Basque Country (greater region)

Euskal Herria
Basque Country
Location of the Basque Country
Location of the Basque Country
The seven provinces of the Basque Country, as claimed by certain Basque sectors, span France (light yellow) and Spain (rest of the map). The enclaves of Valle de Villaverde and Treviño are pictured in red and blue, respectively. Names on this map are in Basque.
The seven provinces of the Basque Country, as claimed by certain Basque sectors, span France (light yellow) and Spain (rest of the map). The enclaves of Valle de Villaverde and Treviño are pictured in red and blue, respectively. Names on this map are in Basque.
Largest city Bilbao
Population
 -   estimate about 3,000,000 
Not to be confused with some of its homonyms constituent parts: the Basque Country in Spain and the Northern Basque Country in France

The Basque Country (Basque: Euskal Herria) is a European cultural region home to the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast.

As defined by Basque nationalists, it comprises the Autonomous Communities of the Basque Country and Navarre in Spain and the Northern Basque Country in France. Over the last centuries, elements from both Spanish and French culture (including the respective languages) have been a major influence in the respective parts of the region's culture.

Even though they are not necessarily synonyms, the concept of a single culturally Basque area spanning various regions and countries has been closely associated since its very inception to the politics of Basque nationalism. As such, the region is considered the homeland of the Basque people (Basque: Euskaldunak), their language (Basque: Euskara), culture, and traditions. Nevertheless, because the boundaries have been defined according mainly to linguistic criteria on the French side, but according mainly to historical and administrative criteria on the Spanish side, the area is neither linguistically nor culturally homogeneous, and the very Basqueness of parts of it, such as southern Navarre, can be considered dubious.

Contents

Territorial extension

The modern claim for the extent of the Basque Country, coined in the nineteenth century, is seven traditional regions. Some Basques refer to the seven regions collectively as "Zazpiak Bat" in their native language, the English translation of which is "The Seven Are One."

Spanish Basque Country

San Sebastián or Donostia in the Basque language

The Spanish Basque Country (Spanish: País Vasco y Navarra or, rarely, País Vasco peninsular, Basque: Hegoalde) is the part within Spain, and includes the Autonomous Communities of:

Coat of arms of Basque Country or Euskal Herria, as claimed by Basque nationalism

Two enclaves inside the automous community of the Basque country, the enclave of Treviño, a Castilian enclave in Álava (280 km²[2]) and Valle de Villaverde (20 km²), a Cantabrian enclave in Biscay, are claimed by some sources as being part of the Basque Country.[3]

French Basque Country

Town of Maule (Mauléon) in Zuberoa (Soule)

The French Basque Country (Basque: Iparralde) is the western part of the French département of Pyrénées Atlantiques. In most contemporary sources it covers the arrondissement of Bayonne and the cantons of Mauléon-Licharre and Tardets-Sorholus, but sources disagree on the status of the village of Esquiule.[5] Within these conventions, the area of Northern Basque Country (including the 29 km² of Esquiule) is 2,995 km².[6]

The French Basque Country is traditionally subdivided into three provinces:

However, this summary presentation makes it hard to justify the inclusion of a few communes in the lower Adour region. As emphasized by Jean Goyhenetche, it would be more accurate to depict it as the reunion of five entities: Labourd, Lower Navarre, Soule but also Bayonne and Gramont.[7]

History

Horses in Bianditz mountain Navarre Best Wikimedia Commons photo 2008

According to some theories, Basques may be the least assimilated remnant of the Paleolithic inhabitants of Western Europe (specifically those of the Franco-Cantabrian region) to the Indo-European migrations. Basque tribes were mentioned by Roman writers Strabo and Pliny, including the Vascones, the Aquitani and others. There is considerable evidence to show their Basque ethnicity in Roman times in the form of placenames, Caesar's reference to their customs and physical make-up, the so-called Aquitanian inscriptions recording names of people and gods (approx. 1st century, see Aquitanian language), etc. All other tribes in the Iberian Peninsula had been, to a great extent, linguistically and culturally assimilated by Roman culture and language by the end of the Roman period.

In the Early Middle Ages, the area between the Ebro and Garonne rivers comprised the territory known as Vasconia, while its exact boundaries and internal political cohesion are open to debate. After the Moorish invasions and the Frankish expansion under Charlemagne, the territory was again fragmented and eventually the Kingdom of Pamplona arose as the main state in the area in the 9th century, with the territories north of the Pyrenees clustering around the Duchy of Gascony.

This state, later known as Navarre, was partially annexed to the Kingdom of Castile in the 11th and 12th century and between 1512 and 1521. The remainder of Navarre was united to France. The three western provinces (Álava, Biscay, Gipuzkoa) had already being incorporated into the kingdom of 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. Influenced by European Romantic nationalism, Basque nationalism appeared by the end of the 19th century. Since then a section of the Basque society has been struggling to achieve independence as a sovereign nation-state.

