Basque Country (France)

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French part of the Basque Country (green)
Landscape in Lower Avarra

The French part of the Basque Country (fr. Pays basque français ) is the Basque- speaking area in the extreme southwest of France that has been Basque- speaking since ancient times . It includes three historical territories:

  • Labourd (Basque Lapurdi )
  • Lower Navarre (French Basse-Navarre , Basque Nafarroa Beherea , in the local dialect Benafarroa or Benabarra )
  • Soule (French also Pays de Soule , Basque Zuberoa , in the local dialect Xiberoa )

The French Basque Country is referred to in Basque as Ipar Euskal Herria ( Northern Basque Country ) or Iparralde ( Northern Area ).

geography

Physical map with Basque place names

The French Basque Country borders in the south on the Spanish Autonomous Communities of Navarre and Basque Country , in the west on the Bay of Biscay , in the north on the French department of Landes and in the east on the historic province of Béarn , with which it is now the French department Pyrénées-Atlantiques forms. This is part of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region (Basque: Pirinio Atlantikoak and Akitania ).

The westernmost part of the Pyrenees runs along the southern border and ends here in the west towards the Atlantic in lower mountain ranges. The highest point of the area is the Orhi or Ori (French Pic d'Orhy ), (2,017 m), which lies on the Spanish-French border and also marks the transition from Spanish Navarre and Zuberoa. It is also the highest mountain that lies entirely in the Basque Country, but only the fourth highest behind the border peaks (highest peak overall: the Hiru Erregeen Mahaia / Mesa de los Tres Reyes , 2424 m). The entire Basque Country lies outside the central Pyrenees with its three thousand meter peaks , which the department in southern Béarn with the Pic Palas (2974 m, highest point of Aquitaine) just touches.

To the north, the Pyrenees merge into the plains of southwestern France, where the valley level outside the mountains is only up to 100 m above sea level - in contrast to the much higher Spanish part of the Basque Country. The most important river is the Adour , which flows into the Atlantic on the border with the Landes.

The only larger urban agglomeration in the French Basque Country are the cities of Bayonne (Basque Baiona ), Biarritz (Basque Miarritze or Biarritz ) and Anglet (Basque Angelu ) in the northwest of the area at the Adour Estuary and Biscay , which together have just over 100,000 inhabitants to have. Other important places on the coast are Saint-Jean-de-Luz (Basque Donibane Lohizune ) and the border town of Hendaye (Basque Hendaia ). The interior, on the other hand, is largely rural.

history

Up until the French Revolution , the three Basque territories, like the other historical provinces of France, each had their own political institutions. In 1790 , the historic provinces were dissolved and the French Basque Country was united with neighboring Béarn to form a department that was initially called the Basses-Pyrénées department and is now called the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department . However, the names of the historical territories (Basque herrialdes ) continue to be used by the Basque side, and they are considered three of the seven territories of the Basque Country in a historical and cultural sense.

Bilingual official signposts in the French Basque Country - unthinkable 20 years ago
Basque Cross

politics

The regionalist / nationalist Basque movement in France is primarily committed to its own Basque department, even if in the cultural field, cooperation with the Béarn and the other parts of the Aquitaine and Langue d'oc regions belonging to the Occitan language area works well.

On January 29, 1997, the Prefect of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques recognized a "Pays Basque" through " arrêté préfectoral ", whose 2,967 km² territory roughly encloses the areas of the department inhabited by Basques.

A " pays " according to the 1995 law known as " loi Pasqua " is a regional development association below the departmental level and in addition to the traditional division into arrondissements and cantons .

Personalities from the French Basque Country

Web links

Commons : Basque Country  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 43 ° 19 ′ 18 ″  N , 1 ° 43 ′ 59 ″  W.