Basque Country (historical territory) Totally Explained

Everything about Basque Country Historical Territory totally explained

The Basque Country is a historical region in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain, extending down to the coast of the Bay of Biscay. It corresponds more or less –but not exactly– with the homeland of the Basque people and language.

Geography

The Basque Country is made up of seven traditional regions. The four regions within the Spanish state, or Laurak Bat, form Hegoalde (“the South”), while the three within the French form Iparralde ("the North").

Southern Basque Country

The southern Basque Country (Spanish: País Vasco, Basque: Hegoalde) includes the provinces of:

Alava (Álava in Spanish, Araba in Basque), capital Vitoria-Gasteiz. Vitoria-Gasteiz is also the capital of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. Other cities are Laudio and Amurrio.
Biscay (Bizkaia in Basque, Vizcaya in Spanish), capital Bilbao. Other cities are Gernika-Lumo, Getxo, Barakaldo, Portugalete, Bermeo, Durango, Sestao.
Guipuscoa (Guipúzcoa in Spanish, Gipuzkoa in Basque), capital Donostia-San Sebastián. Other cities are Errenteria, Irun, Zarautz, Eibar and Tolosa.
Navarre (Nafarroa in Basque, Navarra in Spanish), capital Pamplona, (Iruñea, in Basque). Other cities are Tafalla, Tudela, Lizarra (Estella in Spanish). Navarre is currently a separate autonomous community, although the Spanish Constitution of 1978 states that it may become a part of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country if it's so decided by the people and institutions of Navarre.

Northern Basque Country

The French provinces lost their administrative meaning after the French Revolution. The Northern Basque Country forms part of the French département of Pyrénées Atlantiques with the former province of Bearn. The département is part of the region of Aquitaine.

Lower Navarre (Behe Nafarroa in Basque, Basse-Navarre in French). Traditional capital: Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (Basque: Donibane Garazi)

Lapurdi (Labourd in French), traditional capitals: Bayonne (Basque: Baiona) and Ustaritz (Basque: Uztaritze)

Zuberoa (Soule in French), capital Mauléon (Basque: Maule)

History

Basques are the least assimilated remnant of the Paleolithic inhabitants of Western Europe (specifically those of the Franco-Cantabrian region). Basque tribes were already mentioned in Roman times by Strabo and Pliny, including the Vascones, the Aquitani and others. There is enough evidence that they already spoke Basque in that time (see Aquitanian language and Iruña-Veleia). All other tribes in the Iberian Peninsula were linguistically and culturally assimilated by the end of the Roman period. The Basques had also been greatly influenced by Roman culture and language and might have become fully assimilated in a few hundred years had the Roman world not collapsed.
   In the Early Middle Ages the territory between the Ebro and Garonne rivers was known as Vasconia, at times united under the Dukes of Vasconia. After the Moorish invasions and the Frankish expansion under Charlemagne, the territory was fragmented and eventually the Kingdom of Pamplona arose as the main state in the 9th century.
   This state, later known as Navarre was partially annexed to the Kingdom of Castile in the 11th and 12th century and 1512-21. The remainder of Navarre was united to France. The three western provinces (Araba, Biscay, Gipuzkoa) had already joined with voluntary agreements to the kingdom of Castile and helped to integrate Navarre into Castile.
   Nevertheless the Basque provinces enjoyed a great deal of self-government until the French Revolution in the North, and until after the Carlist Wars in the South. Since then, a section of the Basque society has always been struggling to achieve independence as a sovereign nation-state (see Basque nationalism).

Demographics

The Basque Country has a population of 3,007,661 as of early 2006. The population density, at 143.5/km² (359.5/sq. mile) is above the average of Spain or France, however, the distribution of the population is fairly unequal and it concentrates around the main cities. The Greater Bilbao metropolitan area concentrates a third of the total population, whilst most of the interior of the French Basque Country remains quite sparsely populated.

Province	Year	Area	Population	Population %	Density
Basque Country	2006¹	20,947.2	3,007,661	100%	143.5
Alava	2006	3,316.9	301,926	10.0	91.0
Biscay	2006	2,236.7	1,139,863	37.9	509.6
Guipuscoa	2006	1,980.3	691,895	23.0	349.4
Labourd	2005	855.7	227,754	7.6	266.2
Lower Navarre	2005	1,322.1	28,835	1.0	21.8
Navarre	2006	10,421.0	601,874	20.0	57.8
Soule	2005	814.5	15,514	0.5	19.0

Source Datutalaia

and http://www.ine.es INE

Municipalities

The Basque Country comprises 682 municipalities, in general Biscay and Gipuzkoa have the smallest towns and cities, averaging around 10 to 15 km². Álava and Navarre have the biggest municipalities.

