Basque people
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the Basque people. For other meanings, see Basque.
| Basques | |
|---|---|
 Image:Elcano.jpg 
| |
| Total population | 3 million (est.7 million worldwide) |
| Regions with significant populations | Spain – Araba/Álava: 279,000 Argentina: 3,600,000 have Basque origin (2004, est.) |
| Language | Basque monoglots: Few. Spanish monoglots: 1,525,000 (est.) |
| Religion | Traditionally Roman Catholic <tr> <th style="background-color:#fee8ab;">Related ethnic groups</th> <td style="background-color:#fff6d9;">Gascons may also have significant cultural and historic relationship with: |
The Basques (Basque: Euskaldunak) are an indigenous people who inhabit parts of both Spain and France.
The name Basque derives from Medieval French and ultimately from the ancient tribe of the Vascones<ref>Definition of Basque (Merriam-Webster Online)</ref>, described by Strabo as living south of the western Pyrenees and north of the Ebro River, in modern day Navarre and northern Aragon. This tribal name of unknown ethimology extended in late Antiquity and early Middle Ages to mean all peoples speaking Basque language at both sides of the Pyrenees.
Basques are now predominantly found in an area known as the Basque Country, 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 Basques are known in local languages as:
- Euskaldunak ("Basque speakers", also used loosely to describe all ethnic Basques) or euskotarrak ("Natives of the Basque Country", less frequent) in Basque
- Vascos in Spanish
- Basques in French
- Bascos in Gascon
This article discusses the Basques as an ethnic group or, as some view them, a nation, rather than other ethnic groups living in the Basque areas. The coverage here of the history of the Basque region focuses on how it bears on the Basques as a people.
[edit] Etymology of the word Basque
The English word Basque comes from French Basque (pronounced /bask/), which itself comes from Gascon Basco (pronounced /ˈbasku/) and Spanish Vasco (pronounced /ˈbasko/). These, in turn, come from Latin Vasco (pronounced /wasko/), plural Vascones (see History section below). The Latin labial-velar approximant /w/ typically evolved into the voiced bilabial plosive /b/ in Gascon and Spanish, probably under the influence of Basque and Aquitanian, a language related to old Basque and spoken in Gascony in Antiquity. This explains the Roman pun at the expense of the Aquitanians (ancestors of the Gascons): "Beati Hispani quibus vivere bibere est", which translates as "Blessed (are the) Iberians, for whom living is drinking". The Romans considered the Aquitanians akin to the Iberians.
Several coins from the 1st and 2nd centuries BC were found in the north of Spain, bearing the inscription barscunes written in the Iberian alphabet. The place where they were minted is not certain but is thought to be somewhere near Pamplona at the heartland of area where historians think the Vascones lived. Some authors have suggested a Celtic etymology based in bhar-s-, meaning "summit", "point" or "leaves", what is interpreted as barscunes reading something like "the mountain people", "the tall ones" or "the proud ones", while others have suggested that it may relate to a pre-Indo-European root *bar- meaning "border", "frontier", "march" <ref>Vascones - el nombre (Auñamendi Encyclopedia)</ref>.
Others think that Latin Vasco comes from a Basque and Aquitanian root used by these people to refer to themselves. This root is eusk-, pronounced /ewsk/, which is indeed close from Latin /wasko/. There was also an Aquitanian people whose name the Romans recorded as Ausci (pronounced /awski/ in Latin), and which also seems to come from the same root.
In modern Basque, Basques call themselves euskaldunak, singular euskaldun, formed from euskal- (i.e. "Basque (language)") and -dun (i.e. "one who has"), so euskaldun literally means a Basque speaker. It should be noted that not all Basques are Basque speakers (euskaldunak), and not all Basque speakers are Basque. Foreigners who learnt Basque are also euskaldunak. To remedy this inconvenience, a neologism was coined in the nineteenth century, the word euskotar, plural euskotarrak, which means an ethnically Basque person, whether a Basque speaker or not.
These Basque words all originate from the name the Basques use to call their language: euskara. Modern researchers have reconstructed the pronunciation and vocabulary of ancient Basque, and Alfonso Irigoyen proposes that the word euskara comes from the verb "to say" in ancient Basque, which was pronounced enautsi (modern Basque esan), and from the suffix -(k)ara ("way (of doing something)"). Thus euskara would literally mean "way of saying", "way of speaking". Evidence of this theory is found in the Spanish book Compendio Historial written in 1571 by the Basque writer Esteban de Garibay, who recorded the native name of the Basque language as "enusquera". However, as with most things related to Basque history, this hypothesis is not certain.
In the nineteenth century, the Basque nationalist activist Sabino Arana suggested that there was an original root euzko from eguzkiko ("of the sun" presuming a solar religion). From that he created the neologism Euzkadi for his purported independent Basque Country. This theory is discredited today, the only serious etymology being from eutsi (to sustain, persist) and -ara/-era (modal suffix used for languages), but the neologism Euzkadi, in the regularized spelling Euskadi, is still widely used in Basque and Spanish.
[edit] History
[edit] Origin of the Basques
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 Basque Country) was inhabited by a people known as the Vascones. Although the word Vascones is clearly related to the modern word "Basque", it is not known if the Vascones were indeed the ancestors of the modern Basques, or whether they spoke an old form of the Basque language. Nevertheless historically consistent toponymy and a few personal names found in funerary slabs of the Roman period strongly suggest they spoke old Basque.
On the territory of the present Autonmous Community of Basque Country lived three different peoples: the Varduli, the Caristii, and the Autrigones. There is no historical mention on whether these tribes were related to the Vascones and/or Aquitani but recent archaeological research in Iruña-Veleia, in Araba, has found aboundant texts in what is clearly Basque language [1] [2].
Before this recent finding, the area where a Basque-related language is the best attested is Gascony, in the southwest of France, where the local Aquitani spoke a language which may be related to Basque (this extinct Aquitanian language should not be confused with Gascon, a Romance language spoken in Aquitaine since the Middle Ages).
