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90-457: Larrun holds an iconic place in Basque culture. It is covered in dolmens , stone circles and other neolithic monuments and was held to be a sacred place in Basque mythology . It was said to be the home of Lehensugea , the first serpent. Later, and perhaps as a consequence of the ancient sacred sites, the summit had a reputation as an akelarre or ritual meeting place for witches . Up until

180-675: A Jewish community composed mainly of Sephardi Jews fleeing from the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions . There were also important Jewish and Muslim communities in Navarre before the Castilian invasion of 1512–21. Nowadays, according to one single opinion poll, only slightly more than 50% of Basques profess some kind of belief in God , while the rest are either agnostic or atheist . The number of religious skeptics increases noticeably for

270-766: A Southwestern European ethnic group , characterised by the Basque language , a common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians . Basques are indigenous to, and primarily inhabit, an area traditionally known as the Basque Country ( Basque : Euskal Herria )—a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France . The English word Basque may be pronounced / b ɑː s k / or / b æ s k / and derives from

360-474: A sociolect of Gascon with special phonetic and lexical features, which linguistics named Judeo-Gascon . It has been superseded by a sociolect of French that retains most of the lexical features of this former variety. Béarnais , the official language when Béarn was an independent state, does not correspond to a unified language: the three forms of Gascon are spoken in Béarn (in the south, Pyrenean Gascon, in

450-506: A Christian veneer to pagan worship have remained speculative. At any rate, Mari (Andramari) is one of the oldest worshipped Christian icons in Basque territories. Mari's consort is Sugaar . This chthonic couple seems to bear the superior ethical power and the power of creation and destruction. It's said that when they gathered in the high caves of the sacred peaks, they engendered the storms. These meetings typically happened on Friday nights,

540-425: A few pottok ponies and manech sheep wander the slopes. Many inns and restaurants bear its name and its distinctive shape adorn many souvenirs and logos. Basque people The Basques ( / b ɑː s k s / BAHSKS or / b æ s k s / BASKS ; Basque : euskaldunak [eus̺kaldunak] ; Spanish : vascos [ˈbaskos] ; French : basques [bask] ) are

630-409: A few decades ago the Basque language had all but disappeared. Nowadays, the number of Basque speakers is maintaining its level or increasing slightly. Traditionally Basques have been mostly Catholics . In the 19th century and well into the 20th, Basques as a group remained notably devout and churchgoing. In recent years church attendance has fallen off, as in most of Western Europe. The region has been

720-428: A first mention of the—for the period—unusual position of women: "Women could inherit and control property as well as officiate in churches." The evidence for this assertion is rather sparse however. This preference for female dominance existed well into the 20th century: Gascon language Gascon ( English: / ˈ ɡ æ s k ə n / ; Gascon: [ɡasˈku(ŋ)] , French: [ɡaskɔ̃] )

810-483: A geographical orientation or other locally meaningful identifying features. Such surnames provide even those Basques whose families may have left the land generations ago with an important link to their rural family origins: Bengoetxea "the house of further down", Goikoetxea "the house above", Landaburu "top of the field", Errekondo "next to the stream", Elizalde "by the church", Mendizabal "wide hill", Usetxe "house of birds" Ibarretxe "house in

900-461: A goddess called Mari . A number of place-names contain her name, which would suggest these places were related to worship of her such as Anbotoko Mari who appears to have been related to the weather. According to one tradition, she travelled every seven years between a cave on Mount Anboto and one on another mountain (the stories vary); the weather would be wet when she was in Anboto, dry when she

990-651: A great many enterprising figures of Basque origin who went into the world to earn their way, from Spanish conquistadors such as Lope de Aguirre and Francisco Vásquez de Coronado , to explorers, missionaries and saints of the Catholic Church, such as Francis Xavier . A widespread belief that Basque society was originally matriarchal is at odds with the current, clearly patrilineal kinship system and inheritance structures. Some scholars and commentators have attempted to reconcile these points by assuming that patrilineal kinship represents an innovation. In any case,

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1080-417: A legendary people which explains the disappearance of a people of Stone Age culture that used to live in the high lands and with no knowledge of iron. Many legends about them tell that they were bigger and taller, with a great force, but were displaced by the ferrons , or workers of ironworks foundries, until their total fade-out. They were pagans, but one of them, Olentzero , accepted Christianity and became

