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Amateur historian and author John J. O’Hagan (San Francisco, 1941) has published his second historical book, entitled When the Basques ruled California. “An insightful, entertaining look at a time when a small, marginalized group of people had a disproportionate influence on history,” as stated on the publisher’s website. O’Hagan told EuskalKultura.com that, in fact, “the Basques had a great impact on why the US wanted to get California from Mexico.”

Boise, ID USA. John J. O’Hagan, author of Lands never trodden: The Franciscans and the California missions, has just published his sophomore historical book: When the Basques ruled California. A chronicle of fifty years, from 1784 to 1834, when most positions of power in pre-American California were held by Basques, “coming from both Spain and Mexico.” This title can be purchased at Caxton Press' website.

Like his first work, O’Hagan, who was born and raised in the Golden State and moved to Idaho to raise his children, focuses on When the Basques ruled California in the life around the missions. “I always try to make people understand that this is also American history –states the author−. At school, you learn everything about the East Coast, but there is still a lot about the West Coast that we should’ve been taught. All the history around the missions, California, Mexico… Those fifty years were very significant and almost all the positions of power were held by Basques, coming from both Spain and Mexico. The Basques were controlling California and making decisions. They had a great impact on why the US wanted to get California from Mexico. It’s something a lot of people don’t know.”

Excellent record keepers

The author took two years and a half to finish this book, most of which he spent doing research at the Center for Basque Studies in Reno, Nevada and at Boise State University. He had already conducted a lot of research at the California missions to prepare his former project−a task that was not too hard either “because everything is there.” “The Spaniards were excellent record keepers,” he added. The reason why all this data about the influence of the Basques in California had not been published before, in his opinion, might be because “people who were not familiar with Basque names probably thought that everything was Spanish.”

O’Hagan, himself a retired nurse, is now working on a long series of fictional mystery books, all of them involving murders in the twenty one missions in California. He has already published A Convenient Death at San Diego, and is working on A Troubling Death at San Francisco, A Mysterious Death at Monterey, and A Puzzling Death at San Miguel. He would love to tour California, at his own expense, to present When the Basques ruled California. Anybody interested in hosting a presentation please contact the author at johnohaganauthor@gmail.com.