Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle panneau bilingue 2

The French Basque Country, or Northern Basque Country ( eu, Iparralde (), french: Pays basque, es, País Vasco francés) is a region lying on the west of the French department of the

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; eu, Pirinio Atlantiarrak or ) is a department in the southwest corner of France and of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Pyrenees mountain range and the Atlant ...

. Since 1 January 2017, it constitutes the

Basque Municipal Community Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

( eu, Euskal Hirigune Elkargoa, links=no; french: Communauté d'Agglomeration du Pays Basque, links=no) presided over by . It includes three former historic

French province The Kingdom of France was organised into provinces until the National Constituent Assembly adopted a more uniform division into departments (''départements'') and districts in late 1789. The provinces continued to exist administratively until 21 ...

s in the north-east of the traditional

Basque Country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...

totalling : Lower Navarre (french: Basse-Navarre, links=no; eu, Nafarroa Beherea, links=no), until 1789 nominally

Kingdom of Navarre The Kingdom of Navarre (; , , , ), originally the Kingdom of Pamplona (), was a Basque kingdom that occupied lands on both sides of the western Pyrenees, alongside the Atlantic Ocean between present-day Spain and France. The medieval state took ...

, with ;

Labourd Labourd ( eu, Lapurdi; la, Lapurdum; Gascon: ''Labord'') is a former French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées Atlantiques ''département''. It is one of the traditional Basque provinces, and identified as one of the territorial c ...

(), with ; Soule (), with . The population included in the Basque Municipal Community amounts to 309,723 inhabitants distributed in 158 municipalities. It is delimited in the north by the department of Landes, in the west by the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

, in the south by the

Southern Basque Country The Southern Basque Country ( eu, Hegoalde, Hego Euskal Herria; es, Hegoalde, País Vasco y Navarra, País Vasco peninsular) is a term used to refer to the Basque territories within Spain as a unified whole. Name In Basque language, natives ha ...

and in the east by

Béarn The Béarn (; ; oc, Bearn or ''Biarn''; eu, Bearno or ''Biarno''; or ''Bearnia'') is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three B ...

(although in the Béarnese village of Esquiule, Basque is spoken), which is the eastern part of the department.

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine ...

and

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Sp ...

(BAB) are its chief towns, included in the Basque Eurocity Bayonne-San Sebastián

Euroregion In European politics, the term Euroregion usually refers to a transnational co-operation structure between two (or more) contiguous territories located in different European countries. Euroregions represent a specific type of cross-border regi ...

. It is a popular tourist destination and is somewhat distinct from neighbouring parts of the southern Basque Country, since it was not industrialized as

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. ...

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French de ...

and remained agricultural and a beach destination.

Territory

The department of the

is divided into three

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

or ''arrondissements'': The Arrondissement of Bayonne, the Arrondissement of Oloron-Sainte-Marie, and the Arrondissement of Pau. French Basque Country includes all of Bayonne and Canton of Montagne Basque in Oloron-Sainte-Marie. Additionally, it includes the following territories in

: Esquiule, Aramits, Géronce, and Arette (in the Canton of Oloron-Sainte-Marie-1). The French Basque Country included three pre-existing historic territories before the departmental division of France in 1789, with a few modifications: *

(french: Labourd, links=no, eu, Lapurdi, links=no and in Gascon: ).

is conventionally considered part of Labourd, but it stopped belonging to it in the 13th century. A few municipalities are considered a part of Lapurdi and are a part of the “Council of the Elected” and the “Council of the Development of the French Basque Country” but did not belong the historic region of Lapurdi. Among them are Boucau, which belonged to the department of Landes until 1857, Bardos, Guiche, and Urt (which was united administratively to Lapurdi in 1763 but seceded judicially from the Seneschal of Came ( Bidache). Lapurdi is located within the Arrondissement of Bayonne. * Lower Navarre (french: Basse-Navarre, links=no, eu, Behe Nafarroa, links=no, Gascon: ). Arancou, Came, and Sames belong to Lower Navarre and are a part of the Council of Elects and the Council of the Development of the French Basque Country. They were dependent on the Seneschal of Dax during the

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

, not dependent on Navarre. Bidache, a territory that was a sovereign principality during the Ancien Régime, did not belong to Navarre although it is also a part of the Council of Elects and the Council of the Development of the French Basque Country. On the other hand, Escos (a town in the Salies-de-Béarn canton) has usually not been considered a part of Lower Navarre, even though it belonged to Navarre during the Ancien Régime. Additionally, it has not entered the Councils of the French Basque Country. Lower Navarre is located within the Arrondissement of Bayonne. * Soule (french: Soule, links=no, eu, Zuberoa, links=no, and in Gascon: ). Esquiule (a Béarnese community during the Ancien Régime) is usually included on the list of Souletin populations, since its population is historically Basque-speaking. However, it became part of Béarn and has not requested admission into the Councils of the French Basque Country. Soule is divided between the districts of Bayonne and Oloron-Sainte-Marie, where the majority of its communes are located. These 35 Souletin communes of the Arondissement of Oloron-Sainte-Marie are a part of a Municipal Commonwealth, the (in

