Gardoqui Family of Bilbao, Spain

Wealthy Basque

Basque people

The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...

 proprietors of the 18th-Century House of José Gardoqui and Sons (la Casa de José Gardoqui e hijos) of Bilbao

Bilbao

Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...

, Spain.

The most famous member of this family was Don Diego de Gardoqui

Don Diego de Gardoqui

Don Diego María de Gardoqui y Arriquibar Gardoqui-Gardoki Translation: Basque - Fernery was a Spanish-born politician and diplomat.-Biography:Diego de Gardoqui, the fourth of eight children, was the financial intermediary between the...

Arriquibar (1735-1798), who was the first Ambassador of Spain to the United States and Spanish Finance Minister in 1792, after the death of Don Pedro López de Lerena, Count of Lerena.

Spain made loans to the United States to be used to furnish war supplies through the House of Gardoqui, which "supplied the patriots with 215 bronze cannon - 30,000 muskets - 30,000 bayonets - 51,314 musket balls - 300,000 pounds of powder - 12,868 grenades - 30,000 uniforms - and 4,000 field tents during the war."

There was a Catholic Cardinal in the family: Francsco Antonio Javier de Gardoqui Arriquíbar (1747-1820).

External links

• Current Exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery Legacy: Spain and the United States in the Age of Independence, 1763-1848 (from September 27, 2007 to February 10, 2008).