Physical geography of the Basque Country

The physical geography of Euskal Herria is very diverse despite the small size of the region. The Basque Country spreads from the rough coastal landscape to the semi-desert of Barde.

The main natural limits of Euskal Herria are the Cantabrian Sea (south Bay of Biscay) in the north and in the west side, and in the south side, the Ebro river. The highest place of the Basque Country is the peak of the mountain Hiru Erregeen Mahaia (It is to 2438m from the sea level).

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The Coast

The Basque Country has a 225 km coastline along the Bay of Biscay, including 104 beaches. Bizkaia is the province which has the largest coast of the Basque country, it has 108 km,and 35 beaches. Gipuzkoa has a coast of 84 km and 28 beaches and finally Lapurdi has a coast of 33 km and 41 beaches.

The coast of the Basque Country has 3 different sides. First, the coast of Bizkaia is really rough but in general there are big beaches. In addition there are two maritime branches, the maritime branch of Nerbioi and the maritime branch of Urdaibai.

The coast of Gipuzkoa has bigger fluctuations and in general the slopes are bigger too.From the limit of Bizkaia to Zumaia there are smaller beaches and they are more rocky, thereafter, they are bigger and longer.When different rivers join the sea it creates small estuaries (Oria), and in the others, maritime branches (Urumea, Bidasoa).

But the coast of Lapurdi is more plain.The beaches are more longer and the height of the slopes is smaller. The rivers Bidasoa and Adour sea in the coast of Lapurdi.

Mountains

The Basque country is mountainous. Most of the mountains are along an east-west axis, at the west of the Pyrenees. The most important rock there is the limestone, but there are mountains that they are composed with other materials, for example, Aiako Harria is composed with granite. The highest mountain is Hiru Errege Maila.

The south of Araba and Nafarroa is the middle east limit of Cantabrian Mountains. There are mountains like Kodes and Toloño. Between those importants mountains there are Euskal mendiak: Urbasa, Andia, Aralar, Anboto, Ordunte or Aizkorri.

Rivers

The Ebro is the largest river which cross the Basque Country, it has 910 km, and flows along the southern border the south side of Basque Country before it joins the Mediterranean sea. In its way some other rivers join it, for example, Zadorra, Baias, Ega and Aragoi. Aragoi is the river which does the longest route here,it has 192 km.It is born in the Esako reservoir and before crossing Nafarroa Garaia it joins to the river of Ebro.

Aturri, which joins the sea in the coast of Basque Country, is the largest river and has the biggest water flow. Its source is in Tourmalet and it joins the sea in Baiona, crosses 335 km of land, the last 30 km of which are in Basque Country. It has several tributaries from the Pyrenees, including the Biduze, Errobi, and Aran. Like Aturri, other Basque rivers join the sea in the Bay of Biscay, such as Nerbioi, Bidasoa, Oria, Deba, Urola, Urumea. The Nerbioi is the longest such river in the Basque Country, with a length of 75 km.

Forests

The biggest forest of Euskal Herria is Iratiko Oihana which covers parts of Lower Navarre, Zuberoa and Nafarroa Garai.

Otherwise, in the northwest of Nafarroa from Sakana to Aezkoa there are mainly deciduous forests. These types of trees exist in the east side of Araba, in the region called Mendialdea in Araialde in the northwest, in Zuberoa and in Nafarroa Behera. Finally, they are also in Gipuzkoa, in the middle of Urola and in Aralar.

In Bizkaia, there are evergreen forests throughout 66$ of the entire province. The main exceptions of this are some places of Enkarterri and in Durango (Urkiola Natural Park). In Guipuzkoa, 56% of the trees there are there are conifers, but in Araba they consist of only 28% of the trees.

Currently, 55% of Basque Country (autonomous community) is covered by trees, and in Navarre the figure is 45%.

Desert

The natural park of Barde is the biggest desert, it is located in the south east of Nafarroa. It has 41.845 hectares,on th one hand it has 45 km from the north side to the south side and on the other hand 24 km from the west side to the east side.

Extreme points

There are basque municipalities that are in the cardinal extreme points:In the north side Samatze(Nafarroa Behera),in the east side Eskiula (Zuberoa) and in the west side Lanestosa (Bizkaia).

See,also