Souletin Souletin or Zuberoan ( eu, Zuberera) is the Basque dialect spoken in Soule, France. Souletin is marked by influences from Occitan (in particular the Béarnese dialect), especially in the lexicon. Another distinct characteristic is the use of ...

: ).

Cities

The most important city in the territory is

(french: Bayonne, links=no, in Gascon and eu, Baiona, links=no). The ancient Roman , from which the toponyms and originate, is a part of the Biarritz-Anglet-Bayonne agglomeration community (BAB) alongside

and

Anglet Anglet (; , eu, Angelu )ANGELU
Saint-Jean-de-Luz Saint-Jean-de-Luz (; eu, Donibane Lohitzune,Donibane Lohitzune

Hendaye Hendaye ( Basque: ''Hendaia'')HENDAIA
Sainte-Jean-Pied-de-Port (), the capital of Lower Navarre, and Mauleón (), the capital of Soule.

Proposed institutional reforms

A slow but continuous French institutional evolution has been produced as a response to the historical claims of the French Basque Country. By an order from 29 January 1997 from the prefect of the

, a “Basque Country” was recognized as a , according to the French administrative category, in accordance with the laws called: the Pasqua Law (LOADT) from 4 February 1995, and the Voynet Law (LOADDT) from 25 June 1999. These are based on the notion of a country in the traditional sense, as a society belonging to a place, culture, etc., promoting the organization and development of the territory in a global manner. The creation of an institution of greater substance than what was represented by the geographical organization of and more specifically of a Basque department, has been a constant element during that last decades in elected posts for the main political parties, with representation from the

French Socialist Party The Socialist Party (french: Parti socialiste , PS) is a French centre-left and social-democratic political party. It holds pro-European views. The PS was for decades the largest party of the " French Left" and used to be one of the two major ...

, The Republicans, and nationalist parties. 64% of Basque-French mayors support such a creation. The is an association that groups political posts such as regional councilors, general councilors and mayors of the French Basque Country, from both political spectrums, whose goal is to achieve the division of the

department into Basque and Béarnese departments respectively (24 of the existing mainland departments have smaller populations than the French Basque Country). The Council of the Development of the French Basque Country was created in 1994, and in 1995 the Council of the Elected of the French Basque Country () was created. On 15 January 2005, the (Chamber of Agriculture for the Basque Country), was created as a house for the representation and promotion of the interests of livestock farmers and agriculturists of the French Basque Country, promoted by the agrarian union, . Initially, this institution wasn't recognised, and its function was illegal. Now, its function is regulated and receives subventions from the Regional Council of

Aquitaine Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 Januar ...

. In 2012, the French government proposed the creation of a single commonwealth for all of the towns in French Basque Country, under two conditions: being approved by at least half of the 158 communes in the historic territory, and that at least half of the nearly 300,000 residents be represented within this historic territory. After a process of municipal meetings, on May 2, 2016, both conditions were met. On 1 January 2017, the Agglomerate Community of Basque Country, was created: an intercommunal cooperation movement (EPCI), which promotes a greater level of autonomy, with the French administrative categorization as an official territorial administrative structure with greater abilities than a , but fewer than a French department, and that is made up of a union of ten commonwealths and 157 of the 159 Basque communes, plus one Béarnese community.

History

Prehistoric era

The oldest human remains that are known of in the territory of the current French Basque Country are approximately 150,000 years old. Some houses have been found on the terraces of the river Adour, in Ilbarritz ( Bidart), Sainte-Pierre-d’Irube, and Mouguerre. In the

Middle Paleolithic The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleo ...

era (700,000-100,000 years ago),

neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While ...

s inhabited this area. At the beginning they lived in the open air and later in caves, like the one in Isturits.

Cro-magnon Early European modern humans (EEMH), or Cro-Magnons, were the first early modern humans (''Homo sapiens'') to settle in Europe, migrating from Western Asia, continuously occupying the continent possibly from as early as 56,800 years ago. They i ...

people appeared during the

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coi ...

(9000-50,000 years ago). Many artistic objects from the

Magdalenian era The Magdalenian cultures (also Madelenian; French: ''Magdalénien'') are later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic in western Europe. They date from around 17,000 to 12,000 years ago. It is named after the type site of La Madel ...