Demographics

The Basque Country has a population of about 3,000,000 as of early 2006. The population density, at about 140/km² (360/sq. mile) is above the average of Spain or France, but the distribution of the population is fairly unequal and it is concentrated 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 and some areas of Navarre remain sparsely populated: density culminates at about 500/km² for Biscay but goes down at 20/km² in the northern inner provinces of Lower Navarre and Soule.[8]

A significant majority of the population of the Basque country live inside the Basque Autonomous Community (about 2,100,000, that is 70% of the population) while about 600,000 live in Navarre (20% of the population) and about 300,000 (roughly 10%) in Northern Basque Country. (See these sources for population statistics: Datutalaia and INE.)

José Aranda Aznar writes[9] that 30% of the population in the Basque Country Autonomous Community were born in other regions of Spain and that 40% of the people living in that territory do not have a single Basque parent.

Most of these peoples of Galician and Castilian stock arrived in the Basque Autonomous Community in the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century, as the region became more and more industrialized and prosperous and additional workers were needed to support the economic growth. Descendants of immigrants from other parts of Spain have since been considered Basque for the most part, at least formally.

Over the last 25 years, some 380,000 people have left the Basque Autonomous Community, from which some 230,000 moved to other parts of Spain. While certainly many of them are people returning to their hometowns when starting their retirement, there is also a sizeable tract of Basque natives in this group who has moved due to a Basque nationalist political environment (including ETA's killings) which they regard increasingly hostile.[10] These have been quoted to be as much as 10% of the population in the Basque Community.[11]

Biggest cities

  1. Bilbao 354,145 inhabitants (Basque Autonomous Community, BAC)
  2. Vitoria-Gasteiz 235,661 inhabitants (BAC)
  3. Pamplona 195,769 inhabitants (Navarre)
  4. Donostia-San Sebastián 183,308 inhabitants (BAC)
  5. Barakaldo 95,640 inhabitants (BAC)
  6. Getxo 82,327 inhabitants (BAC)
  7. Irun 60,261 inhabitants (BAC)
  8. Portugalete 49,118 inhabitants (BAC)
  9. Santurtzi 47,320 inhabitants (BAC)
  10. Bayonne 44,300 inhabitants (Pyrénées Atlantiques Department)

Non-Basque minorities in the Basque Country

Historical minorities

Various Romani groups existed in the Basque Country and some still exist as ethnic groups. These were grouped together under the generic terms ijitiok (Egyptians) and buhameak (Bohemians) by Basque speakers.

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

Since the 1980s, the Basque Country–especially in its largest cities–has received an increasing number of immigrants, mostly from Eastern Europe, North Africa, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and China.

Language

Main article: Basque Language
Percentage of fluent speakers of Basque. Those areas where Basque is not a native language are included within the 0-20% interval)
Percentage of students registered in Basque language schools (2000-2005).

Currently, the predominant languages in the Spanish Basque Country and French Basque Country are, respectively, Spanish and French. In the historical process of forging themselves as nation-states, both Spanish and French governments have, at times, tried to suppress Basque linguistic identity.[13] The language chosen for public education is the most obvious expression of this phenomenon, something which surely had an effect in the current status of Basque.

Despite being spoken in a relatively small territory, the rugged features of the Basque countryside and the historically low population density resulted in Basque being a historically heavily dialectalised language, which increased the value of both Spanish and French, respectively, as lingua francas. In this regard, the current Batua standard of the Basque language was only introduced by the end of the 20th century, which helped Basque move away from being perceived until recently – even by its own speakers – as a language not fit for educational purposes.[14]

While the French Republics –the epitome of the nation-state– have a long history of attempting the complete cultural absorption of ethnic minority groups —including the French Basques— Spain, in turn, has at most points in its history granted some degree of linguistic, cultural, and political autonomy to its Basques. Basques have been historically overrepresented both in the Spanish Marine and military ever since the times of the Spanish Empire until recently, same as Basque ports have been historically crucial to inland Spain. Until they became progressively undone starting with the Carlist Wars, these historical ties resulted in the generation of a local Basque bourgeoisie, clergy and military men, historically close to the Spanish Monarchy, especially in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. In all, there was a gradual absorption of Spanish language in the Basque-speaking areas of the Spanish Basque Country, a phenomenon initially restricted to the upper urban classes, but progressively reaching the lower ones as well. Notice that Western Biscay, most of Alava and southern Navarre have been Spanish-speaking (or Romance-speaking) for centuries.

