What is now known as the Basque Country has a rich and complex heritage, dating all the way back to the Paleolithic, when the first inhabitants settled on the Cantabrian coast. Because of its rugged topography, it has preserved both its cultural identity and political autonomy throughout history, a status it still enjoys and which has allowed the region to become one of Spain's most interesting. Its origins are shrouded in mystery and still a controversial topic.
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Early history of the Basque Country
It is thought that the Franco-Cantabrian region -including the Basque Country- was already “one of the most densely populated glacial refugia in Europe during the last glacial maximum (LGM)” around 20,000 years ago[1]. Continuous population in the area is shown through archaeological evidence of the Solutrean[2], Magdalenian[3] and Azilian[4] cultures.
The Neolithic is thought to have arrived late to the Basque region, with examples of pottery and sheepherding around 6000-5000 years ago. Megalithic culture also appeared around that time, with the predominance of dolmens[5]. Copper and Bronze Ages present a similar development to other Atlantic regions in Europe, with the appearance of trading and first urban settlements.
During the first millennium BCE (i.e., in the Iron Age that predates the arrival of the Romans) there were several distinct tribes in the Basque region which were not part of the Celtic, Gallic, or Iberian peoples that surrounded them (see in red letters in the map below: Autrigones, Caristii, Varduli, Vascones, Tarbelli, Siburates, Bigerriones, Ausci…). A common feature that characterized these groups was the use of forms or dialects of Proto-Basque or Aquitanian languages[6].
The Roman Empire
The Romans progressively subjugated all tribes above. However, although Pompaelo (current Pamplona, the capital city of Navarre) was founded in the 1st century BCE under Pompey, Roman rule was not consolidated until the time of emperor Augustus (27 BCE – 14 AD). This laxness allowed Basques to retain their traditional laws and leadership. Romanization was limited on the lands closer to the Atlantic, while it was more intense on the Mediterranean basin. The survival of the Basque language has often been attributed to the fact that Basque Country was little developed by the Romans. Also, Romans apparently entered into alliances with local tribes, allowing them almost total autonomy within the Empire. For almost five centuries, the Basques were part of the Hispania Tarraconensis and Gallia Aquitania Roman provinces.
In the fifth century AD, the decadence of the Western Roman Empire prompted Germanic peoples such as the Visigoths and eventually the Franks to invade Hispania and Gallia respectively. The Basques were rebellious and restive against the new elites, and in constant fight for the following three centuries (effectively independent for most of the time).
Arab Rule in Spain and the Reconquista
Ultimately the Umayyad invasion of 711 AD meant that most of the Iberian Peninsula fell under Arab rule: however, in the coastal North the Christian Kingdoms of Asturias and Pamplona (the latter eventually becoming the Kingdom of Navarre) were the originators of a complex and long historical process known as the Reconquista (i.e., “reconquest”) that lasted for the whole Middle Ages and finalized with the fall of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada in 1492.
It can be seen from the above that through subsequent periods of Roman, Visigoth and Arab rule in the Iberian Peninsula, the Basques north and south of the Pyrenees managed to keep parts of their cultural uniqueness, traditions, and customs; and above all, the existence of the only surviving Paleo-European (i.e., non-Indo-European) language spoken in Europe.
In the early Middle Ages, a receding Carolingian authority to the North and the Reconquista process to the South, along with the development of feudalism, prompted the appearance of many counties, viscounties, lordships etc. around the Kingdom of Navarre. Out of these (and the Kingdom of Asturias in Northwestern Spain) the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon finally emerged, in a process that lasted for centuries and ended up consolidating in what is nowadays Spain.
The Spanish Basque Country was ravaged by the War of the Bands (Guerra de Bandos), an extended series of blood feuds among local noble ruling families, in the 14th and 15th centuries. The main primary source for these conflicts is the book Bienandanzas e fortunas, written circa 1471[7], which is also the first known Basque-specific genealogy treaty.
The County of Álava was integrated into the nascent County of Castile in 932, in the person of Fernán González of Castile. Gipuzkoa was conquered by Castilian King Alfonso VIII in 1200, and never returned to Navarre. The lordship of Biscay was integrated into the Kingdom of Castile in 1370, by virtue of Henry II of Castile inheriting the lordship from his brother Tello Alfonso of Castile. Finally, the Kingdom of Navarre itself was conquered in 1512 by Charles I of Spain, so the integration of the Spanish Basque Country within modern Spain was complete (and hence, the separation from the French Basque Country, which in 1449, 1451 and 1620 had Soule, Labourd and Lower Navarre respectively integrated into the French crown).
