1561: Lope de Aguirre, born in Onate, Gipuzkoa, and his men proclaim “Don Fernando, by the grace of God, prince of Peru, Tierra Firma and Chile,” intending to crown him king once they arrive in Peru. Fernando de Guzman is made general of the expedition — searching for Omagua and El Dorado — after Aguirre […]
1611: Sebastian Vizcaino leaves for Japan to establish diplomatic relations. 1960: Jose Antonio de Aguirre Lecube, first Lehendakari of the Basque government, dies in Paris.
1603: The second voyage of Sebastian Vizcaino, charged with exploring California and Baja California, ends. 1661: The first English Consul in Donostia, Valentine Morgan, is appointed to the position.
David Cox is a frequent contributor to Buber’s Basque Page. Today marks his first article in a new column entitled Altxor Bila (Looking for Treasure), inspired by a Pirritx eta Porrotx song. This series will examine various aspects of Basque music, from current bands to musical history. Ongi Etorri David! A few years ago, I got […]
As many of you might already know, the Boise Basque Museum and Cultural Center, with help from the Basque Government, has been working on a project to highlight the Basques’ contributions to the history and settlement of the United States. I’ve received a number of recent messages updating me on the status of the project, […]
A couple of links I’ve been sent or found in wanderings of the web. First, Louis Arriaga Jr has a fascinating story of misunderstandings and miscarriage of justice (even one of the sentencing judges felt this way, but couldn’t do anything about it). Clearly, Arriaga is of Basque descent, though his connections to Spain are […]
Pedro Oiarzabal, a newly minted researcher at the University of Deusto in Bilbao, has spent his young career focused on issues of Basque identity around the world. His newest book is Gardeners of Identity: Basques in the San Francisco Bay Area, published by the Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. (Incidentally, […]
I received this request for assistance from Daniel Clarke, who needs help researching how the diaspora commemorated the bombing of Gernika. Feel free to write Daniel directly or to post your comments here. Dear all, I am a student at the University of Cambridge, England, working as part of a project looking at memory, heritage […]
Jon Zuazo, a friend of mine in Munitibar, Bizkaia, just finished renovating his family’s ancestral baserri, Aixabide. He has taken pains to use as much of the original wood as possible, beams that are literally hundreds of years old. In showing me his house, he recounted some of the history, a history that I found […]
A historian’s greatest challenge is to convey the excitement and drama of history. This is especially true for more obscure subjects, as the reader doesn’t already come with some emotional attachment. But this is exactly where Christine Bender excels. By using fiction as her vehicle to explore historical events, Christine is able to delve into […]
