Lower Navarre

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Location of Lower Navarre in the Basque Country

Lower Navarre (in French Basse-Navarre , in Basque Nafarroa Beherea ) is a historic province in the French part of the Basque Country .

Lower Navarra has 31,750 inhabitants. The most important place is Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port ( Donibane Garazi in Basque ) with 1553 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2014). The population lives mainly from agriculture and tourism.

history

The area formed together with today's Comunidad Foral de Navarra (then Alta Navarra) in Spain until 1512 the Kingdom of Navarre . In 1512 Lower Navarre was conquered by Ferdinand the Catholic and annexed to the Kingdom of Castile . Due to constant unrest in the region, the invaders withdrew again over the Pyrenees in 1530. Since then, there have been two kingdoms called Navarre until the Navarre and French crowns were united in 1620.

Within the French monarchy, however, Navarre was able to maintain its independence and privileges until the French Revolution . Since the nobility in Alta Navarre did not feel obliged to the French kings and they expected more advantages from Castile, the integration of Alta Navarra into the entire Spanish monarchy went without major problems. Lower Navarra, however, became part of the Basses-Pyrénées department (now the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department ) when France was reorganized in 1789 .

language

The official language is French, but the Basque language is very common. More than 61% of the population speak Basque as their mother tongue. Occitan is also spoken in some valleys .

literature

  • Manex Goyhenetche: Histoire générale du Pays basque , Volume 2: Évolution politique et institutionalnelle du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle . Elkarlanean, Donostia and Bayonne 1999, ISBN 84-8331-505-X .
  • Michael Kasper: Basque history in general . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1997, ISBN 3-89678-039-5 .

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Les nouveaux chiffres du Pays Basque Nord , Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques , accessed on April 25, 2019.
  2. ↑ Manex Goyhenetche: Histoire générale du Pays Basque , Volume 2: Évolution politique et institution nelle du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle . Elkarlanean, Donostia and Bayonne 1999, pp. 49-52.
  3. ↑ Manex Goyhenetche: Histoire générale du Pays Basque , Volume 2: Évolution politique et institution nelle du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle . Elkarlanean, Donostia and Bayonne 1999, p. 179.