Political Spain in 1854, after the first Carlist War
Before the Spanish Constitution of 1978 and its system of autonomous communities, these three provinces were known in Spanish as the Provincias Vascongadas, a term still used by some nostalgics of the Franco era and by independentists who despise the current autonomy and reserve "Basque Country" for the union of the seven territories.
External link
Images of Euskadi (http://www.travel-images.com/euskadi.html) - photos of the Basque Country
BasqueCountry (Basque Euskadi, Spanish PaÃs Vasco) is an autonomouscommunity with the status of historical region within Spain, the capital of which is Vitoria (Basque Gasteiz).
The political structure of the autonomouscommunities is defined in the Gernika Statute, which was approved in a controversial--and substantially boycotted--referendum on October 25, 1979.
The current laws configure the autonomouscommunity as a federation of the three constituent provinces, which had been ruled since their incorporation to Castile in 1200 by their own laws and institutions in what is known as the Foral System.
Spain is, at present, what is called a State of Autonomies, formally unitary but, in fact, functioning as a Federation of AutonomousCommunities, each one with different powers (for instance, some have their own educational and health systems, others do not) and laws.
Spain is bound to the east by Mediterranean Sea (containing the Balearic Islands), to the north by the Bay of Biscay and to its west by the Atlantic Ocean, where the Canary Islands off the African coast are found.
Spain became a unified crown with the union of Castile and Aragon in 1492 and the annexation of Navarre in 1515.
Feeds |
Contact