1170-535: A major concentration of Basques, most notably in the San Joaquin Valley between Stockton , Fresno and Bakersfield . The city of Bakersfield has a large Basque community and the city has several Basque restaurants, including Noriega's which won the 2011 James Beard Foundation America's Classic Award. There is a history of Basque culture in Chino, California . In Chino, two annual Basque festivals celebrate

1260-567: A popular destination for tourists following Eugenie de Montijo 's holidays in Biarritz since 1864, and her outings to its summit. Larrun is now a popular site for walks and hikes and is the first peak encountered on the coast-to-coast Haute Randonnée Pyrénéenne (HRP) walking route. A rack railway , the Petit train de la Rhune , takes visitors to the top of the mountain from the French side. Cows,

1350-720: A province of France in 1620. Nevertheless, the Basques enjoyed a great deal of self-government until the French Revolution (1790) and the Carlist Wars (1839, 1876), when the Basques supported heir apparent Carlos V and his descendants. On either side of the Pyrenees, the Basques lost their native institutions and laws held during the Ancien régime . Since then, despite the current limited self-governing status of

1440-546: A separate entity, called in present-day Basque Nafarroako Foru Erkidegoa , in Spanish Comunidad Foral de Navarra (the autonomous community of Navarre). The government of this autonomous community is the Government of Navarre. In historical contexts Navarre may refer to a wider area, and that the present-day northern Basque province of Lower Navarre may also be referred to as (part of) Nafarroa , while

1530-620: A single agglomeration community was established for the Basque Country in France . The Basque region is divided into at least three administrative units, namely the Basque Autonomous Community and Navarre in Spain, and the arrondissement of Bayonne and the cantons of Mauléon-Licharre and Tardets-Sorholus in the département of Pyrénées Atlantiques , France. The autonomous community (a concept established in

1620-415: A sort of Basque Santa Claus . They gave name to several toponyms, as Jentilbaratza . Historically, Basque society can be described as being somewhat at odds with Roman and later European societal norms. Strabo 's account of the north of Spain in his Geographica (written between approximately 20 BC and 20 AD) makes a mention of "a sort of woman-rule—not at all a mark of civilization" (Hadington 1992),

1710-516: A source of missionaries like Francis Xavier and Michel Garicoïts . Ignatius Loyola , founder of the Society of Jesus , was a Basque. California Franciscan Fermín Lasuén was born in Vitoria . Lasuén was the successor to Franciscan Padre Junípero Serra and founded 9 of the 21 extant California Missions along the coast. A sprout of Protestantism in the continental Basque Country produced

1800-534: A written and printed one used in present-day forms of publication and communication, as well as a language spoken and used in a very wide range of social and cultural contexts, styles, and registers. Basques have a close attachment to their home ( etxe(a) 'house, home'), especially when this consists of the traditional self-sufficient, family-run farm or baserri (a) . Home in this context is synonymous with family roots. Some Basque surnames were adapted from old baserri or habitation names . They typically related to

1890-567: Is a Basque version of the Woodwose . There is a trickster named San Martin Txiki ("St Martin the Lesser"). It is unclear whether Neolithic stone structures called dolmens have a religious significance or were built to house animals or resting shepherds. Some of the dolmens and cromlechs are burial sites serving also as border markers. The jentilak (' Giants '), on the other hand, are

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1980-514: Is again on the rise due to favorable official language policies and popular support. Currently about 33 percent of the population in the Basque Autonomous Community speaks Basque. Navarre has a population of 601,000; its administrative capital and main city, also regarded by many nationalist Basques as the Basques' historical capital, is Pamplona ( Iruñea in modern Basque). Only Spanish is an official language of Navarre, and

2070-457: Is derived from an ancient Basque verb enautsi "to say" (compare modern Basque esan ) and the suffix -(k)ara ("way (of doing something)"). Thus, euskara would mean literally "way of saying" or "way of speaking". One item of evidence in favour of that hypothesis is found in the Spanish book Compendio Historial , written in 1571 by the Basque writer Esteban de Garibay . He records the name of