In the Middle Ages the name Vascones and variations of it expanded to mean all Basque-speaking peoples, replacing the tribal names documented by Romans.
The prehistory of Basques before Roman occupation is somehow obscure because they can hardly be identified with any specific separate culture. Still the mainstream perception is that the area shows clear archaeological continuity since Aurignacian times.
[edit] Main theory: Basques as direct descendants of Prehistoric Western Europeans
Many Basque archaeological sites like Santimamiñe cave show a continuous record from Aurignacian times to the Iron Age, just before Roman occupation, suggesting continuity by at least some of the same people for more than thirty millennia.
Already the extreme concentration of Rh- (a typical European trait) among Basques, the highest worldwide, suggested the antiquity and lack of admixture in the Basque stock. But it has been with the advent of modern genetics when this has been quite sufficiently demonstrated.
Already in the 1990s Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza found that one of the European autosomal principal components, PC 5, was typically Basque apparently having receded due to immigration of Eastern peoples in the Neolithic and Metal Ages <ref>Genes, pueblos y lenguas, L.L. Cavalli-Sforza, 1996 ISBN 84-8432-084-7</ref> <ref>European Genetic Variation (with Cavalli-Sforza's PC maps)</ref>
Further genetic studies on Y chromosome DNA haplogroups <ref>Estimating the Impact of Prehistoric Admixture on the Genome of Europeans, Isabelle Dupanloup et al.</ref> and X chromosome microsatellites <ref>MS205 Minisatellite Diversity in Basques: Evidence for a Pre-Neolithic Component, Santos Alonso and John A.L. Armour</ref> all seem to point to Basques being the most direct descendants from prehistoric Western Europeans.
Only Mitochondrial DNA seems to cast some doubts over this theory <ref> Temporal Mitochondrial DNA Variation in the Basque Country: Influence of Post-Neolithic Events, A. alzualde et al.</ref> <ref>The Mitochondrial Lineage U8a Reveals a Paleolithic Settlement in the Basque Country (Gonzalez, et al; May 2006)</ref>.
For some authors, the Basque language also shows signs of dating back to the stone age, such as by having words for knife and axe that may come from the root word for stone<ref>Chapter 1.</ref>- suggesting that the language developed when knives and axes were made of stone.
[edit] Alternative theories
- Basques as Neolithic colonists: A possibility sometimes mentioned is that a precursor of the Basque language might have arrived with the advance of agriculture, some 6,000 years ago. Archaeological evidence could partly support this only for the Ebro valley area of the Basque Country. Genetics, for the most part, doesn't seem to support this.
- Basques as arrived with Indo-Europeans: This proposal is linked to a linguistic hypothesis that would join Basque and some Caucasian languages in a single super-family. But the proposed Basco-Caucasian connection, if existent, would be too distant in time to relate well with Indo-European migrations. Celts were indeed present for some time in the Ebro valley (Urnfield culture) but that seems all archaeology can offer to cement this hypothesis. Basque language lacks of any Celtic loans or any other Indo-European influence, except for Latin or Romance ones, incorporated in historic times.
- Basques as related to Berbers: This hypothesis is linked to widely discredited suppositions of similarities between Berber and Basque languages.
- Basques as a subgroup of Iberians: This hypothesis is based in the occasional use by Basques of the Iberian alphabet and the fact that Julius Caesar described Aquitanians as Iberians. Apparent similarities of Iberian language and Basque have also been used to support this hypothesis. But all attempts to decipher Iberian using Basque as reference have failed so far.
[edit] Paleolithic
Modern Basque Country, as well as areas that may have been of Basque culture in the past (like Aquitaine and the Pyrenees) were colonized by Homo sapiens c. 35,000 years ago, gradually replacing earlier Neanderthal inhabitants. These colonists coming from Central Europe carried with them the Aurignacian culture.
At this stage the Basque Country can't be separated from the archaeological Franco-Cantabrian province, stretching from Asturias to Provence. The whole region experienced similar cultural changes, with some local variations: Aurignacian gave way to Gravettian, this one to Solutrean and this one to Magdalenian. All these cultures, except Aurignacian, seem original from the Franco-Cantabrian region, what implies that there was no further immigration in the Paleolithic period.
In the Basque Country itself, settlement was limited almost exclusively to the Atlantic area, probably because of climatic reasons. Some of the most important sites of the Basque Country are the following:
- Santimamiñe (Biscay): with Gravettian, Solutrean and Magdalenian remains, including mural art
- Bolinkoba (Biscay): Gravettian and Solutrean
- Ermitia (Gipuzkoa): Solutrean and Magdalenian
- Amalda (Gipuzkoa): Gravettian and Solutrean
- Koskobilo (Gipuzkoa): Aurignacian and Solutrean
- Aitzbitarte (Gipuzkoa): Aurignacian, Gravettian, Solutrean and Magdalenian
- Isturitz (Lower Navarre): Gravettian, Solutrean and Magdalenian, including mural art
- Gatzarria (Soule): Aurignacian and Gravettian
[edit] Epi-Paleolithic and Neolithic
At the end of the Ice Age, in all the Franco-Cantabrian province Magdalenian culture was transformed into Azilian. The big hunt was replaced by smaller prey, while fishing and seafood gathering became a major part of the economic activity.
In this period, the southern areas of the Basque Country were first colonized.
Neolithic technology arrived from the Mediterranean coasts, first in form of isolated pottery items (Zatoia, Marizulo) and then as sepherdry. The transition was very slow and gradual, as in most of Atlantic Europe.
The more clearly Neolithic sites are found in the Ebro valley, where there could be some Mediterranean colonization, based on anthropometric classification of the remains.
A similar situation can be seen in Aquitaine where the Garonne plays the connective role the Ebro has in the South.
