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Boise today hosts one of the highest proportions of Basque-American residents in the United States, equalled only in proportion by a handful of tiny towns elsewhere in Idaho, or in Nevada and Utah. The Basques, who hail from the Pyrennes region that lies between Spain and France, came to the Americas (their range is all the way to Argentina) to work as sheep herders, and many have made highly respectable fortunes in the last 100 years. Yet their cultural solidarity and consistency has made them notable contributors to the American West, beginning with food (the "Basque Restaurant" or Hotel), and extending into literature, work ethic, and the Basque Festivals held every fall in a number of western towns.
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