Basque centers (in Basque: euskal etxeak or eusko etxeak) are associative organizations that appeared in the end of the 19th century in cities that have really an important presence of Basque emigration, with the purpose of helping each other and keeping links with Basque culture and homeland. They are also meeting points for the Basque people who live all around the world far away from their land.
Their objective is to recover documents concerning the history of Basque exile and migration by means of research, digitalization, photographs and oral testimonies. There are more than 150 Basque Centers built all around the world. Most of them are in Argentina (62 centers), near Buenos Aires. In fact, 10% of the population has a Basque origin. Juan de Garay Foundation, works hard with this community. They do genealogical research among other things.
The United States of America are in the second place of the list, having more than 30 centers, and NABO organization (The North American Basque Organizations) coordinates all of them since 1973. In 2000, in the United States, there were 57,793 Basque origin people registered: 20,868 in California, 6,637 in Idaho, 6,096 in Nevada, 2,665 in Washington and 2,627 in Oregon.
There are ten Basque centers in Spain and two in France.
Apart from the Basque centers, there also exist several organizations and associations all around the world related to the Basque Diaspora. Among the most important ones, the Center for Basque Studies research area in Reno.
History
In the times of the European colonization of the Americas Basque institutions arose in Perú, Mexico (Colegio de San Ignacio de Loyola Vizcaínas), etc. But it was in the 19th century when they began to prepare the Basque centers that we have today. These dates also coincide with the massive emigration to America and the choice of new destinations. Most of them were travelling to Argentina and Uruguay. It is not known which was exactly the first Basque center that was created in this epoch, but it is possible to be the Basque Center of Havana, the capital city of Cuba in 1868, even though until now it was the Basque Center of Montevideo, in 1876. The certain thing is that it was a very extended phenomenon in the whole of America.
Afterwards there was another big wave of Basque emigration with the political exile of the Spanish postwar period, what contributed to the renaissance of the Basque centers that received new emigrants who were escaping from the civil war. They thought it was going to be for a short period of time but in many cases they did not return home. Some of the countries that received the most number of exiles of the Spanish Civil War were Chile, Uruguay, Mexico and especially Argentina.
In the Basque Country, they approved in the Basque Parliament the Law by which the relations with Basque communities of the exterior were regulated. It is provided to this the legal necessary base for the Basque Government.
Objectives
Basque centers are defined as associative entities. They are legally constituted out of the Basque Country. They have the following objectives:
To contribute to the strength of the Basque collectivities and Basque centers, favoring his cohesion and the efficiency of his associative actions.
To preserve and promote the links of the Basque collectivities and Basque centers with the Basque Country.
To project the recognition of the reality of the Basque Country where the Basque collectivities are located, promoting activities of spreading, impulse and development of the culture and of the Basque economy.
To benefit relations, specially social, cultural and economic relations with different countries that rely on Basque collectivities, institutions and different social agents.
To facilitate the establishment of communication channels between Basque residents out of the territory of the Basque Autonomous Community and the public powers of it.
The approval of the Law in the Basque Parliament, without any vote against it, supposed the beginning of a new phase of relation between the collectivities of the exterior and the public Basque institutions.
The President of the Basque Government, usually known in the Basque language as the Lehendakari, is the head of government of the Basque Autonomous Community. The lehendakari leads the executive branch of the regional government.
The Basque diaspora is the name given to describe people of Basque origin living outside their traditional homeland on the borders between Spain and France. Many Basques have left the Basque Country for other parts of the globe for economic and political reasons, with a substantial population in Chile and Colombia.
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Basque Argentines are Argentine citizens of Basque descent or people from Basque residing in Argentina. Basque Argentines are one of the largest Basque diaspora groups in the world.
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The Basque Studies Society is a scientific-cultural institution created in 1918 by the Provincial Councils of Álava, Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa and Navarra a stable and lasting resource to develop the Basque culture ". The members of this entity are gathered in different Scientific Sections. It is the only institution of different scientific disciplines that has official implantation in the Basque Country, Navarra and the French Basque Country, awarding, among others, the Manuel Lekuona Award. Personalities from the cultural and scientific world such as Jose Migel Barandiaran were part of its executive cadres, being a member of the Permanent Board of the Society for Basque Studies from 1921 to 1936. The headquarters are at Miramar Palace in San Sebastián, with offices and delegations in Bayona, Pamplona, Vitoria and Bilbao. This congress was chaired by Alfonso XIII of Spain and the whole body of the Navarra Provincial Council attended.
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