But under the regime of Francisco Franco, its government tried to suppress the newly-born Basque nationalism, as it had fought on the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War in Gipuzkoa 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. In Spain, it is favoured by a set of language policies sponsored by the Basque regional government which aim at the generalization of its use. It is spoken by approximately a quarter of the total Basque Country, its stronghold being the contiguous area formed by Guipúzcoa, northern Navarre and the Pyrenean French valleys. It is not spoken natively 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.[15]

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 is 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 is not 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 French 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.

Universities

The earliest university in the Basque Country was the University of Oñati, founded in 1540 in Hernani and moved to Oñati in 1548. It lasted in various forms until 1901.[16] In 1868, in order to fulfill the need for college graduates for the thriving industry that was flourishing in the Bilbao area, there was an unsuccessful effort to establish a Basque-Navarrese University. Nonetheless, in 1897 the Bilbao Superior Technical School of Engineering (the first modern faculty of engineering in Spain), was founded as a way of providing engineers for the local industry; this faculty is nowadays part of the University of the Basque Country. Almost at the same time, the urgent need for business graduates led to the establishment of the Commercial Faculty by the Jesuits, and, some time thereafter, the Jesuits expanded their university by formally founding the University of Deusto in Deusto (now a Bilbao neighbourhood) by the turn of the century, a private university where the Comercial Faculty was integrated. 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.[17]

Several faculties, originally teaching only in Spanish, were founded in the Basque region in the Franco era. A public faculty of economics was founded in Sarriko (Bilbao) in the 1960s, and a public faculty of medicine was also founded during that decade, thus expanding the college graduate schools. However, all the public faculties in the Basque Country were organized as local branches of Spanish universities. For instance, the School of Engineering was treated as a part of the University of Valladolid, some 400 km away from Bilbao. Indeed, the lack of a central governing body for the public faculties of the Bilbao area, namely those of Economics in Sarriko, Medicine in Basurto, Engineering in Bilbao and the School of Mining in Barakaldo (est. 1910s), was seen as a gross handicap for the cultural and economic development of the area, and so, during the late 1960s many formal requests were made to the Francoist government in order to establish a Basque public university that would unite all the public faculties already founded in Bilbao. As a result of that, the University of Bilbao was founded in the early 1970s, which has now evolved into the University of the Basque Country with campuses in the western three provinces.

In Navarre, Opus Dei manages the University of Navarre with another campus in San Sebastián. Additionally, there is 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

Parties with presence in all the Basque Country as considered in this article

Parties with presence only in the French Basque Country

Parties with presence in all of the Spanish Basque Country

Parties with presence only in Navarre

Basque Nationalism

Political status and violence

The Ikurriña, the official flag of the Basque Autonomous Community, also used informally in Navarre, the French Basque country and abroad

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 Basque Autonomous Community, and independence, which would be supported in this same territory, according to a poll, by approximately 25%[20] of them, the 5% decrease from the previous poll suggesting that the desire for independence is steadily decreasing. 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.[21] Since self-determination is not 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

Main article: ETA

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) is recognized as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States. In 2006 ETA declared a "permanent ceasefire", after nearly 40 years fighting for independence from Spanish and French authorities and the annexation of all Basque lands to a united, socialist state. In June 2007 ETA officially ended the "permanent ceasefire". Since then it has committed several bomb attacks and assassinations.

Sports

Real Madrid's midfielder Xabi Alonso

The Basque Country has also contributed some sportsmen, primarily in football, 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, Alavés, Real Unión and Barakaldo 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.

Football is not that popular in the north but the region has produced two very well-known and successful football players, Bixente Lizarazu and Didier Deschamps.

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. Miguel Indurain was born in Atarrabia (Navarre), and he won 5 French Tours.

Fellow Basque cyclist Abraham Olano has won the Vuelta a España and the World Cycling Championship.

Two professional, ProTour cycling teams hail from the Basque Country Euskaltel-Euskadi and Caisse d'Epargne.[22] The Caisse d'Epargne cycling team traces its history back to the Banesto team that included Indurain. The Euskaltel-Euskadi cycling team is commercially sponsored, but also works as an unofficial Basque national team and is partly funded by the Basque Government. Its riders are either Basque, or at least have grown up in the Basque cycling culture, 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". A number of 'home' matches played by Biarritz Olympique in the Heineken Cup have taken place at Estadio Anoeta in San Sebastian.

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 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.

Jai Alai court in Sara. Lapurdi. Pelota court

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. Alberto Iñurrategi Iriarte (Aretxabaleta, 1968) is one of the most respected mountaineers in the world. The Basque mountaineer has managed to crown the 14 eight thousands in the world, all of them "Alpine" style, i.e. without oxygen and few camps and without Sherpas. This is something only 8 people on the planet have achieved. 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. Patxi Usobiaga, proclaimed world champion in Xining, China, 2009. Edurne Pasaban is trying to be first woman climbing the fourteen eight-thousanders.

