ruta turística de arrigorriaga el secreto de las piedras rojas
- 1
- Euskara
- 2
- Mythology
- 3
- Battle of Padura
- 4
- General Assembly
- 5
- Carlist Wars
- 6
- Economy
- 7
- Emigration
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- Basque Sports
Basque emigration to America
Despite the deep attachment that they feel for their homeland, the Basques have never hesitated to seek better prospects elsewhere should circumstances require it. From the moment that Columbus discovered the New World, the Basques felt particularly drawn to America, to the extent that it was said, in the 16th century, that Vizcaya was in danger of losing its entire male population.
The first expedition to the New World
This is of course an exaggeration, but it is true that hundreds of Basque seafarers followed in the wake of the first expedition to the New World. They were followed by soldiers, public officials, priests and craftsmen, all from the same region. Emigrating to America was always a safe course for younger sons who would not inherit the family farm and therefore had to leave their homesteads.
From the early 16th century onwards thousands of Basques also set out for America to work, such as the whalers who set sail for Newfoundland and Labrador. They were away for several months at a time. In the centuries that followed, emigrants were moved by political reasons rather than a spirit of adventure or ambition. The French Revolution in the French Basque Country and on the other side of the Pyrenees the abolition of the Basque codes of law following the Carlist wars and later the Spanish Civil War of 1936, all sparked large-scale exoduses of Basques to Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, the United States and elsewhere.
Emigration continued after the American colonies gained their independence, although now it was not public officials who were crossing the Atlantic but young men from Basque farmsteads seeking their fortune as day labourers or as shepherds tending the vast flocks in the wide open spaces of the new nations on the American continent.
Returned home
Many of those who sought a new life in America for whatever reason remained there for the rest of their lives. Others eventually returned home, sometimes with a considerable fortune. They came back to their towns and villages, built themselves grand houses and, in many cases, helped make improvements in their hometowns. They became popularly known as “indianos” and local youngsters looked up to them as heroes.
Many of these returning emigrés would bring back exotic plants and trees to decorate the gardens of their estates. A good example is Barua Park, the garden that you can see before you. Sit down for a moment on one of the benches and take a look around you: you will soon be caught up in the atmosphere created by these plants which one day, many years ago, were brought here by grateful men and women, in memory of another land which had taken them in with such generosity.
There are now hundreds of thousands of people with Basque roots scattered around the world, most of them descendants of Basque emigrés.