Northern Basque Country

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Northern Basque Country, French Basque Country or Continental Basque Country (French: Pays Basque, Basque: Iparralde) constitutes the Western part of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. It is delimited in the north by the department of the Landes, in the west by the Atlantic Ocean, in the south by the Spain and in the east by Béarn which is the Eastern part of the department. It is a popular tourist destination and is somewhat distinct from neighbouring parts of either France or the Spanish Basque Country and Navarre.

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Basque Portal

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It groups the three French provinces in the Northeast of the traditional Basque Country:

Basse-Navarre (Nafarroa Beherea in Basque, Lower Navarre in English)
Labourd (Lapurdi in Basque)
Soule (Zuberoa in Basque)

Its Basque name is Iparralde ("Northern part") while the part of the Basque Country located in Spain is called Hegoalde ("Southern part").

There is a political movement asking for a split of Pyrénées-Atlantiques in two French departments: Pays Basque and Béarn, gathering virtually all local politicians of the region.

The main nationalist political party in the Northern Basque Country is Abertzaleen Batasuna, some other nationalist parties (EAJ, EA, Batasuna) have presence at both sides of the border.

In the 1980s, there was an armed group called Iparretarrak (the northerners) but it is currently defunct.