2160-625: Is no conflict, I am proud of both. ... I have friends who are involved in the political side of things but that is not for me. My only interest is the culture, the Euskera language, the people, our history and ways." As a result of state language promotion, school policies, the effects of mass media and migration, today virtually all Basques (except for some children below school age) speak the official language of their state (Spanish or French). There are extremely few Basque monolingual speakers: essentially all Basque speakers are bilingual on both sides of

2250-609: Is the change from "f" to "h". Where a word originally began with [f] in Latin, such as festa 'party/feast', this sound was weakened to aspirated [h] and then, in some areas, lost altogether; according to the substrate theory, this is due to the Basque dialects' lack of an equivalent /f/ phoneme , causing Gascon hèsta [ˈhɛsto] or [ˈɛsto] . A similar change took place in Spanish . Thus, Latin facere gives Spanish hacer ( [aˈθer] ) (or, in some parts of southwestern Andalusia , [haˈsɛɾ] ). Another phonological effect resulting from

2340-521: Is the vernacular Romance variety spoken mainly in the region of Gascony , France . It is often considered a variety of Occitan , although some authors consider it a different language. Gascon is mostly spoken in Gascony and Béarn ( Béarnese dialect ) in southwestern France (in parts of the following French départements : Pyrénées-Atlantiques , Hautes-Pyrénées , Landes , Gers , Gironde , Lot-et-Garonne , Haute-Garonne , and Ariège ) and in

2430-633: The Basque Autonomous Community and Navarre as settled by the Spanish Constitution, many Basques have attempted higher degrees of self-empowerment (see Basque nationalism ), sometimes by acts of violence. Labourd , Lower Navarre , and Soule were integrated into the French department system (starting 1790), with Basque efforts to establish a region-specific political-administrative entity failing to take off to date. However, in January 2017,

2520-587: The Ebro and Garonne rivers was known as Vasconia , a vaguely defined ethnic area and political entity struggling to fend off pressure from the Iberian Visigothic kingdom and Arab rule to the south , as well as the Frankish push from the north. By the turn of the first millennium, the territory of Vasconia had fragmented into different feudal regions, such as Soule and Labourd , while south of

2610-626: The Spanish Constitution of 1978 ) known as Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoa or EAE in Basque and as Comunidad Autónoma Vasca or CAV in Spanish (in English: Basque Autonomous Community or BAC), is made up of the three Spanish provinces of Álava , Biscay and Gipuzkoa . The corresponding Basque names of these territories are Araba , Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa , and their Spanish names are Álava , Vizcaya and Guipúzcoa . The BAC only includes three of

2700-538: The Val d'Aran of Catalonia. Aranese , a southern Gascon variety, is spoken in Catalonia alongside Catalan and Spanish . Most people in the region are trilingual in all three languages, causing some influence from Spanish and Catalan. Both these influences tend to differentiate it more and more from the dialects of Gascon spoken in France. Most linguists now consider Aranese a distinct dialect of Occitan and Gascon. Since

2790-401: The euskaldunak , singular euskaldun , formed from euskal- (i.e. "Basque (language)") and -dun (i.e. "one who has"); euskaldun literally means a Basque-speaker. Not all Basques are Basque-speakers. Therefore, the neologism euskotar , plural euskotarrak , was coined in the 19th century to mean a Basque person, whether Basque-speaking or not. Alfonso Irigoyen posits that the word euskara

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2880-505: The 11th century over the coastal fringe of Gipuzkoa extending from Hondarribia to San Sebastian , where Gascon was spoken up to the early 18th century and often used in formal documents until the 16th century, with evidence of its continued occurrence in Pasaia in the 1870s. A minor focus of influence was the Way of St James and the establishment of ethnic boroughs in several towns based on

2970-671: The 18th century, local villages paid for a monk to live as a hermit at the top of the mountain to keep witches away and ensure good winds. The mountain was used by French troops as a defensive position towards the end of the Peninsular War , but Wellington 's forces drove those of Marshal Soult off the mountain during the Battle of Nivelle on November 10, 1813, this action leaving France open for Wellington's successful march north to Paris . The ruins of military fortifications built from this era are still there today. Larrun and

3060-600: The 2006 adoption of the new statute of Catalonia , Aranese is co-official with Catalan and Spanish in all of Catalonia (before, this status was valid for the Aran Valley only). It was also one of the mother tongues of the English kings Richard the Lionheart and his younger brother John Lackland . While many scholars accept that Occitan may constitute a single language, some authors reject this opinion and even