One of the top basketball clubs in Europe, Caja Laboral, 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

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Area figures for Spanish Autonomous Communities have been found on the Instituto Geográfico Nacional website "Instituto Geográfico Nacional". http://www.ign.es/ign/home/ane/tabla_datos/datosPoblacion/poblacion_03.jsp. Retrieved 14 September 2009. 
  2. ↑ This figure has been obtained by addition of the area of the municipalities of Condado de Treviño (261 km²) and La Puebla de Arganzón (19 km²), as read on the website of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain) "Population, area and density by municipalties". http://www.ine.es/jaxi/tabla.do?path=/t43/a011/a1998/densidad/l1/&file=t10043.px&type=pcaxis&L=1. Retrieved 14 September 2009. 
  3. ↑ For instance, as concerns Treviño, Eugène Goyheneche writes that it is "and integral part of Álava, administratively belonging to the province of Burgos" Le Pays Basque. Pau: SNERD. 1979. , p. 25.
  4. ↑ [1]
  5. ↑ See for instance HAIZEA, ed (1999) (in Spanish). Nosostros Los Vascos - Ama Lur - Gegrafia fisica y humana de Euskalherria. Lur. ISBN 84-7099-415-8. , F J Gomez Piñeiro et al., ed (in French). Pays Basque La terre les hommes Labourd, Basse-Navarre, Soule. San Sebastián: Elkar. ISBN 84-7407-091-0.  or the statistical data of the Euskal Herria Databank "The Euskal Herria Databank". Gaindegia Association. http://www.aztikerdb.com/dt/index.php?hi=en. Retrieved 14 September 2009.  for sources including Esquiule, and Alexander Ugalde Zubirri; Gonzalo Martinez Azumendi (in Spanish). Euskal Herria - Un pueblo. Bilbao: Sua Edizioak. ISBN 84-8216-083-4.  or E. Asumendi et al., ed (2004) (in Basque). Munduko Atlasa. Elkar. ISBN 84-9783-1284.  for sources excluding Esquiule.
  6. ↑ This result is obtained by addition of the communal areas given by the Institut Géographique National ; we used for this addition the provincial subtotals as computed by "The Euskal Herria Databank". Gaindegia Association. http://www.aztikerdb.com/dt/index.php?hi=en. Retrieved 14 September 2009. .
  7. ↑ Jean Goyhenetche (1993). Les Basques et leur histoire : mythes et réalités. Baiona, Donostia: Elkar. ISBN 2-903421-34-X. 
  8. ↑ A very readable map of population density for each municipality can be consulted online on the website muturzikin.com
  9. ↑ "La mezcla del pueblo vasco", Empiria: Revista de metodología de ciencias sociales, ISSN 1139-5737, Nº 1, 1998, pags. 121-180.
  10. ↑ [2]
  11. ↑ Spanish devolution
  12. ↑ Erromintxela: Notas para una investigación sociolingüística, Oscar Vizarraga.
  13. ↑ Torrealdi, J.M. El Libro Negro del Euskera (1998) Ttarttalo ISBN 84-8091-395-9
  14. ↑ " El vascuence subvenía perfectamente a las necesidades de pequeñas comunidades agrícolas o de pescadores, a la vida religiosa y política de un mundo bastante aislado y de dimensionas pequeñas..." Pinillos, Jose Luis Coloquio sobre el problema del bilingüismo en el País Vasco Bilbao 1983
  15. ↑ Basque language - English Pen
  16. ↑ http://www.ehu.es/ingles/paginas/prin_i.htm http://www.ehu.es
  17. ↑ http://basque.unr.edu/09/9.3/9.3.35t/9.3.35.07.univ.htm http://basque.unr.edu
  18. ↑ Ilkka Nordberg. Regionalism and revenue. The moderate Basque Nationalist Party, PNV, 1980–1998. Doctoral dissertation: Department of History, University of Helsinki, 2005
  19. ↑ RLas caras de Batasuna. http://www.elmundo.es/eta/entorno/batasuna.html
  20. ↑ http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/Solo/25/vascos/apoya/independencia/sondeo/Gobierno/Vitoria/elpporesp/20021225elpepunac_1/Tes elpais.com
  21. ↑ EITB: Basque parliament adopts resolution on self-determination
  22. ↑ "2009 Riders and teams Database - Cyclingnews.com". http://www.cyclingnews.com/teams/2009/caisse-depargne. Retrieved 2009-08-14. 

External links

Traditional provinces of the Basque Country
Southern Basque Country : Basque Autonomous Community (Gipuzkoa · Álava · Biscay) · Navarre
Northern Basque Country : Labourd · Lower Navarre · Soule
 Traditional provinces of Euskal Herria / Basque Country