{"id":7817,"date":"2020-05-19T16:10:20","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T16:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/?p=7817"},"modified":"2020-05-19T16:23:56","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T16:23:56","slug":"in-iceland-its-no-longer-legal-to-kill-basques-on-sight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/in-iceland-its-no-longer-legal-to-kill-basques-on-sight\/","title":{"rendered":"In Iceland, it&#8217;s no longer legal to kill Basques on sight"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_twitter_via = \"datebytype\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"datebytype\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"In Iceland, it&#039;s no longer legal to kill Basques on sight\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"387\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/what-took-them-so-long.jpg?resize=620%2C387&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7819\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/what-took-them-so-long.jpg?w=620&amp;ssl=1 620w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/what-took-them-so-long.jpg?resize=300%2C187&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>You have read correctly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> &#8220;In late April, one of the world&#8217;s strangest laws was quietly revoked. Authorities in&nbsp;<strong>Iceland&#8217;s<\/strong>&nbsp;Westfjords district, the scenic northwestern corner of the island nation, repealed a 400-year-old decree ordering the death on sight of any&nbsp;<strong>Basque<\/strong>&nbsp;person found in the region.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211;<em>May 27, 2015 Washington Post<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This goes back to the history of whaling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1216\" height=\"808\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/history-of-whaling.jpg?fit=640%2C425&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7820\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/history-of-whaling.jpg?w=1216&amp;ssl=1 1216w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/history-of-whaling.jpg?resize=300%2C199&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/history-of-whaling.jpg?resize=768%2C510&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/history-of-whaling.jpg?resize=1024%2C680&amp;ssl=1 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption>In the first half of the sixteenth century Basque whalers set up the world&#8217;s first large-scale whaling industry in Newfoundland. The center of this industry was some ten ports on the southern coast of Labrador. During the peak years of the 1560s and 1570s the fleet comprised around 30 ships manned by up to 2,000 men, who killed approximately 400 whales each year. By the beginning of the seventeenth century Basque whaling had reached Iceland.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>From Wikipedia:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The year 1615 was a difficult year in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Iceland\">Iceland<\/a>&nbsp;with ice up to shores until late summer and considerable loss of livestock. In mid-summer three Basque whaling vessels put into Reykjarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Westfjords\">Westfjords<\/a>. Icelanders and the Basques had a mutual agreement at the beginning as they both had benefited from the enterprise. When the ships were ready for departure in late September a terrible gale arose and the ships were driven on the rocks and crushed. Most of the crew members survived (approx. 80). The captains Pedro de Aguirre and Esteban de Telleria wintered at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vatneyri\">Vatneyri<\/a>&nbsp;(<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Patreksfj%C3%B6r%C3%B0ur\">Patreksfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur<\/a>) and left for home the following year. The crew of Martin de Villafranca&#8217;s ship split into two groups; one entered&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%C3%8Dsafjar%C3%B0ardj%C3%BAp\">\u00cdsafjar\u00f0ardj\u00fap<\/a>, the other went to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bolungarv%C3%ADk\">Bolungarv\u00edk<\/a>&nbsp;and later to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%C3%9Eingeyri\">\u00deingeyri<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first conflict arose when one group entered the empty house of a merchant of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%C3%9Eingeyri\">\u00deingeyri<\/a>&nbsp;and stole some dried fish. As retaliation, on 5 October, at night, a group of Icelanders entered the hut where the Basques were sleeping and killed 14 of them, only one young man called Garc\u00eda, escaped. Captain Mart\u00edn de Villafranca of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/San_Sebasti%C3%A1n\">San Sebasti\u00e1n<\/a>, whose father and grandfather had both been involved in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Newfoundland_and_Labrador\">Terra Nova<\/a>&nbsp;whaling was among those who were killed. The bodies were mutilated and sunken into water.