(9000-14,000 years ago) have been found in Isturits. The most well-known object found is a bird bone with three holes in it in the shape of a . Moving into the

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymo ...

era, humans began to live outside of caves, despite the fact that these were still used until a much later date. Also, during this era, the artefacts of

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain, ...

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

, and raising livestock were discovered. During the

Neolithic era The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

(4000-3000 B.C.E.), new techniques for the use of metals and agriculture arrived.

Antiquity

The present-day territory was inhabited by the Tarbelli and the Sibulates, tribal divisions of the Aquitani. When

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

conquered

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only durin ...

, he found all the region south and west of the Garonne inhabited by a people known as the Aquitani, who were not Celtic and are nowadays assumed to have been early Basques (see Aquitanian language). In early Roman times, the region was initially known as Aquitania, but by the end of the 3rd century, when use of the name Aquitania was extended to cover the region up to the river

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhôn ...

, as Novempopulania (). Its name in Latin means the ''nine peoples'', as a reference to the nine tribes that inhabited it: * The Tarbelli lived along the coast of

and Chalosse, near ( Dax) * The Ausci in the

Gers Gers (; oc, Gers or , ) is a department in the region of Occitania, Southwestern France. Named after the Gers River, its inhabitants are called the ''Gersois'' and ''Gersoises'' in French. In 2019, it had a population of 191,377.

and the city of ( Auch) * The Bigerriones from

Bigorre Bigorre ({{IPA-fr, biɡɔʁ; Gascon: ''Bigòrra'') is a region in southwest France, historically an independent county and later a French province, located in the upper watershed of the Adour, on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees, part of th ...

in (

Tarbes Tarbes (; Gascon: ''Tarba'') is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. It is the capital of Bigorre and of the Hautes-Pyrénées. It has been a commune since 1790. It was known as ''Turb ...

) * The Convenae in the

Comminges The Comminges (; Occitan/ Gascon: ''Comenge'') is an ancient region of southern France in the foothills of the Pyrenees, corresponding closely to the arrondissement of Saint-Gaudens in the department of Haute-Garonne. This natural region is norm ...

, ( Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges) * The Consorani, who occupied Couserans ( Saint-Lizier) * The Lactorates in Lomagne, ( Lectoure) * The Elusates, in lower Armagnac with the city of ( Eauze) * The Vocates (Vassei or Vocates) in the southeast of

Gironde Gironde ( US usually, , ; oc, Gironda, ) is the largest department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1, ...

or Bazadais, with its capital in ( Bazas) * The Boii in Pays de Buch, lived in the city of ( Le Teich) The region reached a high level of

Romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, an ...

, as many of the toponyms with Latin or Celtic suffixes, such as or , demonstrate. In the north of what is now French Basque Country, these (toponyms) become more frequent: e.g., Loupiac and Gaillan. However, in the southeast of the territory, the less Romanized area, toponyms with Basque suffixes are abundant: , , and , such as Biscarrosse and Almandoz, for example; some inscriptions have words similar to those in Basque on them.

Middle Ages

After the Germanic invasions that caused the fall of the Roman Empire, the ancient province began to be referred to as according to texts by Frankish chroniclers, mainly

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florent ...

and the

Chronicle of Fredegar The ''Chronicle of Fredegar'' is the conventional title used for a 7th-century Frankish chronicle that was probably written in Burgundy. The author is unknown and the attribution to Fredegar dates only from the 16th century. The chronicle begin ...

from the 6th century, and was differentiated from the trans-Pyrenean territories that later chroniclers in the ''Ravena Cosmograph'' called . In the year 418, the

Visigoths The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...

moved to the region in accordance with a federation pact or made with Rome, but they were forced to leave in 507 as a consequence of their defeat against the Merovingians led by King Clovis I at the battle of Vouillé. After Clovis I's death in 511, the heirs to his throne consolidated their northern possessions centered on

Neustria Neustria was the western part of the Kingdom of the Franks. Neustria included the land between the Loire and the Silva Carbonaria, approximately the north of present-day France, with Paris, Orléans, Tours, Soissons as its main cities. It la ...

and

Austrasia Austrasia was a territory which formed the north-eastern section of the Merovingian Kingdom of the Franks during the 6th to 8th centuries. It was centred on the Meuse, Middle Rhine and the Moselle rivers, and was the original territory of th ...

, placing them under the direct control of the sovereign, while the rest of their territories were organized into autonomous entities led by powerful officials of the kingdom: counts, dukes, patricians, and vice chancellors, in accordance with the Merovingian tradition of decentralizing power. In and the Pyrenean periphery in , armed incursions and confrontations with Merovingian potentates were frequent during the last third of the 6th century.

