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4. European Integration and the Basque Country in France and Spain
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CHAPTER 4 European Integration and the Basque Country in France and Spain Zoe Bray and Michael Keating Nation and State European history has included the emergence of states and nations, some of which coincide almost perfectly while others do not: both are constructions, circumstantial, rarely complete and often contested. In this chapter we deconstruct what is understood as the Basque nation in order to reflect on the Basque Country’s situation as a territory divided between France and Spain and across different regional entities, in the context of European integration. The Basque Country has never been a single political unit but has been subject to three general nation-building projects: the Spanish, the French, and the Basque. While these represent three distinct national discourses, they are all intricately interlinked, with inhabitants identifying with them to varying degrees according to different and at times changing criteria and contexts. Thus, despite its small size, the Basque Country is one of the most complex societies in Europe and has attracted widespread attention from social scientists seeking to understand its identities, construction, and meaning. The Basque Country: Territory and Identity Spanning two states, France and Spain, the Basque Country can be defined in multiple ways. The various names, including Basque Country in English, Euskal Herria and Euskadi in Basque, País Vasco in Spanish, and Pays Basque 128 Chapter 4 in French, have different political and cultural connotations. Historically the Basque Country covers seven provinces, whose names in Basque are as follows: Araba (Álava in Spanish), Bizkaia (Vizcaya), Gipuzkoa (Guipúzcoa ), and Nafarroa (Navarra, or Navarre in English) on the Spanish side of the frontier; and Lapurdi (Labourd in French), Behe Nafarroa (Basse Navarre ), and Xiberoa (Soule) on the French side. “Euskal Herria” refers to the Basque Country as a linguistic and cultural territory made up of these seven provinces, which in Basque translates as both the Basque Country and the Basque people. The term “Euzkadi” was coined by Sabino Arana, the founder of the first Basque nationalist party, PNV, in the late nineteenth century to refer to the wider area as a potential political unit, but nowadays “Euskadi” refers to the autonomous community of the Basque Country, made up only of Gipuzkoa, Araba, and Bizkaia. The Pays Basque refers to the grouping of the Basque provinces on the French side. Map 4.1. The Basque country. AQUITAINE NAFARROA EUSKADI PYRÉNÉES-ATLANTIQUES PAYS BASQUE LAPURDI ARABA FRANCE SPAIN PO RT UG AL BIZKAIA GIPUZKOA B-N X I B E R O A [3.238.79.169] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 22:23 GMT) Basques 129 The fact that many place names across broader surrounding areas of France and Spain show semantic links with the Basque language indicates that it was spoken over a wide part of the Franco-Cantabrian region. Basquespeaking tribes, including the Vascones and the Aquitani, were mentioned in Roman times (Braudel 1986). The territory between the rivers Ebro in Spain and Garonne in France was known then as Vasconia. After the collapse of Roman power in northern Spain, the Franks, Arabs, and Visigoths repeatedly attempted to invade the area. A famous battle took place in 778 when the Frankish army of Charlemagne was ambushed, allegedly by local Basques, at the Pyrenean pass of Roncesvalles. Around 820 the tiny kingdom of Pamplona was founded; later it evolved into the kingdom of Navarre, which briefly included Araba, Bizkaia, and Gipuzkoa. By 1200 Navarre had largely passed into the hands of Castilian monarchs, while in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa fueros, or charters of self-rule, were negotiated. Basque culture flourished in these territories, representative institutions evolved, and the adventurous seamanship of coastal inhabitants took them as far as Iceland, Newfoundland, and Patagonia. Much of Navarre is Spanishspeaking , with only around 11.1 percent of the population mainly in the mountainous region close to the frontier with France, speaking Basque (Basque Autonomous Community 2006). In Bizkaia and Araba, Basquespeakers account for 23 percent and 14.2 percent of the population respectively . The percentage of Basque speakers is highest in Gipuzkoa, at 49.1 percent. On the French side approximately 22.5 percent of the population is estimated to speak Basque, but this proportion is expected to decline due to a lack of institutional efforts to promote the language (Basque Autonomous Community 2006). Prior to the emergence of Basque nationalism, the people residing across Vasconia, while sharing some biological traits and linguistic characteristics , were far from having an overriding sense of community beyond...