As we have seen, many Basques chose Montevideo or Buenos Aires as their destination. The period analyzed—1840–1920—marked a period of exceptional characteristics for the integration of immigrant groups into the River Plate coast. In the case of Buenos Aires, a territory that expanded its boundaries and a State that distributed the lands obtained made it possible (despite the monopolization of much of it by the landowning group) to keep prices low and to access them in the medium to long term. The shifting frontier and the creation of new towns brought with it a myriad of activities. The expanding livestock production structure demanded labor for primary tasks, marketing, product transportation, and secondary activities in population centers. From 1840 onward, the diversification of production, accelerated by a demanding international situation, required the profitable services of those who possessed knowledge of the new sheep production. Added to this "intellectual monopoly" of the Basques and the Irish is another factor that influenced the profitability of contracts and wages: the exemption from the draft for foreigners.
The native society, "doomed" for much of the period to political and military issues, the favorable legal framework for immigrants, and the still-persistent vision of immigrants as bearers of progress presented the possibility of peaceful social integration. Underpinning these processes, early Basques can be seen alternating a variety of activities, many of them central to the formation, diversification, and functioning of the livestock production structure during this key period in the country's history. These pioneering Basques followed different paths—in fact, they were characterized by their spatial and occupational mobility—while simultaneously contributing to the formation of the labor market. This, in turn, clearly from 1880 onward, weakened "exceptional" opportunities, generalizing the wage .
In a Buenos Aires neighborhood, as in some of the new rural towns, a considerable number of Basques could be seen working in a range of self-employed activities (carpenters, merchants, bakers, shoemakers), either from the outset or after saving some money. However, the high wages and lack of skills turned many into dependents or day laborers. Those who went to the countryside (at least until the early 1970s) were able to enter the growing wool industry and quickly build capital. As the century progressed, trade (with various complementary activities such as harvesting) became a springboard for economic growth for many.
The continuous flow of immigrants, in turn, presented countless opportunities that were no less exceptional. Population (and therefore housing) overflow required the services of bakers, bricklayers, blacksmiths, and carpenters in the short to medium term, but urgently needed the subletting of rooms or the opening of makeshift, modest inns to provide shelter and food for a growing number of single men. As part of this same process, food consumption increased (and a certain diversity was demanded) (many Basque pig farmers, dairy farmers, cheese makers, small farmers, and bakers would take advantage of this) and essential items for daily life.
But although the villages offered unlimited opportunities, in much of the province, especially in the southeast, many Basques—albeit a small minority overall—managed to advance in livestock farming, primarily as ranchers. From then on, it is common to observe the emergence and growth of several nationally and internationally renowned cattle ranches run by Basque-speaking people. Within those , whose main activity was improving livestock breeds, Basques often complemented their production with agriculture and dairy farming.
Finally, we can affirm that many Basque-speaking people who did not own significant capital assets opportunistically found their way into highly profitable trades—not at all extravagant, but certainly demanding—which surely allowed them to lead a more dignified and independent life than that offered by their village in the Basque Country. If until 1870 they were shepherds and well diggers, from then on they became fence-cutters. Other activities—less explosive but no less profitable in the long term—were also hinted at as predominantly Basque from 1850/60, for example, dairy farming and, to a lesser extent, inns.
Characteristics of the Basque group (especially in the early period) were their spatial dispersion and "rapid" integration into the wider society. During much of our study period, there was considerable mobility among the Spanish and French groups (and within these, a significant percentage of Basques), "pushing" the military-economic frontier and seeking better opportunities in the countryside—which does not only mean the countryside, but also, as we saw, the new towns. A look in perspective s us that the gradual decline in exceptional opportunities in the countryside (we are referring, for example, to sharecropping or tenant farming) as well as the massive arrival of new immigrants increasingly forced urban employment as the century progressed; their successful integration into agriculture would later be revitalized with the occupation of the conquered lands further south.
The low returns, some exceptionally profitable opportunities, and above all the continuous flow of Basques throughout the period suggest the achievement of general economic improvements within the group. Some in the short term; others attained by the end of the century, becoming part of the rural landowning and middle classes or founding important urban commercial houses; the vast majority working as self-employed workers in commerce or minor trades. Most of them undoubtedly managed to improve compared to their previous status in the Basque Country.
