrants, the Basques included, as they look for opportunity in foreign lands. It was what Saturnino Garamendi told his grandson as he entered politics. John Garamendi is a prime example of this ethos. His grandfather immigrated to Utah and, with […]
It’s somewhat amazing to realize that we can get a reasonable forecast of the weather by simply looking at our phones. Granted, they aren’t perfect – forecasting the weather is extremely hard – but overall, when meteorologists say there is a 50% chance of snow, half the time it snows on those days. It wasn’t […]
At at time when Spain was colonizing the Americas, there were many moral questions that came with exploiting the Native populations and their lands. One prominent voice against Spain’s actions was Francisco de Vitoria. Sometimes called a father of international law (though modern scholars would argue it wasn’t truly international law as we think about […]