In the second half of the 4th millennium BC, Megalithic culture is adopted in all the area. Burials become collective (possibly by families or clans) and are done mostly in dolmens, though caves are also used in some places. The Mediterranean basin shows preference for dolmens with corridor, while in the Atlantic one they are invariably simple dolmens.
[edit] Chalcolithic and Bronze Age
The use of metals (copper and gold first) arrives late to the Basque Country, c. 2500 BC, and with it the first towns, being particularly noticeable for its size and continuty La Hoya in southern Araba, that may have played a connective (commercial?) role between Portugal(culture of Vila Nova de São Pedro) and Languedoc (group of Treilles). But caves and natural shelters are still used, specially in the Atlantic basin.
Pottery (not decorated) shows continuity with the Neolithic period, until the arrival of the Bell Beaker phenomenon with its typical vases, found specially near the Ebro.
Megalithism also shows clear continuity until the Late Bronze Age.
In Aquitaine it is particualrly noticeable the Artenacian culture of bowmen that, from its homeland near the Garonne, expanded rapidly by all Western France and Belgium c. 2400 BC.
In the Late Bronze Age, parts of the southern Basque country come under the influence of the pastoralist culture of Cogotas I, of the Iberian plateau.
[edit] Iron Age
In this period, the most noticeable event is the arrival and influence of Indo-European peoples (Celts most likely) to the margins of the Basque area. The people of the late Urnfield culture culture move upstream along the Ebro and reach the southern fringes of the Basque Country, incorporating then the Hallstatt culture.
The settlements now seem to be mainly in points of difficult access, probably for defensive reasons, showing often elaborated defenses.
It is in this phase when agriculture seems to become more important than animal husbandry.
It may be in this period too when new megalithic structures appear: the cromlech (stone circle) and the menhir (standing stone).
[edit] Roman rule
The north-west of Spain, including the Basque regions, was first reached by the Romans under Pompey in the 1st century BC, but not consolidated until the time of the Emperor Augustus. The looseness of Roman rule well suited the Basques, who retained their traditional laws and leadership. This poor region was little developed by the Romans and there is not much evidence of Romanization; this certainly contributed to the survival of the separate Basque language.
A large Roman presence was situated in the garrison of Pompaelo (now Pamplona), a city founded by Pompey on the south side of the Pyrenees. The area to the west was conquered after a fierce campaign in which the Romans fought against the Cantabri (see Cantabrian Wars). There are archaeological remains from this period of garrisons situated to protect the commercial routes all along the Ebro river and along a Roman road between Asturica and Burdigala.
Many Basques joined the Roman legions and were often deployed far away to guard the Empire. For example, a unit of Varduli was stationed on Hadrian's Wall in the north of Britain for many years, and at some time earned the title fida (faithful) for some now forgotten service to the emperor. Romans apparently signed alliance pacts (foedus) with many of the local tribes, allowing them to keep an almost total autonomy inside the Empire. <ref>Alianzas (Auñamendi Encyclopedia)</ref>
Titus Livius mentions the natural division between the Ager and Saltus Vasconum, that is between the fields of the Ebro basin and the mountains north of it. Historians agree that Romanization was significatively stronger in the fertile Ager but almost null in the Saltus, where roman towns were scarce and generally small. <ref>Saltus Vasconum (Auñamendi Encyclopedia)</ref>
The Bagaudae seem to have made a major impact in Basque history the late period of the Roman Empire. In the late 4th and all the 5th century the Basque region between the Garonne and the Ebro rivers escapes Roman control in the midst of revolts. Several Roman villas (Liédena, Ramalete) are burned to the ground and the aboundance of mints is interpreted as the creation of an inner limes around Vasconia, as coins were used then almost only to pay the troops <ref>Mikel Sorauren, Historia de Navarra, el Estado Vasco, 1998, ISBN 84-7681-299-X</ref>. The struggle continues against the Visigothic allies of Rome even after the Empire is no more<ref>Bagaudas (Auñamendi Encyclopedia)</ref>.
[edit] Middle Ages
[edit] Early Middle Ages
In 407 Basque troops defeated the Vandals, Alans and Swabians at the Pyrenees under Roman command. Yet, two years later these tribes crossed the Basque homelands without resistance into Hispania. In 418 Rome gave the provinces of Aquitania and Hispania Tarraconensis to the Visigoths, as foederati (allies).
While the Visigoths seem to have claimed the Basque territory since early on all chronicles point to their systematic failure, not without occasional successes anyhow. Between 435 and 450, battles between Basque rebels and Romano-Gothic troops succeeded each other: Tolosa, Araceli and Turiasum being the best documented ones <ref>Bagaudas (Auñamendi Encyclopedia)</ref>.
In 507 The Franks displaced the Visigoths from Aquitaine. The Basques were then placed between the two warring kingdoms. C. 580 both Franks and Visigoths attacked Vasconia (mentioned by that name in the Visigothic chronicle and as Wasconia in the Frankish one) with unequal success. Soon after they created their respective marches: the Duchy of Cantabria in the south and the Duchy of Vasconia in the north.
After continuous struggles, between 660 and 678 the Duchy of Vasconia was consolidated as independent polity, in personal union with the Duchy of Aquitaine experiencing several decades of peace, only troubled by the occasional Visigothic campaign. The Muslim invasion of 711 and the rise of the Carolingian dynasty posed new threats for this state and eventually caused its fall and fragmentation.
Vasconia had to submit to the Franks, not without intermitent resistance, as shown in the famous first Battle of Roncevaux, just one among many. C. 800 it was founded around Tudela the Basco-Muslim state of the Banu Qassim (heirs of Cassius), that helped the Basques to remain mostly at peace with the governors of Al Andalus.
After Charlemagne's death, his son Louis the Pious provoked a new rebellion lead by Gartzia Semeno. His relative Enecco Arista (Basque: Eneko Aritza, meaning Eneko the Oak) took power in Pamplona c. 824, when Pamplonese and Banu Qassim defeated the Franks at the third Battle of Roncevaux<ref>Ducado de Vasconia (Auñamendi Encyclopedia)</ref>.
