Basque Mexicans

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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}}

{{Infobox ethnic group

| group = Basque Mexicans
{{small|vasco-mexicanos
euskal-mexikar}}

| image =

| population = 2,500,000 (by ancestry){{Cite web

|url=http://www.euskosare.org/komunitateak/ikertzaileak/ehmg/2/txostenak/vascos_noroccidente_mexico|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100524025553/http://www.euskosare.org/komunitateak/ikertzaileak/ehmg/2/txostenak/vascos_noroccidente_mexico|url-status=dead

|title=Vascos noroccidente Mexico|archive-date=24 May 2010|website=www.euskosare.org|access-date=13 April 2023}}
2% of the Mexican population

| popplace = Mostly at Northern Mexico, especially Durango, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila.

| langs = Spanish (Castilian Spanish, Mexican Spanish), Basque, French

| rels = Roman Catholicism

| related =Basques and Basque diaspora,
Spanish Mexicans, French Mexicans

}}

Basque Mexicans (Spanish: vasco-mexicanos or simply vasco, Euskara: euskal-mexikar) are Mexicans of full, partial, or predominantly Basque ancestry, or Basque-born persons living in Mexico.

Seen in Mexico by the whole Euskalerria concept, Basque descendants can be from Navarre, Euskadi or Iparralde.

History

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| image1 = El exilio español en la CD de México (19).JPG

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| caption1 = Basque exiles of the Spanish Civil War in Mexico City

| image2 = Ikurriña en el Centro histórico de la Ciudad de México..JPG

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| caption2 = Basque restaurant in the Historic Center of Mexico City

| image3 = Delegación de Euskadi en la Ciudad de México.jpg

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| caption3 = Delegation of the Basque Autonomous Community (Euskadi) in Mexico City

}}

The first Catholic archbishop in Mexico, Juan Zumarraga, was Basque.{{cite book|last1=Zubiri|first1=Nancy|title=A Travel Guide to Basque America: Families, Feasts, and Festivals|date=2006|publisher=University of Nevada Press|isbn=0874176328|page=13|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mNK_W8va9h8C&q=basque+Mexico&pg=PA13|accessdate=22 October 2015}} Francisco Ibarra explored northern Mexico and founded Nueva Vizcaya. Fermín de Francisco Lasuén was the founder of many of the Spanish missions in Alta California.

In 1907, the Basque community founded the Centro Vasco. This community consisted of immigrants from Navarre, Gipuzkoa, Biscay and some French Basques.{{cite book|last1=Douglass|first1=William A.|last2=Jon|first2=Bilbao|title=Amerikanuak: Basques in the New World|date=2005|publisher=University of Nevada Press|pages=167|isbn=9780874176254|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8KzfK1QwxDIC&q=basque+Mexico&pg=PA167|accessdate=22 October 2015}} There was a divide between the Basque community: the first group were rural unskilled, economic emigrants that arrived in the late 19th and early 20th century and the other were political exiles of the Spanish Civil War that tended to have technical or academic education.{{cite book|last1=Azcona Pastor|first1=José Manuel|title=Possible Paradises: Basque Emigration to Latin America|date=2004|publisher=Publisher University of Nevada Press|isbn=0874174449|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eiqFIaY0LpEC&q=basque+Mexico&pg=PA177|accessdate=22 October 2015}}

A notable migrant of the former group was Braulio Iriarte who immigrated to Mexico in 1877 with no education or professional experience. He began as an employee in a bakery and after years of hard work he owned 80 bakeries and a mill. This mill, El Euskaro, was founded in 1906; it was one of the largest in Mexico. He also owned haciendas in Querétaro, mines in Hidalgo, large properties in Mexico City and helped found various corporations, including Grupo Modelo.

Notable Basque-Mexicans

References

{{reflist}}

{{Basque diaspora}}

{{Ethnic groups in Mexico}}

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Mexico