Great book. I learned a lot reading it.

Why did the Basques, a tiny group of fewer than three million people, survive as a culture? This is implicitly the main question asked by Kurlansky's history of the Basques. (Incidentally, this is not really a Basque history of the world as much as it is a history of the Basque world -- though since the Basques got around a lot as sailors and whalers, it's a good-sized world). Here's what I take to be the author's answers to that question:
1) Because they were relatively geographically isolated in an infertile part of the world with rugged landscapes that isolated them from surrounding peoples and even from one another -- small as the Basque region is, there are still seven different Basque dialects from different areas! A single written language did not emerge until the 20th century.
2) Because in the era of urbanization in Spain, mainly the late 19th and the 20th century, Basqueland became prosperous from industrialization and so the Basques did not have to migrate to the cities of other countries or other parts of Spain where they would have been assimilated.
3) Because they were persecuted by Franco and other Spanish rulers, which strengthened their tribal solidarity.
4) Because they were clannish and family-centered, due to a weak state apparatus that forced them to rely on one another and their community.
5) Because a common Catholic faith and a strong network of Basque-speaking parish priests held them together.

But the argument can be made that the Basque culture has only "survived" in a limited sense, if language is taken as the key defining element of a culture. The vast majority of Basques don't know how to speak Basque fluently and certainly don't speak it at home. When I traveled to that region this year, I sure didn't hear a lot of Basque spoken on the streets of San Sebastian or Pamplona or other Basque cities. In a century, will the language still exist as a daily means of communication? I hope so, but I think it's a long shot that a language that has declined this far can be fully brought back to the mainstream -- no matter how much effort Basque authorities put into teaching it in schools and ensuring a steady stream of Basque language publications. We live in an age in which the languages of small groups, especially those that don't have their own country, are dying out at a brisk clip. Most of the languages spoken in the world today are not expected to exist by the end of this century.

The book is a fascinating read, from the earliest historical times during the Roman era up to the present. The reach of the Basque people extended far, wherever their fishing boats and whaling ships and emigrants reached, and contributed very heavily to the exploration efforts of the Spanish during the age of the Spanish global empire (late 1400's through the early 1800's). The author does a particularly good job, I thought, of explaining Basque nationalism, both its narrow-minded, nativist aspects and its rich cultural elements. The competing desires of different Basque groups drove them into taking sides during Spain's various civil wars of the 19th and 20th centuries that pitted them against both other parts of Spain and even against one another. Highly conservative, religious monarchists fighting on the side of the Carlist pretender to the throne during the civil wars of the 19th century clashed violently with more progressive Basques seeking greater autonomy for their homeland under a less centralized monarchy. Similarly, during the Civil War of the 1930s, some Basques such as those of Navarre allied with Franco because of his supposed devotion to the Church and to the monarchy, in opposition to the Spanish Republican government and to most of the rest of their fellow Basques, who were slaughtered by both Franco's well-armed troops and those of Mussolini and Hitler. Kurlansky tells a complicated story very well -- while not leaving out his favorite Basque recipes.

Dudo mucho que nadie sea capaz de explicar con tanto detalle el carácter, y sobre todo, el por qué de tantas manías y peculiaridades de los vascos. Sí, tuvo que venir un yanqui a explicárnoslo.

Mi primer contacto con el libro fue el de reírme, ante la portada de "vasquito" de tienda de souvenir del Casco Viejo. A continuación siguió una crítica, sin fundamento ni conocimiento real sobre el contenido, en la que, de nuevo, me reía de la propaganda nacionalista, sea de la nación que sea. Y es que el título evocaba ciertos derroteros. Pues bien, reírme, me he terminado riendo, pero de mí mismo, y de mi carácter vasco.

Kurlansky retrata, desde el cerrado hasta el más internacionalista, todos los personajes que componen el curioso cosmos euskaldun. Se para, con una familiaridad que sólo alguien que come y cocina bacalao al pil-pil conocería, en cada preocupación que acecha al vasco de hoy en día, desde el conflicto de las gulas/angulas, la situación sociolingüistica del idioma, hasta los dichosos Fueros.

Definir a un vasco, y ya no digamos el concepto de Euskal Herria, es para muchos meterse en un bonito fregao. Para Kurlansky está claro: alguien que come, canta, habla y promete mucho en vasco. Y, ante todo, alguien que quiere que le dejen en paz con sus cosas.