[edit] High Middle Ages
The new reduced Basque state, the Kingdom of Pamplona, after consolidating its borders with Franks and Muslims, did the same in the West. In 905, the Cronica Albeldense mentions clearly that Pamplona had control over Nájera and possibly Alava (mentioned as Arba), among other territories <ref>[http://www.ih.csic.es/departamentos/medieval/fmh/albeldensia.htm Crónica Albeldense (CSIC)</ref>.
Under Sancho III the Great (1000-1035), Pamplona controlled all the southern Basque Country from Burgos and Santander to Northern Aragon. Aditionally he was also regent Earl of Castile by marriage and exerted protectorate over Gascony and Leon.
After his death, Castile and Aragon became kingdoms under some of his sons and, soon after they planned and executed the first partition of Pamplona. The kingdom was restored in 1157 under García Ramírez the Restorer who fought against Castile for the western half of the realm. A peace signed in 1179 gave La Rioja and modern NE Old Castile to Castile, remaining Alava, Biscay and Guipuscoa as part of Navarre.
Nevertheless in 1199, while King Sancho VI the Wise was in an embassy at Tlemcen, Castile invaded the Western Basque Country, leaving Navarre cut off from the sea. Castile divided the territory in the three modern provinces allowing them to keep large self-government and their traditional Navarrese right in form charters that each Castilian or Spanish king has given oath to since.
[edit] Mariner activities
Basques played an important role in early European exploitation of the Atlantic Ocean.
The earliest document (a bill) that mentions Basque whaling dates from 670, long before Viking raids. In 1059, Labourdin whalers already gave to the viscount the oil of the first captured animal. It seems that Basques disliked the taste of whales but made good business selling their meat and oil to the French, Castilian and Flemish. Basque whalers used for this activity the longboats known as traineras, that only allowed whaling near the coast or based in a larger ship.
It seems that was this industry, along with cod-fishing, what brought Basque sailors to the North Sea and eventually to Newfoundland. The date most frequently mentioned for their arrival is 1372. Other sources document Basque fishermen in Iceland in 1412.
The development of rudder in Europe seems also a Basque developement. Three masted ships appear in a fresco of Estella (Navarre), dating to the 12th century, seals preserved in the Navarrese and Parisian historical archives also show similar ships. Rudder itself is first mentioned as steer "a la Navarraise" or "a la Bayonaise". <ref>T. Urainqui and J.M. de Olaizola, La Navarra Marítima, 1998, ISBN 84-7681-293-0</ref>
[edit] Late Middle Ages
During the Late Middle Ages, the Basque Country was divided by clashes among parties, eventually polarized in two: (Agramont and Beaumont in Navarre, Oñaz and Gamboa in Biscay). Local nobility built towerhouses, nowadays razed by fires and kingly decrees. (Compare with the earlier Italian Guelphs and Ghibellines).
[edit] From the Renaissance Era to the nineteenth century
As the Middle Ages came to an end, the Basque lands came to be divided between France and Spain. Most of the Basque population ended up in Spain, a situation which persists to this day. The Navarrese and the Basques from Guipúzcoa, Vizcaya and Álava were able to keep a large degree of self-government of their provinces in Spain and France, functioning practically as separate nation-states: the fueros gave each Basque province separate local laws, taxes and law courts. The Basques, serving under the Spanish flag, were renowned mariners, and at the end of the 16th century, taught Dutch sailors how to use the harpoon for whaling. Spanish ships with many Basque sailors were some of the first Europeans to reach North America, and many early European settlers in Canada and the United States were of Basque origin.
The Protestant Reformation made some inroads, supported by Jeanne d'Albret, queen of Lower Navarre. In the 16th century, around Bayonne, a Basque-speaking bourgeoisie induced the printing of Basque-language books, mostly with Christian themes. Protestantism was however persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition, and, in the Northeast, the Protestant Navarrese king converted to Roman Catholicism and became king Henry IV of France.
The self-government of the northern Basque provinces came to an end with the French Revolution, which centralized government and abolished all of the various local privileges granted by the ancien régime. Some Basques were pushed to counter-revolutionary positions while others actively participated, even writing a Basque constitutional project by Basque revolutionary Garat. It brought the Basque Country to the Convention War (1793), with all Basque territories being nominally French for a time. Later on, when the Napoleonic Army invaded Spain, it had almost no trouble in keeping the southern Basque provinces loyal to the occupier, and the southern Basque Country was the last part of Spain kept by the French because of this lack of resistance (see Battle of Vitoria). It all ended with the August 31, 1813 burning of San Sebastian;
Fearing that under modern liberal uniformizing constitutions they would lose their self-government or Fueros, Spanish Basques massively joined the traditionalist army, which was mostly paid by the provincial governments of the Basque provinces. The forces of the Isabeline Army on the other hand had a vital participation of British (whose Irish legion (Tercio) was virtually annihilated by the Basques on the Battle of Oriamendi), French (also with an important Algerian legion), and Portuguese legions and those governments' support against the Basques. During the First Carlist War, as the differences between the Apostolic (official) and the Navarrese (Basque basis) parties inside the Carlist rebel band grew, the latter signed an armistice which included the promise by the Spaniards of keeping Basque self-government. As this promise was not accomplished fully, there was a further upheaval, the Second Carlist War, which ended in a similar way. Ultimately, the Basque provinces and Navarre lost most of their autonomous power, but retained control over fiscal laws and collections with Ley Paccionada, a power they still retain in modern day Spain in the form of fiscal conciertos with the national government in Madrid.
Thus the same wars that brought relative liberty to most of Spain abolished most (but not all) of the traditional liberties of the Basques. The Spanish Basque provinces still retained the widest autonomy in peninsular Spain, but far less than they had previously experienced.
However, the advance of Spanish customs from the Basque borders to the French border formed a new protected market in Spain for the incipient Basque industry.
