From 1830 to 1930 the Basque diaspora overseas was characterized by being administered by a large number of recruiters. These searched out emigrants, financed their passage to the Americas and on numerous occasions offered them the chance of finding a job. They were accused of ill treatment, exploitation or falsification of documents, and established intricate systems that sometimes operated outside the law and national borders, and whose only aim was financial benefit. Their frenetic activity fostered the migration of some fifty million Europeans. Among the factors that led to the exile of Basques were: the impact of the wars in the 19th century; the system of property inalienable from the blood line; the good reputation of workers from the Pyrenees in the New World; and a tradition of migration. In addition, there was population increase and the progress made in transportation in Europe as a whole. This book belongs to the series Los vascos y América (The Basques and the Americas), begun by the Banco de Vizcaya Foundation and continued by the BBV Foundation.