Category Archives: History

Today in Basque History: Treaty between Nafarroa and France

1371: The Treaty of Vernon, between Charles II of Nafarroa and Charles V of France, confirms the Treaty of Normandy of 1370, whereby the King of Nafarroa should pay homage to the King of France in exchange for the barony of Montpellier. Seven years later, in 1378, hostilities renewed when two Navarrese agents were captured […]

Today in Basque History: Basque Poet Jailed, Boise Basque Icon

1943: Pierre d’ Arcangues, Basque poet of Arrangoitze, is jailed by the German Gestapo. 1932: Mari Carmen Totoricaguena Egurrola Albizu, founder of Anaiak Danok and Biotzetik in Idaho, is born in Gernika. She also directed a chorus of Basque children for 20 years and organized the Aberri Eguna celebrations in Boise, Idaho. She immigrated to […]

Today in Basque History: Prince of Peru, Fashion

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 […]

Today in Basque History: Relations with Japan, First Lehendakari dies

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.

Today in Basque History: Exploring California, Relations with England

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.

Altxor Bila by David Cox: Gernika – a history in music

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 […]

Hidden in Plain Sight: the Basques

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, […]

Links: Blog, Tourism, Costume, and Snow

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 […]

New Book: Gardeners of Identity by Pedro Oiarzabal

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, […]

Commemoration of the bombing of Gernika amongst the Basque diaspora

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 […]