- Braudel, Fernand, The Perspective of the World, 1984
[edit] Modern history
The new markets encouraged the replacement of the old forges by modern blast furnaces, that processed the local iron ore instead of sending it to Britain. The mining and the iron industry required workers, first among Basque peasants, later from the surrounding Navarre, Castile, Rioja, and farther away in Galicia and Andalusia. The awful conditions of these workers (Biscay had one of the highest mortality rates in Europe) prompted the diffusion of leftist ideologies.
The end of the 19th century witnessed the appearance of the new Basque nationalism which came with the foundation of the Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV), in which Christian-Democratic ideas were mixed with racism against Spanish immigrant workers who were seen as perverting the purity of the mythical Basque race. The party asked for independence or at least autonomy.
In 1931 Spain became a Republic and soon Catalonia (the next most ethnically distinct region inside Spain, also with a strong independence movement) was given self-government. However, the Basques had to wait until the Spanish Civil War was already under way to be granted the same rights.
Basques fought on both sides in the Spanish Civil War, with Basque nationalists and leftists from Biscay and Guipúzcoa siding with the Second Spanish Republic, and the Navarrese Carlists siding with General Francisco Franco's insurgent forces (who were known in the rest of Spain as "Nacionales"—literally "Nationals", usually rendered in English as "Nationalists"—a very misleading phrase in Basque terms). Today, some Basque nationalists claim that the Spanish Civil War was a war of Spain against the Basques, despite there having been Basques on both sides. There is no question, though, that one of the greatest atrocities of this war was the bombing of Guernica, the traditional Biscayne capital, by German planes. Much of the city was destroyed and a great deal of Basque history was erased.
In 1937, roughly halfway through the war, the troops of the Autonomous Basque Government surrendered in Santoña to the Italian allies of General Franco on condition that the Basque heavy industry and economy was left untouched, beginning one of the hardest periods of Basque history in Spain. For many leftists in Spain this event is known as the Treason of Santoña, as many of the Basque soldiers were pardoned to join the Francoist army in the rest of the Northern front. After the war, Franco began a dedicated effort to consolidate Spain as a uniform nation-state. Franco's regime introduced severe laws against all Spanish minorities, not least the Basques, in an effort to suppress their cultures and languages. Considering Biscay and Guipúzcoa as "traitor provinces", he abolished the remains of their autonomy, but Navarre and Alava maintained small local police forces and some tax self-government.
The backlash against these actions created a violent Basque separatist movement. The armed group responsible for most of the attacks is known as Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), meaning "Basque land and Liberty". Franco's death and the end of his regime saw an end to Franco's repression and the creation of an autonomous Basque region in Spain, but peace wouldn't arrive from one day to another, neither Spanish Government repression and neither to separatist activism. A result of that situation as of 2005 was about 1,000 deaths in the intervening 30 years. Between 1979 and 1983, the Basque Country and surrounding areas were granted considerable autonomy by the Spanish government. This autonomy includes an elected parliament, police force, a largely independent educational system, and tax system, but so far some promised competences have yet to be transferred. Spain still enjoys extensive influence, and some spheres of life are entirely under Spanish jurisdiction - Ports and Harbours, Customs, National Employment Institute, Army, among others.
Navarre was never offered the opportunity to join the autonomous Basque region (CAPV in Spanish), and so it was set to the status of a separate autonomous region. Neither at the 30's nor at the transition towards the so called democracy.
[edit] The Basque diaspora
The Basque diaspora is a name given to describe the dispersion of the Basque people throughout the world. The Basques do not have an independent country to call their own, being divided between the Spanish and French states. Many Basques have left the Basque Country for other parts of the globe for economical or political reasons.
Large number of Basques have immigrated mostly to Argentina (where they are about 10% of the national population<ref >"Vascos en Argentina”, http://www.juandegaray.org.ar/fvajg/docs/Argentina_y_los_vascos.</ref>). Important waves have emigrated to other American countries like Chile, Venezuela, Mexico and the United States. In these last countries places were named after Basque names such as New Biscay, now Durango in Mexico and Biscayne Bay in the United States. In Mexico most groups concentrated in the Monterrey area and the region of Durango.
The largest Basque community in the United States is in the Boise, Idaho area. Boise is home of the Basque Museum and Cultural Center and hosts a large Basque festival known as Jaialdi every five years. Reno, Nevada, home of the Basque Studies Department at the University of Nevada, also has a significant Basque population.
There are also many Basques and people of Basque ancestry living outside their homeland in Europe, specially in Spain and France.
[edit] Geography and distribution
The current autonomous Basque area of Spain, known as "Euskadi" in Basque, "País Vasco" in Spanish, "Pays Basque" in French and the "Basque Country" in English, is composed of three provinces or territories: Araba/Álava, Bizkaia/Vizcaya and Gipuzkoa/Guipúzcoa (in each case, this is the Basque name followed by the Spanish name). There are 2,123,000 people living in the Basque Country: Araba, 279,000; Bizkaia, 1,160,000; and Gipuzkoa, 684,000. The most important cities are: Bilbo/Bilbao (in Bizkaia), Donostia/San Sebastián (in Gipuzkoa) and Gasteiz/Vitoria (in Araba). Both Basque and Spanish are official languages. Knowledge of Spanish is virtually universal; 27 per cent of the people speak the Basque language, but this number is increasing for the first time in many centuries, due to official promotion and popular sympathy.
There is also a substantial Basque feeling among the population of the adjacent Spanish autonomous community and province of Navarre, and in nearby parts of France — see Basque Country for more information. Parts of La Rioja were repopulated with Basques in the Middle-Ages. Today only surnames and placenames remain, however towns like Ezcaray have become a popular second residence for Basques. East Cantabria is also the residence for many Biscayans who prefer the safer political climate or the cheaper housing.