3150-614: The BAC" are commonly though not universally employed. In particular in common usage the French term Pays Basque ("Basque Country"), in the absence of further qualification, refers either to the whole Basque Country ("Euskal Herria" in Basque), or not infrequently to the northern (or "French") Basque Country specifically. Under Spain's present constitution, Navarre ( Nafarroa in present-day Basque, Navarra historically in Spanish) constitutes

3240-607: The Basque Country to settle in the rest of Spain, France or other parts of the world in different historical periods, often for economic or political reasons. Historically the Basques abroad were often employed in shepherding and ranching and by maritime fisheries and merchants. Millions of Basque descendants (see Basque American and Basque Canadian ) live in North America (the United States; Canada, mainly in

3330-525: The Basque have been a major if not the strongest influence in the country's cultural and economic development. Basque place names are to be found, such as Nueva Vizcaya (now Chihuahua and Durango , Mexico), New Navarre (now Sonora and Sinaloa , Mexico), Biscayne Bay (United States), and Aguereberry Point (United States). Nueva Vizcaya was the first province in the north of the Viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico) to be explored and settled by

3420-478: The Basque language as enusquera . That may, however, be a writing mistake. In the 19th century, the Basque nationalist activist Sabino Arana posited an original root euzko , which he thought came from eguzkiko ("of the sun", related to the assumption of an original solar religion ). On the basis of that putative root, Arana proposed the name Euzkadi for an independent Basque nation, composed of seven Basque historical territories. Arana's neologism Euzkadi (in

3510-574: The Basque language is only co-official in the province's northern region, where most Basque-speaking Navarrese are concentrated. About a quarter of a million people live in the French Basque Country . Nowadays Basque-speakers refer to this region as Iparralde (Basque for North), and to the Spanish provinces as Hegoalde (South). Much of this population lives in or near the Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz (BAB) urban belt on

3600-627: The Basque nationalists. A large number of regional and local nationalist and non-nationalist representatives have waged a campaign for years advocating for the creation of a separate Basque département , while these demands have gone unheard by the French administration. There are 2,123,000 people living in the Basque Autonomous Community (279,000 in Alava, 1,160,000 in Biscay and 684,000 in Gipuzkoa). The most important cities in this region, which serve as

3690-406: The Basque people than the " antioqueños ". Also, writer Arturo Escobar Uribe said in his book " Mitos de Antioquia " (Myths of Antioquia) (1950): "Antioquia, which in its clean ascendance predominates the peninsular farmer of the Basque provinces, inherited the virtues of its ancestors. ... Despite the predominance of the white race, its extension in the mountains ... has projected over Colombia's map

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3780-425: The Basque substrate may have been Gascon's reluctance to pronounce a /r/ at the beginning of words, resolved by means of a prothetical vowel. Although some linguists deny the plausibility of the Basque substrate theory, it is widely assumed that Basque, the "Circumpyrenean" language (as put by Basque linguist Alfonso Irigoyen and defended by Koldo Mitxelena , 1982), is the underlying language spreading around

3870-587: The Basques is called Basque or Euskara , spoken today by 25%-30% of the region's population. An idea of the central place the language has in cultural terms is given by the fact that Basques identify themselves by the term euskaldun and their country as Euskal Herria , literally "Basque speaker" and "Country of the Basque Language" respectively. The language has been made a political issue by official Spanish and French policies restricting its use either historically or currently; however, this has not stopped

3960-598: The French Basque ( French: [bask] ), itself derived from Gascon Basco (pronounced [ˈbasku] ), cognate with Spanish Vasco (pronounced [ˈbasko] ). Those, in turn, come from Latin Vascō (pronounced [ˈwaskoː] ; plural Vascōnēs —see history section below). The Latin / w / generally evolved into the bilabials / b / and / β̞ / in Gascon and Spanish, probably under

4050-678: The Mexican/Texan border, many Basque surnames can be found. The largest concentration of Basques who settled on Mexico's north-eastern "frontera", including the states of Chihuahua , Durango , Coahuila , Nuevo León , and Tamaulipas , also settled along Texas' Rio Grande from South Texas to West Texas . Many of the historic hidalgos , or noble families from this area, had gained their titles and land grants from Spain and Mexico; they still value their land. Some of North America's largest ranches, which were founded under these colonial land grants, can be found in this region. California has

