Its inception is inextricably linked to the economic momentum spurred by the activity of the Guipuzcoana Company.

The establishment of the society was followed by the founding of the Seminar of Vergara a decade later (1776), the first higher education institution to operate in Basque territory.

Research carried out by Fausto Elhuyar and brother Juan Jose in the seminar led to their isolating of the chemical element tungsten, and Ignacio de Zavala came up with the procedure to obtain cast steel.

In music the Society sponsored the work of composer José de Larrañaga.

[6][7][8] The Society was the first institution in Modern Age to ever regroup any Basque districts into a sole cluster out of common concerns—they operated on their own up to that point.