Province	Area (km²)	Capital	Municipalities
Basque Country	20,947.2		682
Alava	3,316.9	Vitoria-Gasteiz	53
Biscay	2,236.7	Bilbao	111
Guipuscoa	1,980.3	Donostia	88
Labourd	855.7	Bayonne	41
Lower Navarre	1,322.1	Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port	74
Navarre	10,421.0	Pamplona	272
Soule	814.5	Mauléon-Licharre	43

Iturria Datutalaia

Biggest cities

Bilbao 354,145 inhabitants

Vitoria-Gasteiz 227,568 inhabitants

Pamplona 195,769 inhabitants

Donostia-San Sebastian 183,308 inhabitants

Barakaldo 95,640 inhabitants

Getxo 82,327 inhabitants

Irun 60,261 inhabitants

Portugalete 49,118 inhabitants

Santurtzi 47,320 inhabitants

Bayonne 44,300 inhabitants

Non-Basque minorities in the Basque Country

Historical minorities

As in the rest of Spain, the roads of the Basque Country were travelled by nomadic Gypsies (Roma people, Basque: Ijitoak) and Mercheros (Quinqui-speakers), who related to the peasant society as travelling cattle merchants and artisans. After industrialization, they settled in slums near the big cities. The French Basque Country and Guipuzcoa were also visited by another branch of Romas of Balkan origin (known in the Basque Country as buhameak, equivalent to the English Bohemians). Some Basque Roma used to have a mixed Basque-Romany variant.
Both sides of the Pyrenees were home to a despised minority, the Agotes (also cagots). They were not a people apart, but lived as untouchables in Basque villages and were allowed to marry only among themselves. Their origin is hidden by legends and superstitions. In the modern society, they've mostly assimilated into the general society.
In the Middle Ages, many so-called Franks of Occitan language settled along the Way of Saint James in Navarre and Guipuscoa but were eventually assimilated. Navarre also held Jewish and Muslim minorities but these were expelled or forced to assimilate after the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. One of the most outstanding members of such minorities was Benjamin of Tudela.

Recent immigrants

José Aranda Aznar writes that 30% of the population of the southern Basque Country were born in other regions of Spain and that 40% of the people living in that territory hadn't a single Basque parent.
Most of these peoples of Castilian and Galician stock arrived to the Basque Country in the late 19th century and along the 20th century, as the region became more and more industrialized and prosperous and additional workers were needed to attend the economic growth. Second generation immigrants from other parts of Spain are for the most part well integrated.
Additionally, since the 1980s, the Basque Country has received an increasing number of overseas immigrants, especially from North Africa, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and China.

Education

Education in the Basque Country is entirely free from the age of 3, and compulsory between 6 and 16 years. In the southern Basque country, the majority of students are educated in the Basque language, although only 20% of students learn it in the north. Within Spain, the autonomous communities of the Basque Country and Navarre usually present above-the-average rates of school success.

Universities

The earliest university in the Basque Country was the University of Oñate, founded in 1540 in Hernani and moved to Oñate in 1548. It lasted in various forms until 1901. (External Link

) In 1868 there was an unsuccessful effort to establish a Basque-Navarrese University. The Jesuits founded the University of Deusto in Deusto (now a Bilbao neighbourhood) by the turn of the century, with another later campus in San Sebastián. The first modern Basque public university was the Basque University, founded November 18 1936 by the autonomous basque government in Bilbao in the midst of the Spanish Civil War. It operated only briefly before the government's defeat by Francisco Franco's fascist forces. (External Link

).
   Several universities, originally teaching only in Spanish, were founded in the Basque region in the Franco era. One of those, the University of Bilbao, has now evolved into the University of the Basque Country with campuses in the three western provinces.
   In Navarre, Opus Dei manages the University of Navarre with another campus in San Sebastián. Additionally there's also the Public University of Navarre managed by the Navarrese Foral Government. Mondragón Corporación Cooperativa has established its institutions for superior education as the Mondragon University, based in Mondragón and nearby towns.
   There are numerous other significant Basque cultural institutions in the Basque Country and elsewhere. Most Basque organizations in the United States are affiliated with NABO (North American Basque Organizations, Inc.).

Politics

The western part of the southern Basque Country has a great deal of autonomy. See: Basque Country (autonomous community). It has a federative structure in which each of the three provinces or regions keeps and manages their historical autonomy, including taxation, in coordination with the autonomous government. Navarre has a separate autonomy based in the historical fuero (charter), that has never been submitted to referendum, as is the case with the possibility (always open) of incorporating itself to the Basque Autonomous Community, althought an almost absolute majority of the inhabitants of Navarre don't wish to join the Basque Autonomous Community and want to keep Navarre as it is.
The northern Basque Country has no autonomy whatsoever and it's just part of the French department of Pyrénées Atlantiques.
Neither Spain nor France admit that, legally, any part of their territories has the right to self-determination.