The Basques, like most early immigrants who sought to settle in the interior of the province, quickly reached the first step toward assimilation. They were forced to do so. Ethnic attitudes—toward fellow Basques or the rest of society—would soon be overshadowed by obligations inherent in other roles such as neighbors and customers. This did not prevent society and the Basques themselves from discerning an image of community; one that was formed and maintained, atypically, without cohesive institutions. The continuity of sociocultural aspects in the new place (sports, clothing, customs) and the initiative of several euskaldunes (ethnic-social leaders) who stood out from the rest were enough. There was no shortage of mechanisms for rapprochement among Basques, but they did not resist rapid integration. On the contrary, the social spaces in their hands fulfilled the dual function of recreating a typically Basque environment, yet open to the rest of the social spectrum. Even some aspects of their cultural background that initially distinguished them (their clothing, then their games) were massively adopted by the natives. In any Buenos Aires town, living near other Basques, bearing witness to an illiterate fellow Basque, seeking help from a Mutual Aid Society, or hiring a fellow Basque must not have been attitudes that sparked phobias in their contemporaries. On the contrary, witnessing the marriages of native spouses, participating in neighborhood committees, acquiring and improving plots of land, and attending the same church as the rest of the town would have been seen as attitudes of willingness to settle down and integrate. In short, aside from their strange attire and practices of crazy foreigners, they were increasingly viewed—especially until 1880/1890—as "good neighbors." Meanwhile, in a neighborhood in Buenos Aires where the roles of neighbor and customer were naturally hidden—weakened—by the masses, it is possible that many Basque speakers took on a more ethnic role, organizing—and attending—the Laurak Bat Basque Center, the French Basque Center, or any other institution such as the Irunés Center, the Spanish Club, etc.
The early and "successful" integration processes, as well as the dispersed occupation of much of Buenos Aires, would surely create a more than favorable socioeconomic foundation for the Basques who arrived 1880 and 1920. Regarding the integration process, if in the early period the Basques were "able"—despite participating in both Spanish and French institutions—to present certain elements that gave them their own identity, after 1880 certain spaces of sociability clearly identified with this group would become stronger, which—although they did not hinder integration—finally consolidated them as a community. The inn and hotel owned by Basques—and, to a more widespread extent, the general stores—played an important socioeconomic role in different parts of the province of Buenos Aires 1870 and 1930. Initially, the inns and hotels served to enhance the services provided until then by general stores and general stores. Buenos Aires society, both due to its formative nature and the overflow caused by the massive arrival of immigrants, resorted—as we saw—to similar resources as European industrial cities: the subletting of family homes and inns. These spaces also facilitated the massive integration of young, single men until they could "round out" their families or formalize their relationship with a local woman.
Towards the end of the last century, modest Basque-owned hotels began to replace inns, providing services primarily to rural people who came to the city to carry out errands. They were the "home in the city"; a safe place to leave a sick relative, money in the till, or an address where a letter could be received. These establishments brought Basques together and reinforced the community's identity with the rest of society, but their open nature didn't delay integration, but rather accelerated it. Perhaps the Basque hotel can be considered a pioneer among community institutions of reference. We are convinced that they formed—on a lower level than mutual insurance companies or clubs—spaces for ethnic sociability. However, since the beginning of the century, various elements have slowly undermined their multifunctionality. Clubs, restaurants, farmhouses, funeral homes, clinics, car dealerships, and even restaurant unions have obscured their service offerings. The decline in immigration flows; more demanding legislation; The rise of tourism gave way to modern, commercial hotels. These establishments, almost unwittingly, had contributed to the formation and preservation of the Basque identity. The first Basque exiles, who arrived in 1938, merely reaped those seeds and, on long-prepared ground, formed the Basque Centers.
A quick look in perspective s that the Basques, like most of the early immigrants who sought to settle in the interior of the province, would quickly reach—with the exception of specific examples such as the Irish or the Danish—the first step toward assimilation described by Baily. They were forced to do so: the formation of multiple committees in the province's new towns (to repair the church, install lighting or other public services, counteract epidemics, etc.) are just a few examples of cohesive activities that mask the needs and pressures of the environment. It is more difficult to observe the moment when they cross the threshold of structural assimilation. A priori, one might assume that the early period, before 1880, did not present the appropriate characteristics for this to occur. It is difficult to imagine a widespread open predisposition toward intermarriage and the development of a new identity based on the society before the first decades of this century. This was primarily because local society—at least that of Buenos Aires—was overwhelmed by foreigners in all spheres. But also because the Basques—like surely the rest of the foreigners—would have previously attempted to form families by recruiting brides and wives.
The time elapsed until structural assimilation was doubly limited by the characteristics of the period (great geographic mobility and accommodation) and the continuous flow of Basques to the province of Buenos Aires. The various approaches, more or less targeted, with greater or lesser degrees of awareness that have been noted, do not represent all possible forms. Hundreds of situations like those described would have occurred to immigrants during their lifetimes, surely with decreasing frequency. The attitudes to be followed were in their hands, whether they undertook an individual or collective enterprise, although many of these potential ventures were encouraged by prominent figures in the community.
While it is risky, despite the sources and data available, to speculate on the experience of integration, doing the same with the experience of Basque social integration and assimilation in Argentina is no less complex. The province of Buenos Aires—with the dimensions that this implies—welcomed Basques at all points; as if that were not enough, the territory gradually changed its dimensions, and even for much of the period the border oscillated, enveloping and mixing everything inside and outside. The migratory flow of this national group, making observation even more difficult, was virtually uninterrupted at any point during our study period.
