The Basque Country (Euskal Herria in Basque) straddles the western Pyrenees mountains that define the border between France and Spain, extending down to the coast of the Bay of Biscay. It corresponds more or less with the historical area of the Basque people and language.
The Basque Country is made up of six traditional regions. The three regions to the south, within Spain, form Hegoalde (“south zone”), while the three to the northeast, within France, form Iparralde (“north zone”).
See the article on the Basque people for their full history.
The Kingdom of Navarre was the only political entity to encompass the Basque Country on both sides of the Pyrenees. The kingdom reached its greatest size under Sancho III of Navarre (c. 985–1035). It incorporated most Basque-speaking lands, among others, but was divided repeatedly after his death. In 1511, the Southern part was incorporated into the Spanish crown, but Basse-Navarre, north of the Pyrenees remained independent to be later incorporated into the French crown, and ceased to have a unifying significance.
Since the time of Sancho III, there has been no single government over all seven territories. Basque nationalism emerged in the early 20th century as the aspiration for such a nation state. In the 1980s, the Spanish statedevolved into autonomous communities, of which the Spanish Basque Country became the Basque Country. Against the wishes of Basque nationalists, Navarre established itself separately with little cultural collaboration. More recently, cross-border meetings among the Basque regions have been sponsored by the Atlantic Arc Commission of the European Union.
Basques, first known to history as natives of modern-day Navarre and Aragon in the first century BC, are now predominantly found in an area known as the BasqueCountry, consisting of four provinces in Spain and three in France, located around the western edge of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay.
The key sources for the early history of the Basques are the classical writers, especially Strabo, who in the 1st century AD reported that the north of modern-day Navarre and Aragon (the area immediately east of the modern-day autonomous community of the BasqueCountry) was inhabited by a people known as the Vascones.
Basque cuisine is at the heart of Basque culture, influenced by the neighbouring communities and the excellent produce from the sea and the land.
Basque speaking country, are making cultural history in that it is the language that has moulded and given the Basque people a sense of unity, a sense of being a nation.
The Basques moved to and fro on each side of their land of the Pyrenees and fought against the armies of Suintila, Recesvinto, and Wamba in the eighth century when Tarik disembarked in 711 with 7,000 Berber soldiers in what is now Gibraltar, and defeated the Goths.
This is Beigorri, guardian of the houses of Mari, the principal spirit or goddess of Basque mythology.
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