Jose Manuel Etxeita

Jose Manuel Etxeita Luzarraga (Spanish: José Manuel Echeita Luzárraga) (14 December 1841 - 1 March 1915) was a Basque writer and politician from Spain who later lived in the Spanish East Indies.

Early and personal life Etxeita was born in Mundaka on 14 December 1841 to Marcos Etxeita Momosito, a Garay native and Maria Josefa Luzarraga Abaroa, from Mundaka. On 25 November 1967, he married Juana Abaroa Ajuria-Goxeazcoa They had one son, Salvador Ricardo, born 22 May 1871.

Naval career and Philippine residency Etxeita worked as a valet on ships traveling from Bilbao to Cuba from the age of 12. Etxeita became a captain after graduating from university in Bilbao and spent many years traveling throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

In his retirement, he left politics and business in the Philippines and returned to Mundaka.

Writing career and legacy Etxeita became a writer in his old age, writing many poems, as well as translating stories into his native Basque. He wrote novels such as: Josetxo (1909), Jaioterri maitea (1910), and Au, ori ta bestia (1913).

In 1969, the was named in honor of him.

100 years following his passing, the City Council of Mundaka held a day in his honor on July 10, 2015.