We’ve often spoken here on the blog about the role the Basques played in colonial Latin America. In the more than three centuries separating the arrival of Christopher Columbus on the western shores of the Atlantic to the time when the young republics achieved their independence in the first third of the 19th century, the small Basque colony in those lands was dominant, just as it was in the independence movements as well as in the later evolution of those young nations.
The Basques who arrived in the New World came from a poor country. The Land of the Basques did not offer many opportunities to its sons, who for generations found a land of opportunities in the New World, and on many occasions, especially after the first third of the 19th century, refuge.
From the period between the beginning of the 16th century to the end of the 18th, the Basques who reached the New World colonies arrived with two advantages. On the one hand, in many cases they had the fundamental defense of having a title of nobility, of hidalgos. The concept of “universal nobility” which had spread throughout the southern Basque Country (Alava, Biscay, Gipuzkoa, and Navarre) was a feat that offered fruits far beyond what those who had originally achieved that status could have imagined. We’ve discussed the advantages, and rights, this situation offered, but, to use the modern terminology, the concept could be glossed today by the term “civil rights”.
These Basque nobles, these hidalgos, who reached the Americas enjoyed these rights, and, unlike most of the nobility from the “Kingdoms of the Spains“, they were used to manual labor. They were both nobles and farmers, or sailors, or merchants, or breeders. Really, they were nobles who worked, hard, and who were used to it.
Only that can explain how such a proportionally small population was able to have the influence the Basque colony had, allowing it to reach the heights of political power, prestige, and position, far beyond what their small numbers should have allowed for.
The Basques in the Americas were the first ones who were aware that they were part of a common, and distinct, reality. That alone explains the creation of a whole pleiad of fraternities and guilds throughout the Americas into which these Basques gathered, all under the patronage of Our Lady of Aranzazu. We could say that it was at that time in the Americas when the Basque national conscience was born.
Basilica-Convent of San Francisco of Lima, home of the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Aranzazu of Lima (photo courtesy Bruno Locatelli)
These brotherhoods and guilds, created to gather together the members of the “Basque nation”, served as meeting points where alliances and common strategies were woven. What’s more, these groups also became a network throughout the colonies that worked to help and support all its members.
Here on the blog, we’ve dedicated articles to the guild organized in Potosí, whose members got to experience firsthand the importance of that alliance between Basques in the Basque-Vicuña war. We’ve also talked about the guild the Basques in Mexico City organized, which gave rise to such an important and prestigious institution as the “Colegio de las Vizcaínas“.
But most of all, we’ve written about the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Aranzazu of Lima, a group of the members of the “Basque nation” that was founded in 1612 and which is still around today. Thanks to the fact that this grouping is a brotherhood rather than a guild, it is free from the control of the civil or ecclesiastical authorities.
Lima is one of the best examples of the reach and scope of the Basque community that we’re referring to, both commercially and administratively. The list of Basques who’ve reached a high social position is long, especially when considering the small number of actual Basque people.
To get an idea of this extraordinary story, we have the good fortune of being able to read the texts of two of the greatest historians of Peru, specialized in the colonial period, Guillermo Lohmann Villena and Teodoro Hampe Martinez, which were offered to the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Aranzazu of Lima to commemorate the fourth century of its founding.
The Lohmann article gives us a detailed overview of the, as we say, notable presence of the Basques in the different areas of commercial, maritime, and mining activity in the Viceroyalty of Peru. In it, we find descriptions of the “activity of the Basque element in Peru, operating as a homogeneous core”. In this work, not only is the economic success of these people analyzed, but also the close relationships of their cooperation, their commitment to their local community, and the intense link they maintained with their homeland.
Regarding this last part, we have to admit that we were impressed by the reference about us by Martín de Zelayeta y Aldecoa, originally from Zorrotza, who started a pious work in the 18th century that is still active thanks to the charitable patronage created with a large initial deposit.
All these Basques in Peru organized and work together within the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Aranzazu, through which they also carried out important social work in the community.
The Hampe article is more specific, discussing Navarrese Martín de Osamblea and his descendants. The protagonist of this story was born in Huici, in Navarre, in the middle of the 18th century. After emigrating to Peru, he was able to amass a huge fortune, estimated at half a million pesos. He was united with the other members of the “Basque nation” in Lima thanks to his membership in the Brotherhood of Our Lade of Aranzazu.
“Installation of the First Constituent Congress of Peru” in the chapel of the National University of San Marcos on September 22, 1822 by Peruvian artist Francisco González Gamarra.
As we said at the beginning, these Basques, who had to emigrate from their homeland, were the protagonists of the history of these New World colonies, but they were also leaders on these countries’ roads to independence and in their later development. This is also true of Peru, which will celebrate its 200th anniversary as an independent country in 2021. The struggle for independence started in 1821, and finished in the Battle of Ayacucho in 1824, where the Basque community played a leading role.
Remembering these Basques as a renown representation of all the compatriots of the “Basque nation” who participated in this process that began in the 16th century and which was culminated in the birth of the Republic of Peru is a basic objective of this article and the reason why these works are being shared by the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Aranzazu of Lima and the Limako Arantzazu Euzko Etxea-Lima Basque Center. They’re also a foretaste of the events that will be carried out throughout 2021 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of this republic, which was born with the help of of two great Liberators, San Martín and Bolívar.
