The Basque Heritage of Jon Rahm: A Story that Goes Back Millennia

A key component of Jon Rahm's identity, and one that's not often discussed in English-speaking media, is his Basque heritage. The Basque people represent the oldest surviving ethnic group in all of Europe; they pre-date the Indo-Europeans who swept through the rest of the continent, and whose descendants live there today. Euskal Herria, the Basque homeland, is a region the size of New Hampshire in southern France and northern Spain, and the people have their own language and culture that have survived repeated attempts to snuff it out, right up to the present day. But for such a tight-knit and insular community, they've had an outsized impact on world history. As Rahm himself has said, there's a difference between the Basques and the Spanish, and while he represents both on the global stage, it's his Basque background that defines his cultural heritage and his strength as an elite competitor. To understand Rahm, you have to understand the Basques.