How can we speak definitively—even by analytically dividing the study into two large parts—about the experience of Basque-speaking social integration in Argentina 1840 and 1920? It might be more tempting to refer to it in relative terms—with partial results obtained from other national groups—and even narrowing the scope to small points in that territory and more or less precise moments. Integration must have had different rhythms urban and rural areas, and within the latter, possibly with differences depending on the region. However, considering the Basque group as a whole and without neglecting two important elements: early uprooting (characteristic among them, as they were largely secondary) and the positive image that the Basque people formed in the Buenos Aires environment, we conclude that they soon made these lands their home, participating indiscriminately in the economy, social institutions, and politics. On the other hand, the geographical dispersion (partly due to their arrival in waves), which did not concentrate them en masse in a few places, and the fact that they were involved in a multitude of tasks must have accelerated integration. The characteristics of some trades—high mobility and interaction with the rest of society; transport in teams, clothing, etc.—which memory has attributed monopolistically to the Basques, must have contributed significantly to the interweaving and multiplication of networks with the neighborhood. In the new towns of the province, "everything" had to be done, and the Basques—despite apparently high rates of endogamy—soon became protagonists in all their spheres. This attitude—centered in the figures of a few agreed-upon men—accelerated integration and the process toward structural assimilation.
Although it's frivolous to talk about the immigrants who arrived before and after 1980—as if there were a magic door dividing two different worlds—the Basques must have benefited greatly from the contributions and experiences of integration and integration of their predecessors. We won't here everything that this entailed. We can, however, remember that from Urquiza and Alberdi to Pellegrini—including other presidents and important figures—the pioneering Basques knew how to earn a privileged place among the pens and discourses of the Argentine elite. Perhaps these privileges should be attributed to their early arrival, when the people of Buenos Aires were crying out for workers and capital; or perhaps it's because they toiled at tasks that the natives "dodged"; perhaps simply because—as we saw in the chapter on the Basques in popular memory—for the native landed elite and the pens of contemporary writers, "they were neither Spanish nor French," which allowed them to escape nationalist phobias unscathed.
Along with this, which was no small feat, those early Basques achieved fortunes that were difficult to replicate. Sheep breeding, rural trade, and general transport were some of the springboards that made this possible. But outside of this minority, it is difficult to question the feeling that a large proportion of the Basques who arrived before the last quarter of the last century achieved significant progress. And this may possibly be the secret of the relatively successful continuity in the experiences of Basques who arrived later. Spending a few months in a Basque countryman's field or ing and eating the first few nights in a Basque inn must have been common practices. But even if not all were specifically invited or helped by anyone, the "late" Basques must have moved "within" economic, financial, and social spaces prefabricated by those who arrived. A newly arrived Basque could—depending on where and when they settled—frequently frequent Spanish or French mutual aid societies and ask a Basque hotelier for a favor; but also to come and relieve their distress at pelota courts. These elements—some clear, others more diffuse—formed channels that facilitated the dispersion of Basque immigrants throughout the province. Being Basque allowed them greater mobility, both economically and socially; no one could deny them, if necessary, their undeniable Francophile or Hispanic affiliation.
We can conclude, with a fair degree of certainty, that different possibilities for integration existed in the 1860s and the 1900s, as well as a place like Barracas al Sud and Lobería. Second, the experiences in question vary substantially when we do not look to the sources for ideal subjects. Neither immigrants nor natives (including their children) participated throughout their lives in all the sociocultural spheres presented by the setting, and they did not feel disintegrated as a result. The same is true of the continued practice of cultural customs, a phenomenon that does not always taint the integration process. If we do not condition nationality as a synonym for trust, assistance, unconditional feelings, etc., we may be able to better understand some of the attitudes of those immigrants. The arrival of fellow countrymen may have motivated rapprochement, through the aforementioned means or others, but it is possible that the relationship did not flourish beyond that. Every Basque immigrant who arrived was also a worker, potentially a competitor—the lawsuits filed them seem to prove this—and a bearer of similar knowledge. In the new place, they quickly capitalized, and after the different rhythms of each case, differences began to prevail over similarities.
Finally, we can say that the Basques were able—and sometimes, in the face of certain absences, had to—recover on Argentine soil many practices and customs carried in their cultural heritage. From work behaviors to sports practices, including forms of sociability and habitation, hereditary practices, and even food, those Basques present us with a case that confirms John Bodnar's ideas. Neither total acceptance of everything new nor rejection and recovery of the old; rather, a synthesis of both behaviors; a phenomenon consistent, moreover, with the experiences of successful integration and minimally traumatic social integration that we have recovered.