Basque Country
The Basque Country, or País Vasco, comprises of three provinces in the north
eastern corner of Spain, bordering France and Navarra in the east, Cantabria and
Castilla y León in the west and La Rioja in the south. The northern coastline of
the Basque Country lies in the Bay of Biscay on the Cantabrian Sea.
The three provinces are Guipúzcoa, Alava and Vizcaya, centered around the
cities of Vitoria, Bilbao and San Sebastián. Perhaps surprisingly to some, the
capital of the community is Vitoria, although it is only just over half the size
of the somewhat better known Bilbao.
Geography of the Basque Country
The Basque country coastline has many spectacular, sheer cliffs, pretty
fishing harbours and some of the very best beaches in the whole of Spain. The
area in this Atlantic coastal region is fairly mountainous as the Pyrenees
almost reach the sea. Despite this, however, the mountains here are of generally
low altitude – the highest peak in the Basque Country being at Aizkorri at just
1544 metres.
In the south of the region is the Ebro valley, sometimes referred to as the
Rioja Alavesa as Riioja wine is produced here as well as in the region of that
name.
History of the Basque Country
Basque people, and the rest of the Spanish as well, for that matter, will
tell you that Basque people are not really Spanish; and they certainly often
appear to be very different. They tend to be much larger people, much fairer
skinned, many of them even have blue eyes and they tend to have high foreheads.
They certainly don’t look typically Mediterranean. The Basques think of
themselves as the true, original Europeans, Cro-Magnons, but we do know that
they have been occupying this particular corner of Europe since times far in
advance of the Romans.
During recorded history, the Basques have earned a reputation as fierce fighters
– even Cervantes in Don Quijote acknowledges the fact - and the armies of the
Romans, Vikings, Visigoths and Muslims never succeeded in wholly subjugating the
area.
Basque sailors earned themselves a great reputation, as they travelled vast
distances searching for whales and fish, and then formed a significant
proportion of Columbus’ crews on his travels. They have also been devotedly
Catholic, with the Jesuit order established in the sixteenth century by the
Basque, Ignatius Loyola.
During the Spanish Civil War, the Basques were some of Franco’s most
committed opponents, especially the famous Dolores Ibárruri, La Pasionaria,
famous for her inspiring communist speeches. Franco punished the region for its
opposition – notably during the war at Guernika, of course, when the town was
bombed by his German allies, but after the war as well. Euskera, the Basque
language, was abolished in public spaces, Vizcaya and Guipúzcoa were declared
‘traitor provinces’ and there was negligible economic development of the area.
During the 1950s the desire for a Basque ‘homeland’ began to grow in the wake of
the unsympathetic nature of the Madrid government, which culminated in 1961 with
the formation of the terrorist organization ETA – standing for Basque Homeland
and Freedom. Even the development of Autonomous Communities in 1978 has not
appeased all of the Nationalists – the referendum to endorse the legislation was
passed here but the abstention rate was by far the greatest in the country.
There remains a significant section of the community that remains committed to
the idea of independence from Spain.
Basque Language
It is estimated that about 30% of the Basque population speak Euskera, the
Basque language, and more than 90% of all schoolchildren are taught it in
school. Unlike Catalan, Euskera has little in common with either Spanish or
French, mainly because it is not one of the Romance languages. It predates all
of the Indo-European languages, although until relatively recently it was
predominantly a spoken language only. It is reckoned that the first Euskeran
language texts were not written until less than 500 years ago.
As you travel around the Basque country, all signs and place names will be in
both languages but the people you encounter will also speak Spanish – and many
of them English and French.
Economy of País Vasco
This is one of the wealthiest areas of Spain, managing to survive the decline
in the shipbuilding and steel industries in the 1980s. There is still
considerable engineering carried out here – in aviation, rolling stock and the
building of wind turbines. Increasingly, however, new technologies and the
financial and service sectors have come to the fore; including the BBVA bank,
now one of Spain’s largest.
Although fishing and agriculture still have their part to play, they are no
longer of the importance they formerly were.
Climate of the Basque Country
There are three distinct climatic zones in the Basque Country. The northern
stretch of land overlooking the Bay of Biscay has a distinct Oceanic climate,
resulting in moderate temperatures throughout the year and quite a lot of rain –
about 1200 mm annually. The Ebro valley, on the other hand, has a Continental
Mediterranean climate with very hot and dry summers and cold, dry winters. The
majority of the rainfall here, which can be as low as 300mm a year, falls in the
spring and autumn. The more mountainous area between two is influenced by both
sets of climatic conditions, experiencing dry, warm summers but snowy, cold
winters. |