All that’s left is to hope that someday, we can also include a book promoted by Basque businessman Juan Celaya, whose larger-than-life memory must always remain alive in our society. This Basque made it possible for another Peruvian historian, José Antonio del Busto Duthurburu, to set in motion a hugely important piece of research: The Dictionary of Basque Surnames in Peru. This project was cut short when first Celaya and then Busto passed away, and we hope that someday it might be published and signed by its author.
Los comerciantes vascos en el Virreinato peruano – Guillermo Lohmann Villena
This website uses cookies so that we can give you the best possible user experience. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions like recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team understand which website areas you find most interesting and useful.
Necessary cookies activate basic functions like navigation and access to secure website areas. Without these cookies, the website cannot work properly.
Cookie
Type
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
persistent
1 year
This cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. It is used to store user consent for the cookies in the “Necessary” category.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-non-necessary
persistent
1 year
This cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. It is used to store user consent for the cookies in the “Non-Necessary” category.
PHPSESSID
session
End of browser session
This cookie is native to PHP and allows the website to save serialized status data. On this website, it is used to establish user sessions by passing status data via a temporary, or session, cookie. This cookie has no established expiration because it disappears when the website is closed.
viewed_cookie_policy
permanent
1 year
This cookie is placed by the GDPR Cookies Consent plug-in and is used to store whether the user has consented to the use of cookies or not. It stores no personal data.
__cfduid
permanent
1 month
Established by the CloudFlare service to identify trusted web traffic.
Marketing cookies are used to track website visitors. The aim is to display adverts that are relevant and appealing to the individual user.
Cookie
Type
Duration
Description
1P_JAR
persistent
1 month
This cookie is used to transfer data to Google.
DSID
persistent
1 hour
Established by Google, if you have started a session with your Google account on another device, this is used to link your activity between devices and coordinate ads that appear on them and to convert them.
fr
persistent
3 months
This cookie is necessary for the Facebook “Like” button to work.
IDE
persistent
2 years
Used by Google DoubleClick, it stores information about the way the user uses the website and any other ads before visiting the website. It is used to present the user with ads that are relevant according to the user’s profile.
mc
persistent
1 year
QuantCast platform cookie for granular audience measurements. It stores no personal data, only user identifiers and their browsing.
NID
persistent
6 months
The NID cookie contains a unique ID that Google uses to remember your preferences and other information, such as your preferred language, the number of search results you want shown per page (for example, 10 or 20), and whether you want the Google Safe Search filter activated.
uid
persistent
1 year
This cookie is used to anonymously measure the number and behavior of the visitors to the website. The data include the number of visits, the average duration of visit to the website, visited websites, etc., in order to understand the user’s preferences better with regards to targeted ads.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
permanent
5 months
This cookie is placed by YouTube. It is used to trace the information of the YouTube videos that are embedded in a website.
_fbp
permanent
1 day
Used by Facebook to offer a line of advertising products, such as real-time offers from third-party advertisers.
Unclassified cookies are cookies that we are in the process of classifying, together with the providers of individual cookies.
Cookie
Type
Duration
Description
cref
persistent
1 year
Contains data on user navigation interaction and time spent on the website and its sub-pages. This data is used to optimize the relevance of advertisements and for statistical purposes.
d
persistent
3 months
Collects anonymous data on the user's visits to the website, such as the number of visits, average time spent on the website and what pages have been loaded with the purpose of generating reports for optimizing the website content.
i
persistent
1 year
Registers anonymized user data, such as IP address, geographical location, visited websites, and what ads the user has clicked, with the purpose of optimizing ad display based on the user's movement on websites that use the same ad network.
KADUSERCOOKIE
persistent
3 months
Registers a unique ID that identifies the user's device during return visits across websites that use the same ad network. The ID is used to allow targeted ads.
KTPCACOOKIE
persistent
1 day
Registers a unique ID that identifies the user's device during return visits across websites that use the same ad network. The ID is used to allow targeted ads.
na_id
persistent
13 months
Used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. This allows the website to register the visitor's behavior and facilitate the social sharing function provided by Addthis.com.
na_rn
persistent
13 months
Used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. This allows the website to register the visitor’s behavior and facilitate the social sharing function provided by Addthis.com.
na_sc_e
persistent
1 month
Used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. This allows the website to register the visitor’s behavior and facilitate the social sharing function provided by Addthis.com.
na_sr
persistent
1 month
Used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. This allows the website to register the visitor’s behavior and facilitate the social sharing function provided by Addthis.com.
na_srp
persistent
1 day
Used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. This allows the website to register the visitor’s behaviour and facilitate the social sharing function provided by Addthis.com.
na_tc
persistent
13 months
Used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. This allows the website to register the visitor's behavior and facilitate the social sharing function provided by Addthis.com.
ouid
persistent
13 months
Sets an ID-string for the specific visitor. This is used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. This allows the website to register the visitor's behavior and facilitate the social media sharing function provided by Addthis.com.