Political parties

Parties with presence in all the Basque Country

Eusko Alkartasuna (EA) (Basque Solidarity). They broke away from EAJ in 1984, under the leadership of charismatic lehendakari Carlos Garaikoetxea, as EAJ-PNV had pacted with the Spanish right in Navarre (against the opinion of the local federation) in exchange for support in Bilbao. They are defined as social-democrats and are quite more emphatic in their nationalist claims.

Batasuna (Unity) was formerly known as Herri Batasuna (People's Union)and Euskal Heritarrok (We Basque Citizens). Its ideology is radical nationalist and socialist. It was declared illegal in 2003 after the Spanish parliament passed a new Law of Political Parties, due to its relation with the terrorist organization ETA. It use to have representation in the Southern Basque Country, including Navarre, where it's the main Basque independentist force (even if it's now forbidden to run in the elections). Its presence in the Northern Basque country is very low. (see also Eusko Abertzale Ekintza and Communist Party of the Basque Homelands)

The Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV-PNB) is the oldest of all nationalist parties, having more than 100 years of history. It is christian-democrat and has evolved towards rather moderate positions though it still keeps the demand for self-determination and eventual independence. It is the main party in the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC) and is the most voted party (about 40% population), but its presence in Navarre and, especially, in the Northern Basque country is low.

Parties with presence only in the Northern Basque Country

Union for French Democracy (Union pour la Démocratie Française), christian-democrat, is the main France-wide party in Iparralde. Non Basque nationalist, though its local representatives often claim a separate Basque département.

French Socialist Party, social-democrat, France-wide.

Rally for the Republic, conservative, France-wide.

Abertzaleen Batasuna (Patriots' Union): the radical left wing Basque nationalist force of the North.

EH BAI: Is a partie between Abertzaleeen Batasuna and EA.

Parties with presence in all Southern Basque Country

Spanish Socialist Worker Party (PSOE), social-democrat, with its branches:

PSE-EE (Mixed Spanish and Basque acronym for: Socialist Party of the Basque Country - Basque Country's Left) in the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC)
PSN (Socialist Party of Navarre) in Navarre

People's Party (PP), conservative, with its branches:

Navarrese People's Union (UPN) in Navarre
Partido Popular del País Vasco (People's Party of The Basque Country) in the BAC

United Left (IU), left-wing around the former Communist Party, federalist and republican, with its branches:

Ezker Batua (United Left) (EB-IU) in the BAC
Izquierda Unida de Navarra (United Left of Navarre) (IUN) in Navarre

Aralar: a breakaway faction separated from Batasuna, stronger in Navarre. Nationalist and left-leaning.

Parties with presence only in Navarre

Democratic Convergence of Navarre (CDN), center-right regionalist, a schism of UPN.

Batzarre (Assembly), left-wing coalition around neo-communist Zutik (Stand), mostly internationalist but favorable to self-determination.

Eusko Alkartasuna, Aralar, Batzarre and EAJ-PNV run together to the latest Navarrese elections under the name Nafarroa Bai (Yes to Navarre)

The nationalism issue

Language

In the historical process of forging themselves as nation-states, both Spanish and French governments have, at times, tried to suppress Basque linguistic identity. The language chosen for public education is the most obvious expression of this phenomenon.
   In this regard, it must be noted that the current Batua standard of the Basque language was only introduced by the end of the 20th century, which helped this language being generally perceived until recently –also by its speakers– as a language not fit for educational purposes.
   While the French Republics –the epitome of the nation-state– have a long history of attempting the complete cultural absorption of ethnic minority groups, Spain has, at most points in its history, granted some degree of linguistic, cultural, and political autonomy to its Basques, but under the regime of Francisco Franco, the Spanish government reversed the advances of Basque nationalism, as it had fought on the republican side of the Spanish Civil War in Guipúzcoa and Biscay. In general, during these years, cultural activity in Basque was limited to folkloric issues and the Roman Catholic Church, while a higher, yet still limited degree of tolerance was granted to Basque culture and language in Álava and Navarre, since both areas mostly supported Francoist troops during the war.
   Nowadays, the Basque Country within Spain enjoys an extensive cultural and political autonomy and Basque is an official language along with Spanish. It is spoken by approximately a quarter of the total Basque Country, being its stronghold in the contiguous area formed by Guipúzcoa, northern Navarre and the pyrenean French valleys. It isn't spoken in most of Álava, western Biscay and the southern half of Navarre. Of a total estimation of some 650,000 Basque speakers, approximately 550,000 live in the Spanish Basque country, the rest in the French.
   The Basque education system in Spain has three types of schools differentiated by their linguistic teaching models: A, B and D. Model D, with education entirely in Basque, and Spanish as a compulsory subject, is the most widely chosen model by parents. In Navarre there's an additional G model, with education entirely in Spanish.
   In Navarre the ruling conservative government of Unión del Pueblo Navarro opposes Basque nationalist attempts to provide education in Basque through all Navarre (which would include areas where it isn't traditionally spoken). Basque language teaching in the public education network is therefore limited to the Basque speaking north and central regions. In the central region, Basque teaching in the public education network is fairly limited, and part of the existing demand is served via private schools or ikastolak. Spanish is spoken by the entire population, with few exceptions in remote rural areas.
   The situation of the Basque language in the northern Basque Country is tenuous, where monolingual public schooling in French exert great pressure on the Basque language. Basque teaching is mainly in private schools, or ikastolak.