There is at least some ethnic Basque presence in many countries of the Americas, including Bolivia, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Peru [3], Uruguay, Venezuela and a community in Idaho, eastern Nevada, south Texas, and throughout California who first came over to herd sheep. It was said [Please name specific person or group] California is home to 15,000 of Basque descent, perhaps more than the states of Idaho and Nevada.
The destination of the majority of Basque emigrants was Argentina, with Basque culture contributing much to Argentine culture. There are Basque cultural centres in most large cities, as well as pelota courts and Basque language schools. Many places have been given Basque names, including the main international airport, Ezeiza. Several of Argentina's Presidents have been of Basque descent, including Irigoyen, Aramburu and Urquiza, not to mention other figures, notably Che Guevara. There are an estimated 15,000 surnames in Argentina of Basque descent.
Chile also received many Basque emigrants. For example, Augusto Pinochet is of Basque descent (via his mother's maiden surname, Ugarte).
The largest community of Basques in North America exists in the greater Boise area. Boise is home to the Basque Museum & Cultural Center. The area around the center includes a variety of stores and restaurants featuring Basque culture in a so-called "Basque block." The current mayor of Boise, David H. Bieter is Basque. Another large community of Basques live in the Central Valley of California, primarily in the city of Bakersfield. In Bakersfield you will find several Basque restaurants and the Basque hall, which annually holds a major Basque picnic. Many early immigrants went to Bakersfield for the agricultural and sheep herding opportunities. Another area is in the deep of South Texas along the Rio Grande River. The area surrounding the Rio Grande River near the current Texas Starr County, Zapata County, and Hidalgo County as well as areas within the Mexican states of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, Spanish surnames of Basque descent show up as Spanish Land Grant owners in historical documents. Most of these grants were used for ranching and agriculture in much the same way sheep herding was used in the Basque land. This part of Texas boasts some of the largest ranches in Texas today. Some of these surnames, such as the surname Garza, show up in many political ballots as well as hold high offices in politics. One of the richest families in the world and of Mexico carries this Basque surname. One city with a Basque name in Mexico, San Pedro Garza García, has the highest income per capita in all of Latin America and Mexico. In the Caribbean, Basque descendants exist in the hills of Esperón in the province of Habana, where many originally settled during the Spanish colonial period.
[edit] Culture
There are interesting social differences between the Basques and their neighbours. The Basque people have an unusually close attachment with their homes. A person's home is their family in the Basque Country. Even if one does not still live there and has not for generations a Basque family is still known by the house in which it once lived. Common Basque surnames could translate as "top of the hill", or "by the river" all relating to the location of their ancestral home. This is interesting evidence for considering the Basques to be the only people who have always had a fixed and stable abode.
Though matriarchality has been sometimes attributed to Basque society, today it seems clear that the actually known family structure is patrilinear, being the top position given to the father, as in neighbouring cultures. Nevertheless there are some signs that this may not have always been that way. Also it must be said that the social position of women has always been rather better than in neighbouring countries. They participated in magical ceremonies and enjoyed rich folklore.
The fueros on inheritance favoured the unity of the inherited land (in contrast to Galician minifundia) so, until the Industrial Age, poor Basques (usually the younger sons) emigrated to the rest of Spain or France and the Americas. Saint Francis Xavier and Conquistadores like Lope de Aguirre were Basque.
Despite ETA and the crisis of heavy industries, the Basques have been doing remarkably well in recent years, emerging from persecution during the Franco regime with a strong and vibrant language and culture. For the first time in centuries, the Basque language is expanding geographically led by large increases in the major urban centres of Pamplona, Bilbao, and Bayonne, where only a few decades ago the Basque language had all but disappeared. Legislation and abundant public funding have helped this increase. The establishment of bilingual and mostly Basque teaching has led to the controversial firing of those teachers who could not achieve the required command of Basque language.
The opening of the new Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is widely seen as a symbol of a linguistic and cultural revival.
Basque cuisine is at the heart of Basque culture, influenced by the neighbouring communities and the excellent produce from the sea and the land. A twentieth-century feature of Basque culture is the phenomenon of gastronomical societies (txoko, "corner" in Biscay), food clubs where men gather to cook and enjoy their own food. Until recently, women were only allowed one day in the year. Sagardotegiak or cider houses are popular restaurants in Gipuzkoa open for a few months while the cider is in season.
See also: Basque music
[edit] Language
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As of 2005, virtually all Basques speak the official language of their respective states. Besides Spanish or French, about 25-30% of Basques speak fluently their own ethnic Basque language, referred to, in that tongue, as Euskara <ref>Sociolinguistics (Eke.org)</ref>, which is not only distinct from French and Spanish, but apparently unrelated to every other language, both modern and historical, in Europe and the world.
The Basque language is thus a language isolate, though it has influence its neighbouring Romance languages significatively: Gascon, Aragonese and Castilian specially.
This unique and isolated language has attracted the interest of a great many linguists trying to discover its history and origin.
Traditionally the first non-onomastical texts were thought to be from the early Middle Ages, which is not, however, evidence of their late arrival, for the Basques were already very well established by this point and there was plenty of onomastical inscriptions and toponimy that pointed to a much older origin. However, recent discoveries in the Basco-Roman town of Iruña-Veleia have brought the first written evidence of Basque to the 3rd century CE or earlier <ref>Los textos hallados en Iruña-Veleia están escritos inéquivocamente en euskera (Gara)</ref> <ref>Confirman la autenticidad de lost textos hallados en Iruña-Veleia (Gara)</ref>.
[edit] Religion
Most Basques are Roman Catholics. In the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, Basques as a group remained notably devout and churchgoing. In recent years church attendance has fallen off, as in most of Western Europe. The region has been a source of missionaries like Francis Xavier and Michel Garicoïts. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, was a Basque.
A sprout of Protestantism in the continental Basque Country produced the first translation of the new Testament into Basque by Joannes Leyçarraga. After the king of Navarre converted to Catholicism to be king of France, Protestantism almost disappeared.
