This one has been on my list a while, but I finally read this one as part of a book club. The Basques are an ethnic group whose origins lie in what’s now the northeast corner of Spain and a small segment of Southwestern France. Kurlansky’s book traces their history from pre-Romanic times up until the book was published (1999). What one finds is that while the Basques are a people that are fiercely protective of their language (Euskara), customs, and land, they are simultaneously deeply pragmatic and international in their orientation to the world.
Historically, the Basques been happy to learn from the cultures they come into contact with, but they never fully assimilate. Kurlansky tells how the Basques were first befriended by the Carthaginians and later by the Romans; both empires employed Basque mercenaries in various conflicts. Due to its geography, the Basque homelands weren’t usually considered valuable in their own rights by non-Basque visitors. As long as whatever power respected their local autonomy (or was only passing through), there wasn’t much profit to be had in conflict. As Kurlansky describes it, “in the context of Basque history, a good period was one with a reasonable invader, an intruder with whom you could do business” (p.50).
Something I didn’t fully appreciate before reading this book was the extent to which the Basques were seafaring people. Chapter 3 recounts the extremely profitable whaling trade that the Basques engaged in during the middle ages. During this time, the Basques became known for their shipbuilding, navigational prowess, and for inventing a new method of preserving Atlantic cod (which was prized by Christians across Europe due to dietary restrictions regarding the consumption of meat). I’ve always associated the English and Dutch with shipbuilding, but Kurlansky’s book shows the extent to which Spanish advances were often attributable to the Basques. Columbus’s flagship on his first voyage (the Santa Maria) was probably of Basque construction and its crew included multiple Basques. Further, the first commander to circumnavigate the globe, Juan Sebastian de Elcano, was Basque!
I’ve barely scratched all the topics this book covers (for example, I haven’t mentioned its delightful cataloging of Basque recipes), but another aspect that struck me is the Basques’s affection for the “young” United States. There were several waves of migration during which Basques moved from their homelands to different parts of the United States.1 This establishment of the Basque diaspora in the United States influenced the Basque homelands. Kurlansky records a joke from this period in which the meaning of Basqueness is described as consisting of: “speaking Euskara, having descended from the lineage of Itor, being Catholic, and having an uncle in America”. The Euskara phrases “Amerikanuak bezain” (“good, like an American”) and “Ez gira Amerikanuak” (“you’re no American”, i.e., you’re cheap) are other indicators of Basque orientation towards the United States during this time. Despite being protective of their own independence and collective identity, at different times it seems like the Basques admired how the United States drew its power from its existence as the world’s melting pot.2 I wish I could confidently say the US is deserving of such admiration today.
I wonder if Mr. Kurlansky has any plans on releasing a new edition that covers contemporary history after 1999. The 80s and 90s were a turbulent period in Basqueland, but it appears that recent times have been smoother. When Jenny and I visited the region in 2025, we noted that support for Basque separatism was much lower than it had been in previous decades. In any case, this book is a very good read— definitely worth picking up if you’re planning on traveling to Boise or Euskadi.
If I recall correctly, the largest levels of migration took place in the mid-19th century. The Basque Museum in downtown Boise has several exhibits that tell stories behind these migrations, including the network of Basque fraternal organizations that helped newcomers get established where they arrived.↩
Here’s a representative passage where Kurlansky is discussing the José Antonio Aguirre, a prominent Basque nationalist active during the middle of the 20th century:
The Basques, especially Aguirre, had confidence in the United States, with a mixture of an old Basque belief in Amerika and a new belief that the United States was the antidote needed to cure this ancient European sickness—the endless struggle among nations that had been both Basque and European history. It is interesting that this dedicated Basque nationalist saw assimilation, the ability to blend tribes, as America’s strength. In May 1942, from his exile in New York, Aguirre added to the American edition of his autobiography:
Hear me, American readers. Perhaps others have been quiet about this, but I am going to be brutally frank. This huge war, the most decisive and cruel in history, rests on you more than anyone. Dollars, war materials, tears, blood—in order to win, you are going to have to give more than any other people in the world Everything depends on you, this new man that you are, symbolic fusion of all races and lands, all who can hope are hoping, those who will fall for the Cause, those who suffer for the Cause, and those who trust it is the holiest of Causes.
You will do it, you who encompass all the old blood in your new heart. And on that day, the Tree of Guernica-a universal symbol-will again give shade to a land of freedom.
Many veterans of the Spanish Civil War served in the French resistance movement; it was a Spanish unit (La Nueve) that was first to enter Paris when it was liberated in August 1944. The Basques in particular had several units that fought to push out remaining Nazi forces in the south of France. Reading the optimistic words of Aguirre above fills me with sadness that the allies chose to leave the Basques (and Spain more broadly) to their fate under Francoism.↩