Political status and violence

Since the 19th century, Basque nationalism has demanded the right of some kind of self-determination, which is supported by 60% of Basques in the Spanish Basque country autonomous community,and independence, which would be supported in this same territory, according to a poll, by approximately 25% (External Link

) of them, proving that the desire for independence is steadily decreasing as this is 5% less than in the previous poll. This desire for independence is particularly stressed among leftist Basque nationalists. The right of self-determination was asserted by the Basque Parliament in 1990, 2002 and 2006. Since self-determination isn't recognized in the Spanish Constitution of 1978, some Basques abstained and some even voted against it in the referendum of December 6 of that year. However, it was approved by a clear majority at the Spanish level, and simple majority at Navarrese and Basque levels. The derived autonomous regimes for the BAC was approved in later referendum but the autonomy of Navarre (amejoramiento del fuero: "improvement of the charter") was never subject to referendum but just approved by the Navarrese Cortes (parliament). There are not many sources on the issue for the French Basque country.

ETA

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) is a paramilitary Basque nationalist organisation which is designated as a terrorist organization by the European Union. In 2006 ETA declared a "permanent ceasefire", after nearly 40 years fighting for independence from Spanish and French authorities. In June 2007 ETA officially ended the "permanent ceasefire".

Sports

The Basque Country has also contributed some sportsmen, primarily in soccer, cycling, jai-alai, rugby union and surfing.
   The main sport in the Basque Country, as in the rest of Spain and much of France, is football. The top teams Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, Osasuna, Eibar and Alavés are a fixture in the Spanish national league. Athletic Bilbao has a policy of hiring only Basque players. This policy has been applied with variable flexibility.
   Cycling as a sport is very popular in the Basque Country. Cycling races often see Basque fans lining the roads wearing orange, the corporate color of the telco Euskaltel, coining the term the orange crush during the Pyrenees stages of the Tour de France.
   The Navarrese cyclist Miguel Induráin (now retired) was the first to win the Tour de France five consecutive times, and has also won the Giro d'Italia and the World Cycling Championship in the discipline of individual time trial. Fellow Basque cyclist Abraham Olano has won the Vuelta a España and the World Cycling Championship.
   The Euskaltel-Euskadi cycling team is a commercial team. Present and former members of the team have been strong contenders in the Tour de France held annually in July and La Vuelta a España held in September. Team leaders have included riders such as Iban Mayo, Haimar Zubeldia and David Etxebarria.
   In the north, rugby union is another popular sport with the Basque community. In Biarritz, the local club is Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque, the name referencing the club's Basque heritage. They wear red, white and green, and supporters wave the Basque flag in the stands. They also recognize 16 other clubs as "Basque-friendly". The most famous Biarritz & Basque player is the legendary French fullback Serge Blanco, whose mother was Basque. Michel Celaya captained both Biarritz and France. French number 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, currently battling injury problems, is also a Biarritz & Basque player. Before the banning of rugby league in 1940, a Basque club was the last to celebrate winning the cup. Aviron Bayonnais is another top club with some Basque ties. Pelota (Jai Alai) is the Basque version of the European game family that includes real tennis and squash. Basque players, playing for either the Spanish or the French teams, dominate international competitions. Mountaineering is favoured by the mountainous character of Basque terrain and nearness of the Pyrenees. Juanito Oiarzabal (from Vitoria), holds the world record for number of climbs above 8,000 meters, with 21. There are also great sport climbers in the Basque Country, such as, Josune Bereziartu, the only female to have climbed the grade 9a/5.14d; and Iker Pou, one of the most versatile climbers in the world.
   One of the top basketball clubs in Europe, Tau Cerámica, is located in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
   In recent years surfing has taken off on the Basque shores, and Mundaka and Biarritz have become spots on the world surf circuit.

Traditional Basque sports

Further Information

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