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/J%C3%B3n_Gu%C3%B0mundsson_the_Learned\">J\u00f3n Gu\u00f0mundsson the Learned<\/a>&nbsp;wrote about the unjust and cruel deaths &#8220;dishonored and sunken into sea, as if they were the worst pagans and not innocent Christians&#8221;. Three days after the first slaying,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Ari_Magn%C3%BAsson&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1\">Ari Magn\u00fasson<\/a>&nbsp;summoned a council at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/S%C3%BA%C3%B0av%C3%ADk\">S\u00fa\u00f0av\u00edk<\/a>&nbsp;and twelve judges agreed to declare as outlaws all the Basques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On 13 October Martin and the other 17 of his group were killed at \u00c6\u00f0ey and Sandeyri in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%C3%8Dsafjar%C3%B0ardj%C3%BAp\">\u00cdsafjar\u00f0ardj\u00fap<\/a>, while they were fishing, by the troops commanded by Ari Magn\u00fasson. According to J\u00f3n Gu\u00f0mundsson, the victims were stabbed in the eyes, their ears, noses and had their genitals mutilated. The captain, Mart\u00edn de Villafranca, was injured in the shoulder and chest with an axe, but he managed to escape into the sea however he was stoned in the water and dragged to the shore where he was tortured to death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two verdicts were instigated by sheriff Ari Magn\u00fasson of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=%C3%96gur,_%C3%8Dsafjar%C3%B0ardj%C3%BAp&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1\">\u00d6gur, \u00cdsafjar\u00f0ardj\u00fap<\/a>&nbsp;in October 1615 and January 1616. The Basques were considered criminals after their ships were wrecked and in accordance with the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/J%C3%B3nsb%C3%B3k\">Icelandic law book of 1281<\/a>&nbsp;it was decided that the only right thing to do was to kill as many of them as possible.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"346\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/whaling-in-iceland.jpeg?resize=640%2C346&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7941\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/whaling-in-iceland.jpeg?w=640&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/whaling-in-iceland.jpeg?resize=300%2C162&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption> <em>More on the Basques and Basque history:<\/em>  <br><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/\/?s=basque&amp;submit.x=0&amp;submit.y=0\">http:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/\/?s=basque&amp;submit.x=0&amp;submit.y=0<\/a>  <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Better late than never. As of 2015, this law is no longer in place. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>See also:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-wordpress wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-rhesus-negative-research-rhnegative-bloodtype\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"ITVAvLkW7R\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/more-than-half-of-the-ancient-basque-population-was-rh-negative\/\">More than half of the ancient Basque population was Rh Negative<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;More than half of the ancient Basque population was Rh Negative&#8221; &#8212; The Rh Negative Blog\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/more-than-half-of-the-ancient-basque-population-was-rh-negative\/embed\/#?secret=0JZHCERaVx#?secret=ITVAvLkW7R\" data-secret=\"ITVAvLkW7R\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_twitter_via = \"datebytype\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"datebytype\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"In Iceland, it&#039;s no longer legal to kill Basques on sight\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_twitter_via = \"datebytype\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"datebytype\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"In Iceland, it&#039;s no longer legal to kill Basques on sight\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>You have read correctly: &#8220;In late April, one of the world&#8217;s strangest laws was quietly revoked. Authorities in&nbsp;Iceland&#8217;s&nbsp;Westfjords district, the scenic northwestern corner of the island nation, repealed a 400-year-old decree ordering the death on sight of any&nbsp;Basque&nbsp;person found in the region.&#8221; &#8211;May 27, 2015 Washington Post This goes back to the history of whaling. From Wikipedia: &#8220;The year 1615 was a difficult year in&nbsp;Iceland&nbsp;with ice up to shores until late summer and considerable loss of livestock. In mid-summer three Basque whaling vessels put into Reykjarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur in&nbsp;Westfjords. Icelanders and the Basques had a mutual agreement at the beginning as they both had benefited from the enterprise. When the ships were ready for departure in late September a terrible gale arose <div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_twitter_via = \"datebytype\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"datebytype\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"In Iceland, it&#039;s no longer legal to kill Basques on sight\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"amp_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-facts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/what-took-them-so-long.jpg?fit=620%2C387&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5DV68-225","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7817"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7944,"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7817\/revisions\/7944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rhesusnegative.net\/staynegative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}