Venantius Fortunatus Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus ( 530 600/609 AD; french: Venance Fortunat), known as Saint Venantius Fortunatus (, ), was a Latin poet and hymnographer in the Merovingian Court, and a bishop of the Early Church who has been venerated ...

' chronicles cite the clashes with the Frankish king Chilperic I and the ''

comes ''Comes'' ( ), plural ''comites'' ( ), was a Roman title or office, and the origin Latin form of the medieval and modern title "count". Before becoming a word for various types of title or office, the word originally meant "companion", either i ...

'' from

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...

, Galactorio, up until 580, while Gregory of Tours wrote about the incursions Duke Austrobald faced in 587 after the defeat of Duke Bladastes in 574 at Soule. After the Basque rebellions against Roman

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structu ...

in the late 4th and 5th centuries, the area was eventually incorporated as part of the independent Duchy of Vasconia in 602, a mixed ethnic polity stretching south of the river

Garonne The Garonne (, also , ; Occitan, Catalan, Basque, and es, Garona, ; la, Garumna or ) is a river of southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux – a ...

that broke up during the 8th to 9th centuries, following the Carolingian expansion, the pressure of Norman raids, and introduction of feudalism. At this time, the

County of Vasconia The County of Vasconia Citerior (literally, the "nearer Vasconia") was a medieval domain attested as of 824. It may have comprised the lands between the western Pyrenees and the river Adour. After Pepin the Short's war on Aquitaine, Charlemagne st ...

was created, extending around the river Adour. According to Iñaki Bazán,(Bazán 2006:246) after the Duchy was created, the Frankish kings Theuderic II and Theudebert II exercised better military control over the area, including better tax collection and judicial administration, placing Duke Genial at the forefront. Later, between 635-638, King

Dagobert I Dagobert I ( la, Dagobertus; 605/603 – 19 January 639 AD) was the king of Austrasia (623–634), king of all the Franks (629–634), and king of Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the Merovingian dy ...

set out on a campaign to repress the Vascon inhabitants that eventually led to their submission.(Bazán 2006:246) In the 8th century a second autonomous Duchy of Gascony was created, and by the end of the 9th century Guillermo Sanchez was named the duke of all Vascons. Some years later, Guy Geoffroy, united the duchies of Vasconia and Aquitania (with the Poitiers county). During this period, northern Basques very likely participated in the successive battles of Roncevaux against the Franks, in 778, 812 and 824. Count Sans Sancion detached from the Franks and became the independent commander of Vasconia, but got involved in the Carolingian dynastic wars over succession after taking over Bordeaux (844), supporting the young Pepin II to the throne of Aquitaine. He became Duke of Vasconia after submitting to Charles the Bald (851). At this point, the Basque language was losing ground to

Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve into numerous Romance languages. Its literary counterpa ...

and written Latin and was increasingly confined to the lands around the Pyrénées. Since 963, the town

Saint-Sever Saint-Sever (, Gascon ''Sent Sever'' ) is a commune in the Landes department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. History and geography Saint-Sever stands on an eminence. It is south of Mont-de-Marsan, on the left bank of the ...

has been referred to as , interpreted as meaning "the limit of Vasconia" or "prominence of Vasconia" (on account of its location on a hill overlooking the plains of Vasconia). The evangelization of the territory that today comprises French Basque Country was slow and precarious. Beginning in the 9th century, and in part due to the peregrination to

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of S ...

, a stable and long-lasting ecclesiastic organization was established in the region. The most important trails leading to Santiago pass through the region, and this greatly influenced the development of the trails and the villas in the territory up to the present day.

Politics and institutions

The lands to the south of the Adour became Labourd, encompassing initially a bigger region than the later territory around the Nive (Errobi) and the coast. In 1020 Gascony ceded its jurisdiction over

, then also including Lower Navarre, to Sancho ''the Great'' of Pamplona. This monarch made it a Viscounty in 1023 with its capital in Bayonne, which gave vassals to the King and Queen of Navarre until 1193. The area became disputed by the Angevin Dukes of Aquitaine until 1191 when Sancho ''the Wise'' and Richard ''Lionheart'' agreed to divide the country, Labourd remaining under Angevin sovereignty and Lower Navarre under Navarrese control. All vacant land, forests, and waters under this Viscounty belonged to the King and everyone had the right to use them, whether they were nobles or not. Nobles did not have any feudal rights and justice rested solely in the hands of the King. The Biltzar, the only existing assembly, was in charge of distributing taxes and charges, and its delegates were chosen by the of the parishes. Furthermore,

parish assemblies ''Freguesia'' (), usually translated as "Parish (administrative division), parish" or "civil parish", is the third-level Administrative divisions of Portugal, administrative subdivision of Portugal, as defined by the Constitution of Portugal, 19 ...