4140-781: The Pyrenees onto the banks of the Garonne River, maybe as far east as the Mediterranean in Roman times ( niska cited by Joan Coromines as the name of each nymph taking care of the Roman spa Arles de Tech in Roussillon , etc.). Basque gradually eroded across Gascony in the High Middle Ages (Basques from the Val d'Aran cited still circa 1000), with vulgar Latin and Basque interacting and mingling, but eventually with

4230-659: The Pyrenees the Castile , Pamplona and the Pyrenean counties of Aragon , Sobrarbe , Ribagorça (later Kingdom of Aragon ), and Pallars emerged as the main regional entities with Basque population in the 9th and 10th centuries. The Kingdom of Pamplona, a central Basque realm, later known as Navarre , underwent a process of feudalization and was subject to the influence of its much larger Aragonese, Castilian and French neighbours. Castile deprived Navarre of its coastline by conquering key western territories (1199–1201), leaving

4320-497: The Spanish Basque Country, Basques that don't have a sense of Spanish identity make up an important part of the population. As with many European states, a regional identity, be it linguistically derived or otherwise, is not mutually exclusive with the broader national one. For example, Basque rugby union player for France, Imanol Harinordoquy , has said about his national identity: "I am French and Basque. There

4410-521: The Spanish. It consisted mostly of the area which is today the states of Chihuahua and Durango (the original Durango is a known city in Biscay). In Mexico most descendants of Basque emigrees are concentrated in the cities of Monterrey , Saltillo , Reynosa , Camargo , and the states of Jalisco , Durango , Nuevo León , Tamaulipas , Coahuila , and Sonora . The Basques were important in the mining industry; many were ranchers and vaqueros ( cowboys ), and

4500-696: The United States is in the area around Boise, Idaho , home to the Basque Museum and Cultural Center, host to an annual Basque festival, as well as a festival for the Basque diaspora every five years. Reno, Nevada , where the Center for Basque Studies and the Basque Studies Library are located at the University of Nevada , is another significant nucleus of Basque population. Elko, Nevada , sponsors an annual Basque festival that celebrates

4590-586: The Western half of Europe, especially along the Western fringe of the continent. Basque tribes were mentioned in Roman times by Strabo and Pliny, including the Vascones , Aquitani , and others. There is enough evidence to support the hypothesis that at that time and later they spoke old varieties of the Basque language (see: Aquitanian language ). In the Early Middle Ages , the territory between

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4680-414: The border. Spanish or French is typically the first language of citizens from other regions (who often feel no need to learn Basque), and Spanish or French is also the first language of many Basques, all of which maintains the dominance of the state tongues of both France and Spain. Recent Basque Government policies aim to change this pattern, as they are viewed as potential threats against mainstream usage of

4770-460: The center and in the east, Eastern Gascon; to the north-west, Western Gascon). A poll conducted in Béarn in 1982 indicated that 51% of the population could speak Gascon, 70% understood it, and 85% expressed a favourable opinion regarding the protection of the language. However, use of the language has declined dramatically over recent years as a result of the Francization taking place during

4860-454: The cider is in season. At the end of the 20th century, despite ETA violence (ended in 2010) and the crisis of heavy industries, the Basque economic condition recovered remarkably. They emerged from the Franco regime with a revitalized language and culture. The Basque language expanded geographically led by large increases in the major urban centers of Pamplona, Bilbao, and Bayonne, where only

4950-585: The coast (in Basque these are Baiona , Angelu and Miarritze ). The Basque language, which was traditionally spoken by most of the region's population outside the BAB urban zone, is today rapidly losing ground to French. The French Basque Country's lack of self-government within the French state is coupled with the absence of official status for the Basque language in the region. Attempts to introduce bilingualism in local administration have so far met direct refusal from French officials. Large numbers of Basques have left

5040-467: The concerned region. It is mainly in Béarn that the population uses concurrently the term "Béarnais" to designate its Gascon forms. This is because of the political past of Béarn, which was independent and then part of a sovereign state (the shrinking Kingdom of Navarre ) from 1347 to 1620. In fact, there is no unified Béarnais dialect, as the language differs considerably throughout the province. Many of

