Category Archives: History

Basque Journal BOGA has been launched!

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to do any updates. I hope to do a series of them over the next few weeks and get reasonably “caught up”. A while back, I blogged about a new journal, BOGA, that intended to take up the reins of the former Journal of Basque Studies in America as […]

The Basque Diaspora Webscape by Pedro Oiarzabal

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to do any updates. I hope to do a series of them over the next few weeks and get reasonably “caught up”. Pedro Oiarzabal has been a dedicated researcher of the use of the internet and modern media to connect peoples, especially diasporas separated by great distances […]

The Rise and Fall of ETA by Mark Bieter

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to do any updates. I hope to do a series of them over the next few weeks and get reasonably “caught up”. “We need to turn the page. But we should read it first.”  –Gorka Landaburu. To understand the recent history and current reality of the Basque Country, […]

In Defense of Pete Cenarrusa: In Memorian (1917-2013)

As many of you already know, Pete Cenarrusa, a long time politician in Idaho (the longest serving elected official in state history) died on September 29. It didn’t take long after his death for his life to be questioned in the Spanish press, particularly as it related to an incident in 2002 when the Idaho […]

Basque News Roundup

Here are some recent stories I found particularly interesting. In September, Elhuyar will publish the 300th issue of its science journal, Elhuyar Zientzia eta Teknologia. The journal was created in 1974 to promote the use of Basque in technical and scientific fields. More info here. Elhuyar is an organization named after the Basque Elhuyar brothers, who in […]

Sailing the Basque Sea

Gontzal Aranguren is an old friend and roommate from my days in Seattle (old in the sense that we’ve known each other a while, not saying he is an old man (baina, gizon zaharra bada…)) Since he returned to the Basque Country, he has gotten involved in a number of very interesting and very different […]

The Basque History of Shoshone, Idaho

The Basques have been an integral part of the history of much of the world, from their role in Magellan’s voyage around the globe to their participation in the Spanish conquests of America. The Basques also touched a lot of the American West, and, while I should by now be accustomed to the pervasiveness of […]

Zorionak NABO!

This year marks the 40th anniversary of NABO — the North American Basque Organizations. NABO’s goal is to bring together the Basque clubs of North America (NABO has member clubs in Canada and the United States) to help those clubs in their efforts to preserve and promote Basque culture. NABO is thus a collection of […]

Pre-Neolithic Genetics of the Basques

I’m not a geneticist, but I am fascinated by what modern genetics can tell us about the history and prehistory of humans. The Basques are particularly interesting because of the pre-Indo-European origins of the population. As more and more genetic studies are done, I think we will ultimately recreate a detailed map — both spatial […]

The destruction of San Sebastian, recreated via Twitter

Today is July 10, 1813. Donostia has been occupied by Napoleonic troops for 5 years. The Marquess of Wellington, commander of the allied troops, reaches Hernani. The British have already landed troops and weapons and ships have begun the blockage. The siege of Donostia begins. 200 hundred years ago today, the Siege of Donostia began, […]