The Basque language is spoken in parts of Spain and France, places from which, historically, many migrants left to start new lives overseas. As a result of this, there are small pockets of Basque speakers around the world, particularly in North America.
Minority languages often struggle to survive, surrounded by majority languages that give advantages in commerce and the wider world. But Basque is surviving surprisingly well, perhaps partly because Basque speakers in Spain and France were already used to managing two or more languages in their daily lives.
Like many others, Basque fortune-seekers flocked to California during the gold rush in the nineteenth century. Most of them, of course, failed to make their fortune panning for gold, but they tended to go into other sectors, including mining and herding sheep, in various parts of the United States. Their friends and relatives joined them, and gradually a sizable Basque community took root in America, with an area of Idaho noted for its large Basque population.
For a while, it looked as though Basque was losing out to English, but it has witnessed a surprising resurgence. Basque-Americans get together to play and sing traditional music and songs, to eat Basque meals, and to speak Basque, showing that they have no problem with being Basque and American at the same time.
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