5130-525: The dance, cuisine and cultures of the Basque peoples of Spanish, French and Mexican nationalities who have arrived in Nevada since the late 19th century. Texas has a large percentage of Hispanics descended from Basques who participated in the conquest of New Spain . Many of the original Tejanos had Basque blood, including those who fought in the Battle of the Alamo alongside many of the other Texans. Along

5220-659: The dance, cuisine, and culture of the peoples. The surrounding area of San Bernardino County has many Basque descendants as residents. They are mostly descendants of settlers from Spain and Mexico. These Basques in California are grouped in the group known as Californios . Basques of European Spanish-French and Latin American nationalities also settled throughout the western U.S. in states like Louisiana , New Mexico , Arizona , Utah , Colorado , Wyoming , Montana , Oregon , and Washington . The identifying language of

5310-539: The day of historical akelarre or coven . Mari was said to reside in Mount Anboto ; periodically she crossed the skies as a bright light to reach her other home at Mount Txindoki . Legends also speak of many and abundant genies, like jentilak (equivalent to giants ), lamiak (equivalent to nymphs ), mairuak (builders of the cromlechs or stone circles, literally Moors ), iratxoak ( imps ), sorginak ( witches , priestess of Mari), and so on. Basajaun

5400-435: The differences in pronunciation can be divided into east, west, and south (the mountainous regions). For example, an 'a' at the end of words is pronounced "ah" in the west, "o" in the east, and "œ" in the south. Because of Béarn's specific political past, Béarnais has been distinguished from Gascon since the 16th century, not for linguistic reasons. Probably as a consequence of the linguistic continuum of western Romania and

5490-468: The different interpretations of what is considered Christianisation. Early traces of Christianity can be found in the major urban areas from the 4th century onwards, a bishopric from 589 in Pamplona and three hermit cave concentrations (two in Álava , one in Navarre ) that were in use from the 6th century onwards. In this sense, Christianity arrived "early". Pre-Christian belief seems to have focused on

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5580-491: The earliest modern humans who colonised Europe. Partly for these reasons, anthropological and genetic studies from the beginning and the end of the 20th century theorized that the Basques are the descendants of the original Cro-Magnons . But although they are genetically distinctive in some ways due to isolation, the Basques are still very typically European in their Y-DNA and mtDNA sequences, and in some other genetic loci . These same sequences are widespread throughout

5670-478: The first translation of the new Testament into Basque by Joanes Leizarraga . Queen Jeanne III of Navarre , a devout Huguenot , commissioned the translation of the New Testament into Basque and Béarnese for the benefit of her subjects. By the time Henry III of Navarre converted to Catholicism in order to become king of France, Protestantism virtually disappeared from the Basque community. Bayonne held

5760-593: The former replacing the latter north of the east and middle Pyrenees and developing into Gascon. However, modern Basque has had lexical influence from Gascon in words like beira ("glass"), which is also seen in Galician-Portuguese . One way for the introduction of Gascon influence into Basque came about through language contact in bordering areas of the Northern Basque Country , acting as adstrate. The other one has taken place since

5850-419: The influence of Basque and the related Aquitanian (the Latin /w/ instead evolved into / v / in French , Italian and other Romance languages ). Several coins from the 2nd and the 1st centuries BC found in the Basque Country bear the inscription barscunes . The place in which they were minted is not certain but is thought to be somewhere near Pamplona , in the heartland of the area that historians believe

5940-401: The kingdom landlocked. The Basques were ravaged by the War of the Bands , bitter partisan wars between local ruling families. Weakened by the Navarrese civil war, the bulk of the realm eventually fell before the onslaught of the Spanish armies (1512–1524). However, the Navarrese territory north of the Pyrenees remained beyond the reach of an increasingly powerful Spain. Lower Navarre became

6030-440: The last centuries, as Gascon is rarely transmitted to young generations any longer (outside of schools, such as the Calandretas ). By April 2011, the Endangered Languages Project estimated that there were only 250,000 native speakers of the language. The usual term for Gascon is "patois", a word designating in France a non-official and usually devaluated dialect (such as Gallo ) or language (such as Occitan ), regardless of

