BASQUE COUNTRY

French Pays Basque, cultural region within the dpartement of Pyrnes-Atlantiques, extreme southwestern France, bordering the western Pyrenees Mountains where they adjoin the Basque provincias of Spain, along the Bay of Biscay. The region extends from the Anie Peak of the Pyrenees to the magnificent rock-bound coast around Biarritz and Saint-Jean-de-Luz on the Bay of Biscay. The climate is very wet, rainfall exceeding 120 inches (3,000 mm) per year in the mountains, and numerous rivers divide the landscape into countless verdant valleys that support both agriculture and forestry. The Basque people themselves speak a language that is among the oldest in Europe. The Basques are ethnically distinct from the peoples who surround them in France and Spain, having preserved their identity among the waves of migrants who have passed through the region since prehistoric times. Fishing and tourism are the economic mainstays of a coast known for the sweetness of its climate. The region has been largely spared from the problems associated with the Basque separatist movement in the Basque provincias of Spain and has provided a refuge for exiles of that and other conflicts in Spain. Spanish Pas Vasco, Basque Euskadi or Euskal Herria comunidad autnoma (autonomous community) and historic region of northern Spain encompassing the provincias of lava, Guipzcoa, and Biscay (Vizcaya) and established by the statute of autonomy of 1979. The capital is Vitoria (Gasteiz). The Basque Country borders the Bay of Biscay to the north. The Pyrenees Mountains separate the region from the Basque Country of France to the northeast; however, the ethnically similar autonomous community of Navarre, which adjoins the (Spanish) Basque Country on the east, makes up most of the border with the French Basque region. To the south and southwest lie the Ebro River basin, the autonomous community of La Rioja, and the Castilian provincia of Burgos. Cantabria is on the west. The mountains of Biscay and Guipzcoa are formidably jagged, and the rivers are short and rapid, cutting sharp gorges through the mountains. Average annual precipitation reaches 47 inches (1,200 mm), exceeding 60 inches (1,500 mm) around San Sebastin and dropping to half that amount in the Ebro basin. An Atlantic climate prevails in the northeast, characterized by relatively heavy and regular precipitation. A sub-Mediterranean climate prevails in the southern intermontane basin of lava. The population of the Ebro River basin is concentrated in small communal nuclei surrounded by open fields and vineyards. The population of the Pyrenees, by contrast, is more widely dispersed and centres on the individual farmstead, the casero, allowing for intensive cultivation of small plots in the mountains. The rapid industrialization of the region since the mid-19th century has caused such coastal cities as San Sebastin and Bilbao to grow at the expense of settlements in the hinterlands. Population density is highest along the coast: some four-fifths of the Basque population is concentrated in greater Bilbao. lava provincia presents an open landscape suitable for the cultivation of cereals and grapes. The Basques of the Pyrenees have traditionally been herders, although the introduction of crops from the Americas (corn and potatoes) has resulted in the expansion of cultivation since the early modern period. lava remains the most agricultural of the Basque provincias, though its city, Vitoria, has undergone considerable industrialization since the early 1950s. Biscay and Guipzcoa provincias are heavily industrialized, having exploited their extensive resources of iron and timber since the late Middle Ages. The Basque metallurgical industries are heavily concentrated in Bilbao and along the banks of the Nervin River. Outside Bilbao there are metallurgical, food-processing, and chemical industries, while the paper industry centres on Tolosa and the banks of the Oria River. Service industries are highly developed in the Basque Country; San Sebastian is a major resort city, and Bilbao is one of the leading financial centres of Spain. The government of the autonomous community consists of a president and a parliament. Traditional Basque culture has declined with the urban and industrial development of the region, and emigration to France and the Americas has sharply reduced the population living in caseros. Basques have long sought autonomy. The separatist movement of the 1930s culminated in a statute of autonomy on October 5, 1936. General Francisco Franco suppressed Basque separatism the following year; extremists in the movement subsequently launched a campaign of terrorism against the Spanish central government. Continued terrorist acts of the Euzkadi Ta Azkatasuna (ETA; Basque for Basque Homeland and Liberty) have made Basque regionalism one of the most destabilizing forces in Spanish political life. Area 2,793 square miles (7,234 square km). Pop. (1998 est.) 2,098,628.