Modern Age
By the start of the Modern Age, the Spanish Basque Country was an important part of the main global actor during the 16th and early 17th centuries: the Spanish Empire. Numerous Basques became part of the elites in all layers of government and geographies of the vast empire, especially appreciated for their leadership and skills as seamen and soldiers. It must be mentioned, however, that inside Spain the Basques managed to retain a large degree of their self-government and native laws, which all Castilian (and later, Spanish) monarchs, or their viceroys, would swear to uphold on oath until the 19th century.
After the slow but inevitable decline of Spain -within the European context of other rising powers- in the 18th century, the bloody Peninsular War (1808-1814) between Spain and the Napoleonic armies was only the first of more wars that would ravage the Basque territory during the 19th century, known as the Carlist Wars: First Carlist War (1833-1840), Second Carlist War (1846-1849, with limited incidence in the Basque Country) and Third Carlist War (1872-1876).By the end of the 19th century and after the last Carlist (civil) War, the Basque Country saw its native political system (fueros) dismantled and its regions assimilated to Spanish provinces, but also a rapid economic development (mainly in Biscay and Gipuzkoa) encouraged by a dynamic local bourgeoisie, coastal location, availability of technical know-how, an inflow of foreign steel industry investors coupled with high demand for iron ore.
Spain remaining neutral in both World War I and World War II, the last military conflict fought in the Spanish Basque Country was the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939. As part of it, the aerial bombing of Guernica took place in April 1937 -which went on to be immortalized by Pablo Picasso in his famous painting.
Autonomy of the Basque Country
After Francisco Franco’s dictatorship gave way to democracy in Spain in 1975, a new Statute of Autonomy was given to the Basque Country in 1979, which guarantees a high degree of self-governance, including education, culture, taxation, housing, transport and social security, among other competences. This took place against the backdrop of terrorist activity by Basque separatist group ETA, which was only finalized in 2011. In France, the Agglomeration Community of Basque Country was established with the union of ten commonwealths, 157 of the 159 Basque communes, and one Béarnese community on January 1, 201, as an intercommunal cooperation movement (EPCI) that advocates for a higher degree of autonomy. According to French administrative classification, it is an official territorial administrative structure with more capabilities than a pays but fewer than a French department.
As of today, both Spanish and French Basque Country regions are inside the European Union, use the same currency (the Euro) and are considered part of the group of Western European developed economies.
Explore more about the history of the Basque country
- Spain, Bilbao Diocese, Catholic Parish Records, 1501-1900 record collection at MyHeritage
- Spain, Biscay, Baptisms record collection at MyHeritage
- Spain, Biscay, Deaths record collection at MyHeritage
- Spain, Vitoria Diocese, Index of Deaths, 1573-1904 record collection at MyHeritage
- Spain, Vitoria Diocese, Index of Marriages, 1559-1899 record collection at MyHeritage
- Spain, Vitoria Diocese, Index of Baptisms, 1535-1903 record collection at MyHeritage
- Spain, Navarre, Census, 1816-1935 record collection at MyHeritage
- Spain, Navarre, Index of Deaths, 1592-1986 record collection at MyHeritage
- Spain, Navarre, Index of Baptisms, 1559-1910 record collection at MyHeritage
- Spain, Navarre, Index of Marriages, 1577-1940 record collection at MyHeritage
- The Basque People: Who Are the Basques? on the MyHeritage Knowledge Base
- History. Institut Culturel Basque
- A Short History of the Basque Country. Buber's Basque Page
References
- ↑ Flores-Bello A, Bauduer F, Salaberria J, Oyharçabal B, Calafell F, Bertranpetit J, et al. Genetic origins, singularity, and heterogeneity of Basques. Current Biology 2021;31:2167-2177.
- ↑ Straus, Lawrence Human occupation of Euskalerria during the Last Glacial Maximum: the Basque Solutrean. Munibe Antropologia - Arkeologia, ISSN 1132-2217, 1990; 42:33-40.
- ↑ Garate, D., Rivero, O., Rios-Garaizar, J. et al. Unravelling the skills and motivations of Magdalenian artists in the depths of Atxurra Cave (Northern Spain). Sci Rep 13, 17340 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-44520-w
- ↑ Soto, A., Alday, A., Montes, L., Utrilla, P., Perales, U., Domingo, R. Epipalaeolithic assemblages in the Western Ebro Basin (Spain): The difficult identification of cultural entities. Quaternary International, Volume 364, 2015, Pages 144-152, ISSN 1040-6182, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2014.05.041
- ↑ Armendariz, A. The Idea of Death and the Funeral Rites during the Prehistoric Era in the Basque Country. Munibe Antropologia - Arkeologia, ISSN 1132-2217, 1992; Supl.8:13-32.
- ↑ Michelena, Luis. Fonética Histórica Vasca. Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa. San Sebastián, 1990.
- ↑ Lope García de Salazar. Las Bienandanzas e fortunas. Ed. Diputación de Vizcaya, 1967.