that administrated the collective goods of each parish existed. In 1215, Bayonne separated from Labourd, ruling from that moment on through its council. From the end of the 12th century until the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

, Ustaritz was the capital of Labourd. Bayonne continued to be the economic hub of the area until the 19th century. However, above all, it was the port of Navarre that connected it to the North of Europe. Meanwhile, Soule () was constituted as an independent viscounty, generally supported by

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

against the pretensions of the Counts of

, though at times also it admitted a certain Angevin overlordship. With the end of the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of England and France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French throne between the English House of Plantag ...

, Labourd and Soule passed to the Crown of France as autonomous

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

s (). After the conquest of Upper Navarre by Castile in 1512–21, the still independent north Pyrenean part of Navarre took the lead of the

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...

party in the

French Wars of Religion The French Wars of Religion is the term which is used in reference to a period of civil war between French Catholics and Protestants, commonly called Huguenots, which lasted from 1562 to 1598. According to estimates, between two and four mil ...

. In this time, the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts o ...

was first translated into the Basque language. Eventually

Henry III of Navarre Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch ...

became King of France but kept Navarre as a formally independent state until 1620–24, when this separation was suppressed. In 1634, Axular, in his literary work , gives a rough description of the extent of Basque at the time: The language comprised all the provinces now known as Basque Country "and nso many other places". After Axular's accomplished book, other Basque writing authors followed suit, especially in

, a district thriving on whale hunting. In 1579, an important handbook for navigation was published by

Martin Oihartzabal Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

, the '' Navigational Pilot'', offering guidance and useful landmarks found in Newfoundland and other Basque traditional fisheries. In 1677 it was translated to Basque by Pierre Etxeberri. However, during the 17 and 18th century, that activity saw a gradual decline as the English took over from the Basques.

The Renaissance and witch trials

The 16th century was probably the most tragic for the inhabitants of the French Basque Country in its history. The recurring French-Spanish conflict between 1512 and 1659 and the

that lasted 30 years sowed terror and misery. On the other hand, the accusations made in the Parliament of

motivated Labourd in sending the councilor Pierre de Lancre. He burned around 200 women, children and priests by forcing them to confess through torture. Pierre de Lancre was responsible for the witch hunt in Labourd. He believed women had a sinful nature, and that they were so dangerous that one judge alone could not judge a woman because men are weak. He said that a tribunal made up of several men was necessary to do so. However, after overcoming the disasters suffered, a sort of renaissance was lived during the 17th century. Among other things, Rabelais published his ''

Gargantua and Pantagruel ''The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel'' (french: La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel) is a pentalogy of novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais, telling the adventures of two giants, Gargantua ( , ) and his son Pantagru ...

'', and Etxepare wrote the first printed text in Basque.

Territories of the French Basque Country and the French monarchy

With the conquest of the castles of Mauléon and Bayonne in 1449 and 1451 respectively, Labourd and Soule were under the domain of the French crown. When Henry III of Navarre took the French throne at the end of the 16th century (as Henry IV), Lower Navarre was incorporated into the French Royal patrimony (becoming the King of France and Navarre).

Modern period

The three Basque provinces still enjoyed considerable autonomy until the

suppressed it radically, as it did elsewhere in France, eventually creating the department of Basses-Pyrénées, half-Basque and half-Gascon (

, a former sovereign territory).

Louis XVI of France Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was e ...

summoned the Estates General to discuss problems of state. This assembly united the three estates: nobles, clerics, and the common people (the third estate). Third estate representatives of the Basque provinces attending the

Estates-General of 1789 The Estates General of 1789 was a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), and the commoners (Third Estate). It was the last of the Estates General of the Kingdom o ...

and the following national assemblies in Paris rejected the imposition of an alien political-administrative design, regarding the events with a blend of disbelief and indignation. The brothers Garat, representatives of Labourd, defended against a hostile audience the specificity of their province and that of the Basques, putting forward instead the establishment of a Basque department. However, eventually the brothers Garat from Labourd voted for the new design out of hopes to get a say in future political decisions. In 1790 the Lower Pyrenees department project arrived, uniting the ancient Basque countries with

. The reorganization favored the

bishopric that included the entire department (up to the Lescar and Oloron coasts that disappeared, and part of the Dax). The three Basque provinces were then shaken by traumatic events after the intervention of the French Convention army during the

War of the Pyrenees The War of the Pyrenees, also known as War of Roussillon or War of the Convention, was the Pyrenean front of the First Coalition's war against the First French Republic. It pitted Revolutionary France against the kingdoms of Spain and Portug ...