6120-402: The local area were notable smuggling routes used for centuries, including for refugees during the Spanish Civil War and World War II . Smuggling was of such importance that a local tale tells that the mountain was covered by gold until evil men came to take it away. They burned the trees on the mountain to reach the gold, but the metal melted and flowed away. The mountain started to become

6210-672: The minority tongue. The Basque language is thought to be a genetic language isolate in contrast with other European languages, vast majority of which belong to the broad Indo-European language family . Another peculiarity of Basque is that it has probably been spoken continuously in situ , in and around its present territorial location, for longer than most other modern European languages, which are typically thought to have been introduced in historic or prehistoric times through population migrations or other processes of cultural transmission. However, popular stereotypes characterizing Basque as "the oldest language in Europe" and "unique among

6300-407: The name Occitan : instead, they argue that the latter is a cover term for a family of distinct lengas d'òc rather than dialects of a single language. Gascon, in particular, is distinct enough linguistically to have been described as a language in its own right. The language spoken in Gascony before Roman rule was part of the Basque dialectal continuum (see Aquitanian language ); the fact that

6390-408: The neighboring communities and produce from the sea and the land. A 20th-century feature of Basque culture is the phenomenon of gastronomical societies (called txoko in Basque), food clubs where men gather to cook and enjoy their own food. Until recently, women were allowed entry only one day in the year. Cider houses ( Sagardotegiak ) are popular restaurants in Gipuzkoa open for a few months while

6480-564: The privileges bestowed on the Francs by the Kingdom of Navarre from the 12th to the early 14th centuries, but the variant spoken and used in written records is mainly the Occitan of Toulouse. The énonciatif (Occitan: enunciatiu ) system of Gascon, a system that is more colloquial than characteristic of normative written Gascon and governs the use of certain preverbal particles (including

6570-515: The prototype of its race; in Medellín with the industrial paisa , entrepreneur, strong and steady ... in its towns, the adventurer, arrogant, world-explorer. ... Its myths, which are an evidence of their deep credulity and an indubitable proof of their Iberian ancestor, are the sequel of the conqueror's blood which runs through their veins". Bambuco , a Colombian folk music, has Basque roots. The largest of several important Basque communities in

6660-632: The provinces of Newfoundland and Quebec ), all over Latin America, South Africa, and Australia. Miguel de Unamuno said: "There are at least two things that clearly can be attributed to Basques: the Society of Jesus and the Republic of Chile ." Chilean historian Luis Thayer Ojeda estimated that 48 percent of immigrants to Chile in the 17th and 18th centuries were Basque. Estimates range between 2.5 and 5 million Basque descendants live in Chile ;

6750-573: The provinces' administrative centers, are Bilbao (in Biscay), San Sebastián (in Gipuzkoa), and Vitoria-Gasteiz (in Álava). The official languages are Basque and Spanish. Knowledge of Spanish is compulsory under the Spanish constitution (article no. 3), and knowledge and usage of Basque is a right under the Statute of Autonomy (article no. 6), so only knowledge of Spanish is virtually universal. Knowledge of Basque, after declining for many years during Franco's dictatorship owing to official persecution,

6840-470: The regularized spelling Euskadi ) is still widely used in both Basque and Spanish since it is now the official name of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country . The distinctiveness noted by studies of classical genetic markers (such as blood groups ) and the pre-Indo-European of the Basque language has resulted in a popular and long-held view that Basques are "living fossils" of

6930-568: The rest of the family (unlike in England, with strict primogeniture, where the eldest son inherited everything and often did not provide for others). Even though they were provided for in some way, younger siblings had to make much of their living by other means. Mostly after the advent of industrialisation, this system resulted in the emigration of many rural Basques to Spain, France or the Americas. Harsh by modern standards, this custom resulted in

7020-627: The rest opened small shops in major cities such as Mexico City , Guadalajara and Puebla . In Guatemala , most Basques have been concentrated in Sacatepequez Department , Antigua Guatemala , Jalapa for six generations now, while some have migrated to Guatemala City . In Colombia, a large number of Basques settled mainly in Antioquia and the Coffee Axis . In 1955, Joaquín Ospina said: "Is there something more similar to

