We’ve spoken a lot about the Hand of Irulegi. It goes without saying that this incredible discovery by the Aranzadi Science Society has turned research on Basque culture and language on its head, as well as clearing up many questions about the history of our people (and raising even more, as is always the case!).
It didn’t take any time at all for US public broadcaster National Public Radio to cover this discovery in great detail in the regions where there is a notable Basque presence. This is a good time to recall that, as Wikipedia says, NPR is a national US non-profit broadcaster with over 1,000 stations throughout all fifty states and the District of Columbia.
On December 29, Boise State Public Radio aired a report by Julie Luchetta on the discovery. It is of course no surprise that a station in Boise would do so, given that the Idaho state capital is also one of the biggest Basque towns in the US. The same report was picked up by at least four affiliates in other areas. Two of them are KSUT and KDNR in Colorado, a state where there is also a strong, well-established Basque presence.
The third was by Wyoming Public Media. Wyoming has always had a Basque presence, and we’ve blogged about it on numerous occasions. The Basque presence is so important that the flag of Johnson County, whose county seat is Buffalo (yes, the Old West Buffalo), uses an ikurriña as the base. Moreover, on the 125th anniversary of the Wyoming’s admission as the 44th state, the presence of the Basques was recognized by the University itself.
The fourth was WBUR out of Boston, which we’ve also cited before. At first, it might seem that Boston is outside the area of Basque influence in the US, but actually, for a long time, the economic and commercial connections between the Basques and Boston were quite strong. Here we must mention the fluid commercial relationships between the US East Coast and Bilbao (these would be more “informal” commercial relationships, or as most people call it, “smuggling”), but this meant that the Basques played a key role in the independence of the US. Check out the entry we wrote on an article by Dr. Robert P. Clark that we published in 2021.
We’ll leave you with the whole article from the Boise website, and the links to the other publications from Colorado, Wyoming, and Boston.
Boise State Public Radio -29/12/2022 – USA
Archaeological artifact sheds light on mysterious Basque language
The Basque language is a non-Indo European language in Western Europe, spoken by people living in the mountains between France and Spain. The isolated language has flummoxed scholars for centuries.
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KSUT out of the Four Corners region of Colorado
KDNK out of Roaring Fork Valley, Colorado
Wyoming Public Media
WBUR out of Boston
Last Updated on Jan 15, 2023 by About Basque Country