4.5/5

I enjoyed Kurlansky's book Salt and as I've never read anything about the Basques I decided to give this a go. It certainly seems thorough enough: everything from politics to pil pil is covered and one gets a good sense of the cultural mindset that makes a Basque a Basque (though it appears "what makes a Basque a Basque" will forever be up for debate). I found myself flying through the first 150 pages or so, as Kurlansky treats us to a fascinating history lesson which starts with the Basques' dealings with the Carthaginians and Romans, then the Moors and finally the Aragonese and the Reconquista. I will say that I had a bit of a hard time with the author's very early supposition that all the Basques wanted was to be "left alone", particularly when this was contrasted with the fact that Basques willingly served as mercenaries in Hannibal's fateful attack on Rome. If you want to be "left alone", it's probably not a good idea to choose sides in what was the great superpower battle of the day. Nevertheless, Kurlansky gives us a good picture of the political, social, economic and even culinary attributes of a Basque and I found the first half or so of the book to be his strongest. Unfortunately (and probably because it simply was the history with which he had to work) the latter half of the book deals singularly with the 20th century and becomes bogged down in names of Basque nationalists, Francoists and a parade of acronyms. While I think that understanding what occurred in Basqueland (both Spanish and French) in the 20th century is critical to understanding where these people are coming from, after a while the rather journalistic tendency of Kurlansky to rattle off endless amounts of dates, names and numbers of casualties makes the reader somewhat numb to the hideous mountain of retribution and retaliation that was the norm. In the brief bio of the author at the back of the book it indicates that his first professional assignment was in Spain following Franco's regime, so it doesn't appear to be much of a stretch to assume that this part of the book was nearest and dearest to him, but I think the eagerness to share every detail should have been tempered with the idea that perhaps this wasn't meant to be a 350+ page book.

"The Spanish celebrate the great Basque soccer players and bicyclists, the great Basque cuisine. The adjective Basque on a restaurant in Spain implies quality. Traditional Guipuzcoa taverns, selling fermented cider from barrels, salt cod omelettes, and steak, are being imitated throughout the country. Atxaga, whose writings have been translated into Spanish, has a large following. Massive Chillida sculptures are planted like great iron Basque anchors on the wide boulevards of Madrid. Yet the first thing Spaniards think of as Basque is what the government estimates to be 70 ETA commandos and their 800 killings, without much reflection on what 15,000 police were doing to thousands of Basques."



This enlightening recalibration of history and its familiar players, also includes the unheralded, timeless, resilient, and creative people of the seven Basque provinces. n  The Basque History of the Worldn convincingly dispels much of the politically driven, jingoistic dogma that's long corrupted traditional educational institutions, and author Mark Kurlansky details the legend of these "Mythical" Basques; their intrinsic spirit, singular culture, and millennial struggle to simply exist. Forget the history you have been told. The profound impact by the Basque people on human endeavors and civilization, their resourcefulness and innovation, and whatever was needed to assimilate with the world around them — defending of their home against powerful armies, sea exploration, agriculture, capitalism, religion, criminal justice, food innovations — the Euskaldunak did it first.

n  Basque smuggler apprehended (left), and owner & son (right) in front of pastry shop c. 1900n

Part history erudition, part cultural primer, (and even part cookbook), this becomes an enlightening study of a unique people, who do not call themselves "Basque", but Euskadun (Basque speakers). And traces of their role in history begin with the first accounts of their appearance by the Romans in 218 B.C., and continue throughout all of the significant moments of world history; primarily with the discovery of a New World across the sea.

n  Basque Whaling fisheries in 1720n

Described by the Romans as already ancient, they had physical characteristics of Cro-Magnon man of 40,000 years ago, a rare blood type, and yet proceeded to take a prominent place in landmark historical events. The Romans began by giving these indigenous people of the mountains that border France and Spain, a name: Basque. And for centuries they were known; speaking a language that no other nation understood, as the first whalers taking excursions of long ocean voyages, and builders and operators of those ships, sailing the world before Columbus, and with Magellan; the founding of the Jesuit order by (St.) Ignatius Loyola, and experienced the brutality of the Spanish Inquisition, resulting in witch trials and burning executions. The Basques were also the first capitalists; introducing corn to Europe, and creating trade practices to sustain their own survival; embracing their economic independence since they lacked the recognition of being a legitimate country. They even suffered a rift that would include a century of civil war.

"And like the Basque poet who saw the immaculate snowflake disappear the instant he held it in his hand, I found myself with all my dreams turned to foam at the moment i possessed them."— Txillardegin

n  Making berets in the 19th century at the Elosogui factory, and Tomas Zumalacarregui (right), the famed revolutionary made the beret fashionable in 1835n

The Basque History of the World, even in acknowledging its assuming title, and inserting a recipe or two in its narrative (ones for Sea Bream & Pil Pil sound enticing) it still delivers its case with conviction; that these survivors of wars, dictatorships, persecutions, bigotry, destitution and indigence, struggling against stronger and more powerful nations throughout history, still manage to adapt and assimilate. That while they fought for autonomy in the european community, they would still celebrate their heritage in song, and dance, and food, in a language unparalleled and singular, a pride in their traditions, a suspicion of outsiders, and yet, a congeniality toward a world view that allows them to be Basque, even though they remain a nationality without a nation.

n  " The Basque are not isolationist. They never wanted to leave Europe. They only wanted to be Basque. Perhaps it is the French and the Spanish, relative newcomers who will disappear in another thousand years. But the Basques will still be there, playing strange sports, speaking a language of ks and xs that no one else understands, naming their houses and facing them toward the eastern sunrise in a land of legends, on steep green mountains by a cobalt sea — still surviving, enduring by the grace of what Juan San Martin called "Euskaldun biz inahis", the will to live like a Basque."n

n  Thank you Hannahn

Got this for a trip to the region. This guy also wrote Cod and Salt, so you know not a page-turner but random and interesting enough. It's all over the place and given the long history of the people, pretty boring. Felt like he undersold their struggle and resistance and could've made it more emotionally engaging.

