VIZCAYA

English Biscay, Basque Bizkaia provincia, in the autonomous Basque Country (Pas Vasco), northern Spain; it has an area of 856 square miles (2,217 square km). Originally a tribal territory of the Vascones (4th century AD), it was vested in the crown of Castile and Leon in 1379, but the central government has always had difficulties in ruling the fiercely independent Basques. Charters of rights and privileges (fueros) toward some form of regional autonomy were granted to the Basque provinces (Basque: Euskal-Herria; Spanish: Vascongadas), notably in the Economic Accord (Concierto Econmico) of 1925 signed with the national exchequer. This agreement was canceled, however, after the Nationalist victory of 1937. In 1980, with lava and Guipzcoa, it became one of the three component provinces of the autonomous region of the Basque Country. The Cantabrian coastal area, in the north, where fishing and tourism represent the economic mainstays, has many high cliffs and inlets (ras); Bermeo and Ondrroa are its most important fishing ports. Bilbao (q.v.), the provincial capital and seaport, and its environs comprise the industrial (iron, steel, chemicals) and commercial centre of Vizcaya, which has the greatest mineral wealth of any Spanish province. Guernica (now Guernica y Luno), near Bilbao, is the symbol of Basque glory and the subject of a painting by Pablo Picasso inspired by the massacre there during the Spanish Civil War. The inland Nervin River valley, bordered by the coastal mountain range (Mount Oiz; 3,363 feet ) and by the inland arc of mountains that connects near the Aitzgorri (5,066 feet ) with the Navarrese mountains of Aralar, is an agricultural region where corn (maize) and apples are cultivated and livestock is raised; its cider is famous throughout Spain. The eastern iron district of Vizcaya, between Santander and Burgos, is also important because of its pasturage for livestock. Farms are scattered throughout the province in isolated caseros (settlements), although, in the western valleys of Carranza and Lanestosa, the Castilian influence of hamlets is clear. Pop. (1986 est.) 1,205,557.