7110-708: The seven provinces of the currently called historical territories. It is sometimes referred to simply as "the Basque Country" (or Euskadi ) by writers and public agencies only considering those three western provinces, but also on occasions merely as a convenient abbreviation when this does not lead to confusion in the context. Others reject this usage as inaccurate and are careful to specify the BAC (or an equivalent expression such as "the three provinces", up to 1978 referred to as "Provincias Vascongadas" in Spanish) when referring to this entity or region. Likewise, terms such as "the Basque Government" for "the government of

7200-415: The social position of women in both traditional and modern Basque society is somewhat better than in neighbouring cultures, and women have a substantial influence in decisions about the domestic economy. In the past, some women participated in collective magical ceremonies. They were key participants in a rich folklore, today largely forgotten. Basque cuisine is at the heart of Basque culture, influenced by

7290-468: The sometimes emphatic affirmative que , the occasionally mitigating or dubitative e , the exclamatory be , and the even more emphatic ja / ye , and the "polite" se ) has also been attributed to the Basque substrate. Gascon is divided into three varieties or dialect sub-groups: The Jews of Gascony, who resided in Bordeaux , Bayonne and other cities, spoke until the beginning of the 20th century

7380-473: The teaching, speaking, writing, and cultivating of this increasingly vibrant minority language. This sense of Basque identity tied to the local language does not only exist in isolation. For many Basques, it is juxtaposed with a sense of either Spanish or French identity tied with the use of the Spanish and French languages among other Basques, especially in the French Basque Country. Regarding

7470-668: The term "High Navarre" ( Nafarroa Garaia in Basque, Alta Navarra in Spanish) is also encountered as a way of referring to the territory of the present-day autonomous community. There are three other historic provinces parts of the Basque Country: Labourd , Lower Navarre and Soule ( Lapurdi, Nafarroa Beherea and Zuberoa in Basque; Labourd, Basse-Navarre and Soule in French), devoid of official status within France's present-day political and administrative territorial organization, and only minor political support to

7560-441: The topic of some discussion. There are, broadly speaking, two views. According to one, Christianity arrived in the Basque Country during the 4th and 5th centuries but according to the other, it did not take place until the 12th and 13th centuries. The Encyclopaedia Britannica says that the Basques were not Christianized until the tenth century, however, and that their earlier animism survives in their folklore. The main issue lies in

7650-596: The valley", Etxeberria "the new house", and so on. In contrast to surrounding regions, ancient Basque inheritance patterns, recognised in the fueros , favoured survival of the unity of inherited land holdings. In a kind of primogeniture, these usually were inherited by the eldest male or female child. As in other cultures, the fate of other family members depended on the assets of a family: wealthy Basque families tended to provide for all children in some way, while less-affluent families may have had only one asset to provide to one child. However, this heir often provided for

7740-414: The word 'Gascon' comes from the Latin root vasco / vasconem , which is the same root that gives us 'Basque', implies that the speakers identified themselves at some point as Basque. There is a proven Basque substrate in the development of Gascon. This explains some of the major differences that exist between Gascon and other Occitan dialects. A typically Gascon feature that may arise from this substrate

7830-406: The world's languages" may be misunderstood and lead to erroneous assumptions. Over the centuries, Basque has remained in continuous contact with neighboring western European languages with which it has come to share numerous lexical properties and typological features; it is therefore misleading to exaggerate the "outlandish" character of Basque. Basque is also a modern language, and is established as

7920-400: The younger generations, while the older ones are more religious. Catholicism is, by far, the largest religion in Basque Country . In 2019, the proportion of Basques that identify themselves as Roman Catholic was 60%, while it is one of the most secularized communities of Spain: 24.6% were non-religious and 12.3% of Basques were atheist . The Christianisation of the Basque Country has been

8010-530: Was in Aloña , or Supelegor , or Gorbea . One of her names, Mari Urraca possibly ties her to an historical Navarrese princess of the 11th and 12th century, with other legends giving her a brother or cousin who was a Roman Catholic priest. So far the discussions about whether the name Mari is original and just happened to coincide closely with the Christian name María or if Mari is an early Basque attempt to give

8100-402: Was inhabited by the Vascones . Some scholars have suggested a Celtic etymology based on bhar-s- , meaning "summit", "point" or "leaves", according to which barscunes may have meant "the mountain people ", "the tall ones" or "the proud ones", and others have posited a relationship to a Proto-Indo-European root *bar- meaning "border", "frontier", "march". In Basque, people call themselves

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