They have a super old unconnected language
allegedly started capitalism, globalism, exploration, jai lai, etc
bought the guggenheim and the building and weaksauce art collection to rebrand bilbao

Ugh.

Couldn't get through this one, even though I have a hearty desire to know more about Basques and Spanish/French history.

Tedious.

Before I quit reading, right in the middle of a convoluted section that started several pages earlier declaring it would explain the Basque beret but getting bogged down in so much poorly-told history that I threw the book down in disgust, I did learn a couple of things.

Basques have the highest percentage of Rh negative blood in the world. Other places originally occupied by Cro-Magnon man, like the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the Canary Islands, also have high percentages of Rh negative.

The Basque language, Euskera, is not related to any other language. It has no Indo-European roots. At all. Which is remarkable because once those Indo-Europeans started spreading, they left virtually no European language untouched.

The only defeat Charlemagne ever suffered was at the hands of the Basques in 778. The story is told in the Song of Roland.

I wish I could hang in and keep learning. But I just can't read this darn book any more.

“And like the Basque poet who saw the immaculate snowflake disappear the instant he held it in his hand, I found myself with all my dreams turned to foam at the moment I possessed them.”

I've only made it through two of Kurlansky's books (the other is Cod), and I DNF'd Milk.

That said, this book made me want to just throw my stuff on the ground and travel to Basque country. Ugh I need to find my copy so I can put some quotes in here, but let's just say that Basque history and culture were really interesting to me, and inadvertently, I learned a lot about Spanish history as well.

Highly recommended.

Good book to start with for trip to Basque Country. Overview. Easy to read. Mix of history and culture. Lots of sources for further reading.

This is a great insight into many aspects of life and culture in the Basque Country including language, literature, history, religion, economy, sports and food. The latter adds some quirkiness in the form of recipes scattered throughout the book. That comes as less of a surprise if you know that Kurlansky worked as a fisherman and a chef before publishing books entitled Salt and Cod either side of this one. The fish plays a big part in Basque cuisine and there is good insight here into the role Basques have played in seafaring, whaling and overseas exploration.

I decided to re-read this book recently because I will shortly relocate to the Basque Country – or Basquelands – as the author tends to refer to them. The BHOTW provides the opportunity to pick up a few words of a language which appears difficult because it bears almost no relation to Latin or even Western European languages in general. In fact, Basque is only one of four European languages that do not belong to the Indo-European group (the others being Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian).

Euskal Herria (the land of the Basque speakers) is a complicated and intriguing place in many ways: spanning the French-Spanish border with three provinces in France and four in Spain; although the former kingdom of Navarre is an autonomous region of the modern Spanish state in its own right and not officially part of the autonomous Basque region (or Euskadi).

The book looks at the origins of these people who have no tradition of aristocracy outside of Navarre, before outlining key events in its history such as the ancient Fueros laws, Carlist Wars, the bombing of Guernica and other Basque towns during the Spanish Civil War, the Franco era and the history of ETA. I’ve read some criticism of this book that it doesn’t go deeply enough into atrocities committed by ETA, but surely that is an area that has been more than adequately covered elsewhere. As Kurlansky pointed out at the time of writing (1999), 95% of articles about the Basque Country in the international press mention ETA. Of course, the political situation has changed somewhat since this book was written. That is the only sense in which it has dated but it gives good background to the sources of conflict.

Is this bias or simply a different perspective that some, particularly Spaniards, may not wish to acknowledge? Many of the views expressed in the mainstream Spanish press about the Basques are hardly objective, and it is worth asking if they, or a writer from Connecticut, USA, can provide more objectivity. However, the Basques themselves appear to have taken to this book since Kurlansky was awarded an honoury ambassadorship from the Basque Government and inducted into the Basque Hall of Fame in 2001.

There are other areas I have not touched upon such as the importance of Catholicism in the region (particularly the Jesuits), industry and economy ("Basque banks controlled one third of all investment in Spain"), "the most policed population in Europe", the flagship Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and unique sports but I would encourage you to get this informative and entertaining book and find out more about this intriguing place that merits recognition for more than terrorism.

The material is interesting but the telling is disjointed. The writing is poor. The author makes little attempt to explain the Spanish history that is the reason for much of the Basque history. The result is a story that is hard to understand. The author has done a lot of good research, but he should have given his material to someone who could write.