Basque center

Basque centers (Basque: euskal etxeak or eusko etxeak, lit. 'Basque houses') are associative organizations that emerged at the end of the 19th century in cities with a significant Basque diaspora, with the purpose of helping each other and maintaining links with the Basque Country and Basque culture. They are also meeting points for Basques who live across the world.

Basque centers were established to recover documents concerning the history of Basque exile and migration by means of research, digitalization, photographs and oral testimonies. There are more than 150 Basque centers located worldwide. Most of them are in Argentina, extended in and around Buenos Aires. 10% of the Argentine population is of Basque descent, and the Juan de Garay Foundation works with the Basque Argentine community. They do genealogical research among other things. The United States has more than 30 Basque centers, coordinated by the North American Basque Organizations since 1973. 57,793 Basque Americans were registered in the 2000 United States census, including 20,868 in California, 6,637 in Idaho, 6,096 in Nevada, 2,665 in Washington and 2,627 in Oregon. There are ten Basque centers in Spain and two in France.

Apart from the Basque centers, there are also several organizations and associations related to the Basque diaspora. Among the most important ones is the Center for Basque Studies research area in Reno.