The Basque Country (pdf, 4,3Mb) - Kultura Saila - Euskadi.net

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Traditional Basque farmhouse.
1. GEOGRAPHY OF THE BASQUE
COUNTRY–EUSKAL HERRIA
The Basque Country runs along the 43rd parallel at the western
edge of the Pyrenees Mountains, and is bathed by the Bay of Biscay
(Cantabria Sea). This is where the Basque people have lived as a
community for thousands of years. The Basques and Lapps are
thought to be survivors of the Upper Palaeolithic population and
certainly predate the three so-called European types dating from the
end of the Neolithic and early Bronze Age: Nordic, Mediterranean
and Alpine. The Basques have maintained their own language,
Euskara, possibly the oldest language on the European continent.
Euskal Herria covers a total surface area of 20,664 km 2 , and has a
population of approximately three million. In short, it is a small ancient
country with a strong identity and its own culture and history.
The region enjoys a mild climate; extreme temperatures of either very
hot or very cold are rare, although there is a fair amount of rainfall
(2,000 mm annually in the more humid coastal zones and 500 mm
along the Ebro River). There are three different types of climate:
subalpine in the area of the Pyrenees; Atlantic or temperate humid on
the coast; and continental Mediterranean in the southern part of Araba
and central and southern Navarre (hot summers, cold winters).
There are two clearly distinct watersheds: the Atlantic and the
Mediterranean. Most of the population and industry is found
in the Atlantic watershed (the north), while the Mediterranean
watershed, bordered on the south by the Ebro River, is more
agricultural and has smaller cities and towns.
The northern part of Euskal Herria (Iparralde) occupies 15% of
the total land area. The southern part (Hegoalde), which includes
Euskadi and Navarre, occupies 85%.
The French Basque Country does not have its own administrative
unit. After the French Revolution it was incorporated in the French
department of Pyrénées Atlantiques, together with the Bearn
region. Today, most of Iparraldeʼs political parties and society
demand a separate administrative region –Département du Pays
Basque– limited to the French Basque Country.
72 percent of the population of Euskal Herria lives in Euskadi; only
19% lives in Navarre and 9% in Iparralde. With industrialisation at
the end of the nineteenth century many immigrants came to Bizkaia
and Gipuzkoa, primarily from Castile, Navarre, Galicia, La Rioja and
Extremadura. The 1950s and sixties saw another wave of immigration,
which also affected Araba and Navarre. The population has grown
very little in recent recers, although immigration at the beginning of
the twenty-first century has given the population a new boost.
Bizkaia
Population: 1.122.637
Area: 2.217 km 2
Density: 506,4 hab/km 2
Population: 673.563
Area: 1.980 km 2
Density:340,2 hab/km 2
Gipuzkoa
Álava-Araba
Population: 286.397
Area: 3.037 km 2
Density: 94,3 hab/km 2
CAV
Population: 2.082.597
Area: 7.234 km 2
Density: 287.9 hab/km 2
Source: EUSTAT.
Population and
surface area
of Euskadi. 2001
Between cities and rural villages,
Euskadi also has a large number of
mid-sized towns.
University of Oñate, Gipuzkoa.