Bayonne held a Jewish community composed mainly of Sephardi Jews fleeing from the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions.
[edit] Pre-Christian religion and mythology
- Main article: Basque mythology
There is strong evidence of a previous religion, reflected in countless legends and some enduring traditions. This pre-Christian religion was apparently centered on a superior female genie: Mari. Her consort Sugaar also seems to bear some importance. This chthonic couple seem to bear the superior ethical power and also the power of creation and destruction. It's said that when they gathered in the high caves of the sacred peaks, they engendered the storms. These meetings typically happened on Friday nights, the day of historical akelarre or coven. Mari was said to reside in mount Anboto, periodically she crossed the skies as a bright light to reach her other home at mount Txindoki.
Another divinity seems to be Urtzi (also Ost, Ortzi: sky) but it seems to have been imported, as legends do not speak of him. Nevertheless his name appears in weekdays, months names and metereological events. In medieval times, Aymeric Picaud, a French pilgrim, wrote on the Basques, saying: et Deus vocant Urcia ("and they name God as Urci-a"; the -a being the Basque nominative or suffixed article).
There is also Anbotoko Mari, a goddess whose movements affected the weather. According to one tradition, she travelled every seven years between a cave on mount Anboto and one on another mountain (the stories vary); the weather would be wet when she was in Anboto, dry when she was in Aloña, or Supelegor, or Gorbea. It is hard to say how old this legend is; despite the pagan elements, one of her names, Mari Urraca, ties her to a possibly historical Navarrese princess of the 11th and 12th century and other legends give her a brother or cousin who was a Roman Catholic priest.
Legends also speak of many and abundant genies, like jentilak (equivalent to giants), lamiak (equivalent to nymphs), mairuak (builders of the cromlechs or stone circles, literally Moors), iratxoak (imps), sorginak (witches, priestess of Mari), etc. Basajaun is a Basque version of the wild man. There is a trickster named San Martin Txiki ("St Martin the Lesser"). It has been shown that some of these stories have entered Basque culture in recent centuries or as part of Roman superstitio. It is unclear whether neolithic stone structures called dolmens have a religious significance or were built to house animals or resting shepherds. Some of the dolmens and cromlechs are burial sites serving as well as border markers.
The jentilak ('Giants'), on the other hand, are a legendary people which explains the disappearance of a people of Stone Age culture that used to live in the high lands and with no knowledge of the iron. Many legends about them tell that they were bigger and taller, with a great force, but were displaced by the ferrons, or workers of ironworks foundries, until their total fade-out. They were pagans, but one of them, Olentzero, accepted Christianity and became a sort of Basque Santa Claus. They gave name to several toponyms, as Jentilbaratza.
[edit] Universities
The earliest university in the Basque Country was the University of Oñate, founded 1540 in Hernani and moved to Oñate in 1548. It lasted in various forms until 1901. [4] In 1868 there was an unsuccessful effort to establish a Basque-Navarrese University, thwarted by the hostility of the Spanish Central government. The Jesuits founded the University of Deusto in Bilbao by the turn of the century. The first modern Basque public university was the Basque University, founded November 18 1936 in Bilbao in the midst of the Spanish Civil War. It operated only briefly before the defeat by Franco's forces. [5].
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.
There are numerous other significant Basque institutions in the Basque Country and elsewhere. Most Basque organizations in the United States are affiliated with NABO (North American Basque Organizations, Inc.).
[edit] Sports
Image:Xabi Alonso.jpg The Basque Country has also contributed many great sportsmen, primarily in football (soccer), cycling, jai-alai, and rugby.
The main sport in the Basque Country, as in the rest of Spain and France, is football. The top teams Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, Osasuna and Alavés are a fixture in the Spanish national league. Athletic Bilbao has a policy of hiring only Basque, Riojan and Navarrese 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. Of course, this is not to be mistaken with the orange of the fans from the Netherlands.
The Navarrese cyclist Miguel Indurain (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, but also works as an unofficial Basque national team and is partly funded by the Basque Government. They are emerging as a strong contender in the Tour de France, with riders such as Iban Mayo, Haimar Zubeldia and David Etxebarria leading the charge.
In France, 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 are known to 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, but Biarritz is by far the most prominent.
Pelota and Jai Alai are Basque versions 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 Baskonia, is located in the Basque city of Vítoria/Gasteiz.
In recent years surfing has taken root in the Basque shores in spite of the cold Atlantic waters, and Mundaka and Biarritz have become spots on the world surf circuit.
[edit] Traditional Basque sports
There are several sports derived by Basques from everyday chores. Heavy workers were challenged and bets placed upon them. Examples are:
- trainera (oar boat) regattas: from fishermen rowing to market with their catch.
- sokatira: tug-of-war.
- harri jasoketa: stone-lifting, from quarry works.
- aizkolaritza and trontzalaritza: tree hacking and log sawing.
- segalaritza: grass mowing with scythes.
- dema or stone block pulling, from construction works:
- idi probak with couples of oxen.
- asto probak with donkeys.
- zaldi probak with horses.
- gizon probak with couples of sportsmen.
- txinga erute: carrying of weights, one in each hand, representing milk canisters.
- ram fights.
- zipota, a French Basque martial art, similar to savate.
- barrenador competitions: drilling stone blocks with a metal bar, only in the former mining areas of West Biscay.
- shepherd dog competitions.
The world-famous encierro (run of the bulls) in Pamplona's fiestas Sanfermines started as a transport of bulls to the ring. These encierros, as well as other bull and bullock related activities are not exclussive of Pamplona but they are actually traditional in many towns and villages of the Basque Country.
[edit] Non-Basque minorities in the Basque Country
[edit] Historical minorities
As in the rest of Spain, the roads of the Basque Country were travelled by nomadic Gitanos (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). Basque Roma used to have their own dialectal forms of Basque.
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 have 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 but were eventually asimilated. 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.
