The Basques played an influential role in creating and maintaining Spain's colonial empire, including the Philippines. Basques were members of the Magellan expedition that discovered the Philippines in 1521 and a Basque-led expedition subsequently laid the foundation for Spain's conquest and pacification of the archipelago.
Despite the small population of their native provinces, the Basques' skills as shipbuilders, navigators, businessmen, and scribes, their evangelical zeal, and their ethnic cohesion and work-oriented culture made them well suited to serve as explorers, colonial administrators, missionaries, settlers, merchants, and shippers in the trans-Pacific galleon trade between China, Manila, and Mexico. After the Wars of Independence deprived Spain of most of its American empire, many Basques settled in the Philippines, fleeing political persecution and increasingly limited opportunities in their homeland. Basque emigration from Spain to the Philippines continued through the first half of the twentieth century.
Basques figured prominently in the governance, defense, and cultivation of the Philippines until the end of Spanish sovereignty in 1898, and an active role in Filipino resistance to the Japanese occupation during World War II. They were leaders in the economic development of the hinterlands, as well as in the advancement of industry, transportation, inter-island trade and shipping, and the establishment of Catholicism as a dominant national religion. Filipinos of Basque descent continue to contribute significantly to the culture and economy of the contemporary Philippines.
This work chronicles the long-unappreciated history of the Philippines as a vital part of the Spanish Empire, closely connected through trade and personal ties to the American colonies, and crucial to the European penetration of East Asia. Basques distinguished themselves in many areas of Filipino life, and their story, as told by Marciano de Borja, is rich in vivid characters and fascinating detail.
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