(1793–95). Besides prohibiting the native Basque language for public use, with Bertrand Barère even declaring that "fanaticism speaks Basque", an indiscriminate mass-deportation of civilians followed resulting in the expulsion from their homes of thousands and a death toll of approx. 1,600 in

. The Basques started to be forcibly recruited for the French army, with large numbers of youths in turn deciding to run away or defect among allegations of mistreatment, so starting a trend of exile and emigration to the Americas that was to last for more than a century. The mutual hostility and lack of trust between the new regime and the European monarchies led to the creation of the First Coalition against revolutionary France. At first, French Basque Country stayed at the margins of the conflict, since Spain stayed neutral, but in 1793, France declared war on Spain. The political situation after the mass-deportation of civilians improved when General Moncey led the French to a counterattack in June 1794, expelling the Spanish, and even entering

. Jacques Pinet and

Jean-Baptiste Cavaignac Jean-Baptiste Cavaignac (10 January 1763 – 24 March 1829) was a French politician and statesman. Biography Born at Gourdon (Lot ''département''), he was, after the outbreak of the French Revolution, a member of the ''départements director ...

went to Spain to manage conquered territory, courting the possibility of annexing it to France. After the fall of Robespierre, General Moncey forced the removal of Pinet and Cavaignac, who had managed to have a falling out with the Gipuzkoans. Due to this, they threw themselves into a desperate guerilla war, an antecedent to that of 1808. On July 22, the Treaty of Basel was signed and the conflict ended, giving rise to a period of relative peace and prosperity. It became a matter of concern discussed by

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

and

Dominique Garat Dominique Joseph Garat (8 September 17499 December 1833) was a French Basque writer, lawyer, journalist, philosopher and politician. Biography Garat was born at Bayonne, in the French Basque Country. After a good education under the directio ...

. As of 1814, traditional cross-Pyrenean trade fell conspicuously, starting a period of economic stagnation. Eventually, trade across the Pyrénées border was cut off after the

First Carlist War The First Carlist War was a civil war in Spain from 1833 to 1840, the first of three Carlist Wars. It was fought between two factions over the succession to the throne and the nature of the Spanish monarchy: the conservative and devolutionist su ...

, with large numbers further departing to the Americas in search for a better life. In Soule, the emigration trend was mitigated by the establishment circa 1864 of a flourishing espadrille industry in Mauleon that attracted workers from Roncal and

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to so ...

too. Others took to smuggling, a rising source of revenue.

The 19th century to the present

The mid-1800s were years of decay and yearning for the time before the

. The Basques were divided into Republicans, laicist Jacobins (but for a nuanced position held by Xaho), and Royalists (traditional Catholics), with the latter eventually prevailing in the area. Shepherding and small-scale mining and agriculture were the main economic activities, and were accompanied by the increased presence of customs officials, both locals and non-Basques. The railway arrived at

Hendaye Hendaye ( Basque: ''Hendaia'')HENDAIA
Kanbo Cambo-les-Bains (; eu, Kanbo) is a town in the traditional Basque province of Labourd, now in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. It lies on the south-western bank of the river Nive. Cambo-les-Bains station has rail c ...

Saint-Jean-de-Luz Saint-Jean-de-Luz (; eu, Donibane Lohitzune,Donibane Lohitzune

, Hendaye, etc.), as the high nobility (e.g.,

Eugénie de Montijo '' Doña'' María Eugenia Ignacia Agustina de Palafox y Kirkpatrick, 19th Countess of Teba, 16th Marchioness of Ardales (5 May 1826 – 11 July 1920), known as Eugénie de Montijo (), was Empress of the French from her marriage to Emperor Napo ...

) chose to take healing baths at spa resorts and sought to be closer to nature. In 1851, the first took place in

Urruña Urrugne (; eu, Urruña)URRUÑA

floral games tradition) organized by a scholar of Basque-Irish origin, Antoine d'Abbadie (Anton Abbadia), followed by several more editions up to 1897. Other political and cultural events in fellow Basque districts to the south of the Pyrenees had an impact in the French Basque Country, especially in church-related circles (periodicals like , 1887), the only institution that still spoke to the people in their language. This could not prevent the Basque language from further receding, it becoming confined to local and domestic circles. In 1914, Basque ceased to be the trading language used by the local middle- and higher-class customers at the Mauleon marketplace (Soule). Basque young men could not avoid becoming entangled in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

when they were drafted to the front. While across the border

and

thrived on their shipbuilding and steel processing industry supplying the European war effort, continental Basques under the age of 49 were required to travel to the front in north-east France. From the beginning and as the slaughter of the trenches wore on, thousands of Basques objected to military service, defected and fled to the south or the Americas. However, war took a heavy toll; 6,000 died at the front, equivalent to 3% of the French Basque population. It also produced strengthened the notion in the Basque psyche that it is an integral part of the French nation, fostered by the above weekly ''Eskualduna'' on the grounds that "God champions France." During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the French Basque Country was part of

Occupied France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

and the coast was fortified as part of the

Atlantic Wall The Atlantic Wall (german: link=no, Atlantikwall) was an extensive system of coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defence against an anticip ...