[edit] Recent immigrants
José Aranda Aznar writes<ref name="Aranda">"La mezcla del pueblo vasco", Empiria: Revista de metodología de ciencias sociales, ISSN 1139-5737, Nº 1, 1998, pags. 121-180.</ref> that 30% of the population of the Western Basque Country were born in other regions of Spain and that a 40% of the people living in that territory had not a single Basque parent.
Most of these peoples of Castilian and Galician stock (and also Aragonese in Navarre) arrived to the Basque Country in the late 19th century and along the 20th century, as the country became more and more industialized and prosperous. Second generation Spanish immigrants are for the most part well integrated.
Aditionaly, since the 1980s, the Basque Country has received an increasing number of overseas immigrants, specially from North Africa, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and China.
[edit] Political conflicts
[edit] Language
Both Spanish and French governments have, at times, tried to suppress Basque linguistic and cultural identity. 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 even 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 in the opposite side of the Spanish Civil War: cultural activity in Basque was limited to folkloric issues and the Roman Catholic Church.
Today, the Basque Country within Spain enjoys an extensive cultural and political autonomy. The majority of schools under the jurisdiction of the Basque education system use Basque as the primary medium of teaching. According to the BBC "over 90% of Basque children are now enrolled in Basque-language schools". However, in Navarre, Basque has been declared an endangered language, since the conservative government of Unión del Pueblo Navarro opposes Basque nationalism and symbols of Basqueness, highlighting Navarre's own autonomy.<ref>Resolution of the General Assembly of the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages, 13 September 2003 (Helsinki), on the situation of the Basque language in the Autonomous Community of Navarre. Reported in MERCATOR Butlleti 55: "Speakers of a regional or minority language should have the right to use their language in private and public life. Contrary to these principles, local authorities from Iruña/Pamplona (capital city of the Autonomous Community of Navarre in Spain) have been implementing a series of reforms to the Autonomous Community legislation limiting the use of the Basque language. Basque is the only endangered language in the Autonomous Community of Navarre…"</ref>
The promotion of Basque has caused protests by those who fear that monolingual Spanish speakers could be left as second-class citizens. However, Spanish is today essential for everyday life, with few or none monolingual Basque speakers.
[edit] Political status and violence
Since the 19th century, Basque nationalism has demanded the right of self-determination and even independence. The desire for independence is particularly common among leftist Basque nationalists. The right of self-determination was asserted by the Basque Parliament in 2002 and 2006 <ref>EITB: Basque parliament adopts resolution on self-determination</ref>. Since self-determination is not recognized in the Spanish Constitution of 1978, a wide majority of Basques abstained and some even voted against it in the referendum of December 6 of that year. However, it was approved by clear majority at the Spanish level, and simple majority at Navarrese and Basque levels. The derived autonomous regimes for the (Western) Basque Country 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).
[edit] ETA
Basque nationalist activity has a violent form in Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), an armed organization that uses murder, bombs and kidnappings against what they hold as "Spanish interests". ETA is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States of America.
During the last 40 years, ETA has killed over 900 people and injured thousands. On the other side hundreds or thousands of alleged or convicted ETA militants or collaborators are imprisioned by Spain and France far away from their homes or have been forced to exile.
In the fight against ETA, the Spanish government and courts have taken controversial measures like:
- Banning of the political party Batasuna in 2002 (and successive ideologically akin list) as well as other political organisations, via the new Law of Political Parties. The special tribunal Audiencia Nacional declared Batasuna ilegal for 3 years (extended later to five), embargoing all belongings of this political party <ref>Sumario 35/02 - Operación contra Batasuna / "Caso Herriko Tabernak" (Gara)</ref>. The candidature of the new Herritarren Zerrenda (HZ) in the European Parliament election, 2004 has been banned in Spain, although it is legal in France. Despite the banning, 120,000 Basques voted for HZ with illegal ballot papers in the last EU elections (15% of Basques in Spain and 7% in France voted to HZ).
- Closure of the only newspaper fully in Basque language, Egunkaria, in 2003. Many personalities associated to this paper have reported being tortured by the Spanish authorities while under detention <ref>Sumario 44/04 - Cierre de "Egunkaria" (Gara)</ref>. Several other publications and organisations have also been banned, such as the bilingual nationalist newspaper Egin and the radio station Egin Irratia <ef>Sumario 18/98 - Cierre del diario "Egin" / "Caso Orain" (Gara). The newspapers Berria and Gara have taken their niches, not without personal and economic effort.
- Many other organizations and people have also been accused of collaboration with ETA in related procedures, many just because of "promoting civil disobedience" <ref>Macroproceso 19/98+: casos (Gara)</ref>. None of the trials has resulted in any conviction yet, though the preventive measures have caused a serious impact.
[edit] GAL
From 1983 to 1987, the Spanish State funded and controlled GAL, which was a right-wing paramilitary force that attacked and killed Basque terrorist in both the Spain and France. The GAL murdered over 23 citizens. In the 1990s several high-profile investigations were conducted in Spain, which led to the imprisonment of high-ranking police officials and a former government minister. There is evidence to suggest that control of the GAL went to the highest levels within the Spanish State Government.
In earlier times, other paramilitary groups were also active, specially: the Batallón Vasco Español (BVE) and the Guerrilleros de Cristo Rey.
[edit] Politics
While there is no independent Basque state, Spain's autonomous community of the Basque Country, made up of the provinces of Araba/Álava, Bizkaia/Vizcaya and Gipuzkoa/Guipúzcoa, is primarily Basque in character and has a great deal of automony.
Navarre has a separate autonomy based in the historical fuero (charter), that has never been submitted to referendum, as happened with the possibility (always open) of incorporating itself to the Basque Autonomous Community.
The Northern Basque Country has no autonomy whatsoever and it is just part of the French departament of Pyeneés Atlantiques, centered in Bearn. The claim of a separate Basque deparatement has been nearly unanimous among local elects of all ideologies in the last decades but ignored in Paris.