Boise Basque: a tight-knit culture a world away from its roots
Dance is an integral part of Basque identity, and the Basque community has worked hard to keep culturally-authentic dances alive.
Basques moved to the western United States around the turn of the twentieth Century and helped shape the region’s cultural identity.
The story of Basques in Boise, Nevada and California, however, is just a scratch on the surface of the culture’s centuries-old history.
Basques have lived for thousands of years in a part of Europe where the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees converge, and they predate all of Europe’s other existing cultures. The ancestral Basque homeland bridges the present-day border of Spain and France.
Basque culture and identity are rooted in a unique history that’s completely separate from the rest of Europe. Estimates put the Basque people in their home region for 6,000 years or more, and the Basque language, Euskera or Euskara, is unlike any other language in the world.
Why are there Basques in Idaho?
Basques were first drawn to North America by the Gold Rush, but it was the American West’s booming sheep industry that promised long-term job security. In 1869, completion of the transcontinental railroad facilitated easier and more affordable travel, and Basques joined other travelers seeking new lives in the western U.S.
According to the Basque Museum & Cultural Center in Boise, the railroad caused a large migration of Basques who entered the U.S. at Ellis Island and boarded trains for the week-long trip to California, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon or Wyoming.
Basque men usually arrived with limited education and spoke no English. They took jobs that many Americans didn’t want, and as opportunity increased in the 1920s and 1930s “chain migration” led to subsequent waves of family members coming to America to work as sheepherders.
Most Basque immigrants settled at first in communal boarding houses like the old Boise boarding house featured in my mystery novel, Deception at the Diamond D Ranch. The boarding houses, scattered throughout the region, were places where they could join fellow Basques, speak Euskara, eat familiar food and network while looking for jobs.
Many Basque women worked in the boarding houses and eventually became proprietors who helped new immigrants with translating, banking and medicine.
By the 1950s the sheep industry was in decline, and the rate of immigration declined with it. At that point, most second-generation Basques had obtained educations, learned to speak English, purchased homes and folded into the region’s cultural fabric.
Where do Basques live in the USA?
In overall numbers, California has the largest number of Basque-Americans, but Boise has the single highest concentration of Basques outside the native Basque country in the world. Relatively high numbers of Basques are scattered throughout Idaho, Nevada and California—with large populations in South America as well.
The Idaho Basque community now estimates its membership at 10,000 to 15,000 people. Many are descended from the immigrants who arrived in the late 1800s and early 1900s, but some arrived more recently, fleeing Spain during the reign of Francisco Franco who oppressed Basque language and culture from 1939 to 1974.
Basques in Boise, in fact, are more or less ubiquitous. The red background and green and white crisscrossed lines of the Basque flag—modeled after the Union Jack—are common on houses and cars. Prominent Basque-American elected officials in Idaho include longtime Secretary of State Pete Cenarrusa, his successor Ben Usursa, longtime Boise Mayor Dave Bieter, and Ada County Clerk David Navarro.
Boise’s Basque Block is a center for culture in Idaho
The heart of Idaho’s Basque community is at the Basque Block in Boise, where the beginning and end of Deception at the Diamond D Ranch, takes place.
Positioned amidst a dozen new commercial buildings and construction projects, the Basque Block is a one-block section of Grove Street where Basque flags fly alongside American flags, and the sidewalks and street are imprinted with culturally-rich songs, poems, names and symbols.
The Basque Block’s array of businesses includes a community center and bar called the Basque Center, a Basque eatery and pub called Bar Gernika, a Basque restaurant called Leku Ona, a small store with epicurean delights called the Basque Market and the nation’s only Basque museum called the Basque Museum & Cultural Center.
The Basque Block is frequently closed to traffic for festivals and conferences. One of the most notable is the international festival held once every five years, Jaialdi, which in the Basque language means “festival.” Jaialdi attracts about 40,000 international travelers for a week of culturally-rich sport, dance, music and revelry, and it’s coming up this year in July 2022.
Resources
The Basque Museum & Cultural Center website. https://basquemuseum.eus/. Accessed 9 November 2021.
The Basque History of the World, Mark Kurlansky
An Enduring Legacy: The Story of Basques in Idaho. John Bieter and Mark Bieter.
Basque Cooking & Lore, Darcy Williamson