. Over the last 200 years, the territory has shown a slow demographic rise: 126,493 (in 1801); 162,365 (1851); 226,749 (1979) (79% in Labourd, 13% in Lower Navarre, 8% in Soule); 259,850 (1990) (81%; 13%; 6% respectively); 262,000 (1999 census). On January 29, 1997, the area was made an official ''pays'' of France named , i.e., a representative body promoting several activities, but without its own budget.

Culture

Languages

Neither Basque nor any of the other regional languages in France, such as Catalan, Breton or Occitan, have official recognition in France. According to the second article of the French Constitution, "the language of the Republic is French", and, despite several attempts to add "with respect to the regional languages that are part of our heritage" by 44 deputies in 2006, the proposal was rejected by 57 votes against and 44 in favor. Basques continue to practice many Basque cultural traditions. The town of Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle is well known for its celebration. According to a 2006 survey, 22.5% were

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Eu ...

s (French-Basque), 8.6% were French speakers who understand Basque, and 68.9% were not Basque speakers. But the results were very different in the three zones. In the inner land (Lower Navarre and Soule), 66.2% speak or understand Basque. In the coast (Labourd), the figure stands at 36.9%. And in the B.A.B. urban zone (Bayonne- Anglet-Biarritz), only 14.2% speak or understand Basque (20% of B.A.B. can speak or understand Gascon). The proportion of French-Basque bilinguals fell from 26.4% in 1996 to 22.5% in 2006. On the coast, where the largest cities are located, the predominant language is French, for example, in the Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz agglomeration, Basque is spoken by 10% of the population. However, in the rural interior of the Northern Basque Country, Basque is the predominant language, spoken by the majority of the population.

Basque

Basque, a continuum of Aquitanian (or Proto-Basque) spoken in this region since before the Roman era, does not have official status but it does have some acknowledgement, so that it can be studied in school and be used as a secondary language by the institutions in the area. According to the current division created by

Koldo Zuazo Koldo Zuazo (Eibar, Gipuzkoa, 1956) is a Basque linguist, professor at the University of the Basque Country and specialist in Basque language dialectology and sociolinguistics. The dialects of the Basque language Since 1998, Zuazo's work on ...

, there are two dialects spoken in the French Basque Country:

() and the Navarro-Lapurdian dialect (), whose delimitations don't correspond to the three Basque provinces. The spoken languages of Labourd and Lower Navarre are part of a linguistic continuum without established borders. It ends in the Amikuze or Mixe Country region and the Soule province, where a dialect with great cohesion and defined traits can be found: Souletin. In Zuazo's opinion, this may be due to the fact that this territory has been separated administratively from the other two, and that the differences in speech have been intensified by the lack of interaction. The literary tradition in the French Basque Country, especially in Labourd, has had great importance in the history of the Basque language. The first Basque writers on that side of the Pyrenees took the language from the Labourd coast as their base language for literature, more specifically the triangle formed by

Ciboure Ciboure (; ,ZIBURU

, Sare, and Sainte-Jean-de-Luz. The language has evolved in the literary plane from classical Labourd dialect used by writers in the Sare School, to the literary Navarro-Lapurdian dialect, a sort of Basque unified in the French Basque Country made concrete by a grammar book by Pierres Lafitte Ithurralde in the 1940s. In many ways, it is considered one of the predecessors of Standard Basque, and it currently survives as an unrecognized version of unified Basque. In other words, it is a unified Basque with lexical and morphological elements unique to the region. The Navarro-Lapurdian dialect and Souletin have common characteristics that distinguish them from other Basque dialects, such as the pronunciation of (according to Koldo Mitxelena, it was lost around the 13th century in the Pyrenees territories due to Aragonese influence and became extinct on the Labourd coast around the 19th century, according to

Louis Lucien Bonaparte Louis Lucien Bonaparte (4 January 1813 – 3 November 1891) was a French philologist. The third son of Napoleon's second surviving brother, Lucien Bonaparte, he spent much of his life outside France for political reasons. After a brief political ...

