Many Basques arrived in Chile in the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and early 20th century from their homeland in northern Spain (see Basque Provinces) and parts of southwestern France, as conquistadors, soldiers, sailors, merchants, priests and labourers. Due to their traditional hard work and entrepreneurship, many of them rose to the top of the social scale and intermarried into the Chilean elites of Castilian descent, giving birth to the new Basque-Chilean aristocracy in Chile. This union is the basis of the Chilean elite of today. But also, they immensely contributed to the ethnic make up of the bulk of the Chilean population. The Basque settlers also intermarried into the Mestizo and Castizo population of central Chile in the middle of the colonial period to form the large Criollo population that exists in Chile today; Castizos create modern middle and lower classes. Many years after the first waves of settlers, thousands of Basque refugees fleeing Spanish Civil War in 1939 also settled and have many descendants in the country and have even intermarried with Spanish ethnic groups other than Castilians, and other European ethnic groups. An estimated 1.6 million (10%) to 5 million (30%) Chileans have a surname (one or both) of Basque origin. This figure is to the least as the number of Basque descendence is great and plentiful. Due to Basque migration, Chile has a higher number of people of Basque descent than the Basque Country itself.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
Miguel de Unamuno once said: "There are at least two things that clearly can be attributed to the Basques: the Society of Jesus and the Republic of Chile."[9]
^"«Los jóvenes vasco-chilenos están al día de todo lo que está pasando en Euskadi»". El Diario Vasco. 24 July 2006. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
^"entrevista al Presidente de la Cámara vasca". Archived from the original on 11 May 2009. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
^vascos Ainara Madariaga: Autora del estudio "Imaginarios vascos desde Chile La construcción de imaginarios vascos en Chile durante el siglo XX".
^"De los vascos en Chile y sus instituciones". www.euskonews.eus. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
^Contacto Interlingüístico e intercultural en el mundo hispano.instituto valenciano de lenguas y culturas. Universitat de València Cita: " Un 20% de la población chilena tiene su origen en el País Vasco".
^(in Spanish) La población chilena con ascendencia vasca bordea entre el 15% y el 20% del total, por lo que es uno de los países con mayor presencia de emigrantes venidos de Euskadi. Archived 2010-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
^[1] Archived 2013-08-19 at the Wayback Machine DE LOS VASCOS, OÑATI Y LOS ELORZAWaldo Ayarza Elorza.
^"Jon Erdozia, nuevo Delegado en Chile: 'Iniciativas vasco chilenas como Emprebask son exportables a otros países'". Retrieved 11 June 2023.
^"«La Compañía de Jesús y la República de Chile son las dos grandes hazañas del pueblo vascongado», solía decir don Miguel de Unamuno". Miguel de Unamuno used to say "The Company of Jesus and the Republic of Chile are the two great achievements of the Basque people." [2]
(10%) to 5 million (30%) Chileans have a surname (one or both) of Basque origin. This figure is to the least as the number of Basque descendence is great...
insular territories. Most Chileans share a common culture, history, ancestry and language. The overwhelming majority of Chileans are the product of varying...
Castilians as well as other European ethnic groups. Population estimates of Basque-Chileans range from 30% (5,000,000) to as high as 40% (7, 700,000). Miguel de...
Southern. Italian Chileans along with French Chileans contributed to the development, cultivation and ownership of the world-famous Chilean wines from haciendas...
Spanish Chileans refer more often to Chileans of post-independence Spanish immigrant descent, as they have retained a Spanish cultural identity. People...
Basque pelota (Basque: pilota, Spanish: pelota vasca, French: pelote basque) is the name for a variety of court sports played with a ball using one's...
The Basque Country national football team (Basque: Euskal selekzioa) represents the Basque Country in football. It selects players from the Basque Country...
Castilian-Basque elites. Italian Chileans, along with French Chileans, contributed to the development, cultivation and ownership of the world-famous Chilean wines...
Chile came from Spain and from the Basque country, a region divided between northern Spain and southern France. Estimates of the number of Chileans who...
election against Joaquín Lavín of the rightist Alliance for Chile. In January 2006, Chileans elected their first female president, Michelle Bachelet Jeria...
The Basques (Basque: Euskaldunak) are an indigenous ethno-linguistic group mainly inhabiting Basque Country (adjacent areas of Spain and France). Their...
The list of Basque footballers features male association football players from the 'Greater Basque Country', a territory with a population of around 3...
The calimocho or kalimotxo (Basque pronunciation: [ka.li.mo.tʃo], Spanish pronunciation: [ka.li.ˈmo.tʃo]) is a drink consisting of equal parts red wine...
politics. The Balmaceda family is of Basque descent. They are members of the Castilian-Basque aristocracy in Chile. Manuel José de Balmaceda Ballesteros...
alcohol content produced in the Spanish Basque Country, Cantabria and northern Burgos in Spain. Further afield, Chile is also a minor producer. It is normally...
the founding families of Chile. Originally from Gipuzkoa, Spain, more specifically from Bergara, the Municipality in Basque Country. Vergara is a toponymic...
Basque Mexicans (Spanish: vasco-mexicanos or simply vasco, Euskara: euskal-mexikar) are Mexicans of full, partial, or predominantly Basque ancestry, or...
influential family that were part of the Castilian-Basque aristocracy. Her parents were exiled from Chile after the 1973 coup due to her mother's connection...
list of notable Basque people. For this purpose, people considered are those hailing from the extended Basque Country (includes the Basque Autonomous Community...
This is a list of Chileans who are famous or notable. Ricardo J. Caballero – MIT professor, Department of Economics Sebastián Edwards – UCLA professor...
chirriburri 'hubbub', ultimately perhaps from Basque zurrumurru 'noise, rumor'. Another theory connects it to Basque tximitxurri 'hodgepodge', 'mixture of several...
It is also unclear whether Chileans living abroad were counted, although it is probable that those that were born in Chile were included, as they were...
million (10%) to 3.2 million (20%) Chileans have a surname (one or both) of Basque origin. The Basques liked Chile because of its great similarity to...
Swiss Chileans are Chilean citizens of Swiss ancestry. There are currently 15,000 Swiss citizens residing in Chile, with approximately 90,000 descendants...
Global Information