), the differences in speech in the grammatical cases of ( absolutive) and ( ergative), and the use of the root * in front of * used in speech on the other side of the Bidasoa ( vs. ). The Royal Academy of the Basque Language took into account the four centuries of literary tradition of this region when it began the unification project. According to the theory of waves or gradients, the

and Biscayan dialects are the dialects that have conserved the largest number of archaisms due to their geographical location, but at the same time, they had the greatest influence from other languages (Mitxelena). This is why Souletin is considered innovative with regards to its phonology (influenced mainly by Gascon), but conservative in its lexicon and morphology. Souletin relies on a written literary tradition of great importance, but something worth noting is the oral tradition, since ancient ballads and songs have been passed on from generation to generation up until current times, being rescued by musicians and singer-songwriters in the second half of the 20th century. The Soule people have a firm popular theatre tradition, and pastorals and

masque The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A mas ...

s reflect this. The plays are performed by entire towns, who turn into an instrument for the reaffirmation of Souletin identity, which has suffered a worrying demographic decline.

Recognition of the Basque and Occitan languages

Neither Basque nor any of the other

regional languages of France Of the languages of France, French is the sole official language according to the second article of the French Constitution. French, a Gallo-Romance language, is spoken by nearly the entire population of France. In addition to French, several ...

(like Alsatian, Breton, or Occitan) have official recognition in France. According to the second article of the French Constitution, “the language of the Republic is French” and, despite many attempts to add “with respect to regional languages that are a part of our patrimony” to the text by 44 deputies in 2006, the proposal was denied by 57 votes against the 44 votes in favor. Despite this,

bilingual signage A bilingual sign (or, by extension, a multilingual sign) is the representation on a panel (sign, usually a traffic sign, a safety sign, an informational sign) of texts in more than one language. The use of bilingual signs is usually reserved for ...

exists at the municipal level for traffic (trilingual in places like Bayonne). Below is an extract from the report of the Observatory of Linguistic Rights of Euskal Herria::Since 1994, the ikastolas (Basque-medium schools) are recognized as educational establishments, with an association model, although they don't receive any state aid. Professors in the ikastolas are under the responsibility of the French Education Ministry. In 2000, the Basque-French federation of ikastolas, Seaska, decided to end negotiations with the French educational administration to integrate ikastolas into the public education system of France, since the conditions it set did not guarantee their education model. Currently, the ikastolas are financed largely by the parents in a cooperative system and by various activities organized in favor of Basque, such as (Popular Step), which Basque speakers in Spain and France attend to do a walk for solidarity. Thanks to the participation of individuals, companies, and communities, Herri Urrats, in collaboration with Seaska, has allowed for the opening of 20 elementary schools, three highschools and an institution for secondary education since 1984. In 2003, the Basque government and the members of the Department of Public Works of the French Basque Country signed the protocols that allowed the collaboration between the various Basque organisms and institutions to encourage a linguistic policy on both sides of the Spanish-French border; the Public Institution of Basque () was born due to this accord in French Basque Country.

Politics

There is a

Basque nationalist Basque nationalism ( eu, eusko abertzaletasuna ; es, nacionalismo vasco; french: nationalisme basque) is a form of nationalism that asserts that Basques, an ethnic group indigenous to the western Pyrenees, are a nation and promotes the polit ...

political movement going back to 1963 with the Embata movement (outlawed in 1974), followed up during the 2000s by Abertzaleen Batasuna and others. They seek a split of the

into two French departments: and ''

''. Some other nationalist parties are EAJ, and EA with a reduced, almost symbolic presence, especially when compared to the Spanish Basque Country across the border. Since 2007, they gather around the electoral platform Euskal Herria Bai, typically earning roughly 15% of the votes in the district elections. In the 1980s and 1990s, an armed group called (‘the Northerners’) used violence to seek independence. It disbanded in the 1990s.

Economy

The Northern Basque Country has 29,759 companies, 107 companies for 1,000 inhabitants and an annual growth of 4.5% (between 2004 and 2006). Invest-PaysBasque.com 66.2% of companies are in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector ( raw materials) and the secon ...

(services), 14.5% in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructio ...

(manufacturing) and 19.3% in the

primary sector The primary sector of the economy includes any industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining. The primary sector tends to make up a larger portion of the economy in ...

(mainly agriculture, agribusiness, fishing and forestry). This includes an AOC wine: Irouléguy AOC. Although the Northern Basque Country is part of the

for most administrative entities, it does have its own Chamber of Commerce (the CCI Bayonne-Pays-Basque) and a distinct economy with a pole of competences around the boardsports industry including companies such as Quiksilver and Volcom based on the Basque Coast.

Notes

References

External links

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