History and language

HISTORY OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY

Pre-history

The oldest remains discovered in the Basque Country are made of stone, dating from the Palaeolithic period (150,000 before Christ). Neanderthal bones and other objects have been found, but many more objects date back to the Cro-Magnon era. Remains from this period, including cave paintings, have been found in the caves of Ekain, Altxerri, Santimamiñe and Alberdi (Urdax). The Neolithic period (4,500 to 2,500 BC) brought about a major change in peopleʼs lifestyle: the inhabitants built settlements and began to farm the land and raise livestock. They went from being nomadic to sedentary and learned to fend for themselves. In the Copper and Bronze ages (2,500 to 900 BC) the people worked with metals and society was organised. Since the northern part of Euskal Herria was more isolated, it developed more slowly than the south. The same thing occurred during the Roman period.In ancient times, todayʼs Euskal Herria and adjacent areas were inhabited by ancestors of Basques: the Autrigones, the Caristi, the Vardulli, and the Vascones, who the Greek historian Strabon (I BC-I AD) considered savages and warriors.

Middle Ages

 Romanisation:

The Roman Empire began to incorporate Basque regions in the second century BC. Roman rule lasted for five centuries, during which the two cultures coexisted. However, Roman presence was not evenly distributed: it came earlier and was stronger in the agricultural and mining areas of the south, arriving later and to a lesser degree in the mountains and coast. It was the Roman Empire that introduced a money-based economy to the Basque lands, as well as a written language: Latin. In any case, the Roman roads that crossed Euskal Herria were built to link the Mediterranean to the northeast part of the Iberian Peninsula and Hispania with Gaul via Aquitaine (now France). The Romanisation of Iparralde took place later, when Cesar conquered Gaul. When the Roman Empire began to decline, the Basque tribes regained their influence. Euskal Herria suffered a number of changes and invasions over the following centuries, but in the eighth century the tribes began to unify, with the Vascones playing a predominant role. Their forms of political organisation developed progressively, and by the eleventh century a welldefined structure was in place.

Modern Age

Following the discovery of America, worsened relations between Spain and Portugal. The King of Portugal considered that, under the Treaty of Alcáçovas, the newly discovered lands belonged to him, and in the Spanish court had reports that an army was getting ready in Lisbon, so the Catholic Monarchs Portuguese came to fear attacks the second expedition of Columbus.

It finishes with the signing of the Treaty of Tordesillas with Portugal, the Navy no longer needed, so the summer of 1494 ordering its dissolution. But the situation in Italy again necessitate. During the early modern Basques excelled especially nautical arts, being famous great navigators and explorers from the likes of Andres de Urdaneta, Martin Bertendona, Benechea Sunday, Cosme Damián Churruca, Juan Sebastian Elcano, Juan de Garay, Antonio Gaztañeta Ignacio Maria de Álava, Blas de Lezo, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and José de Mazarredo, among others.

Modern Times

In the late nineteenth century in the Basque country there were two political and social processes of great magnitude: the birth of Basque nationalism, which collected all the feeling of fervent Basque identity in rural areas, and the labor movement, capitalized for socialism cities and industrial areas.

Was the covenant of two sensibilities which enabled the launch of the first Statute of autonomic to the Basque Country in 1936, which resulted in the formation of the first government to set the three Basque provinces sisters amidst the Spanish Civil War.

Today, after the Franco regime and with the approval of the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country in 1979, was established as the Basque Country Autonomous Community, keeping its leasehold rights in the three provinces that form. For this reason, since 2011 on October 25 is a holiday in memory of the first statute replacing March 19.

Languages

In the Basque country two languages ​​have been spoken for centuries, Spanish or Castilian and Basque, with both originating in the region since the first came in a large area covering the western territories also current Alava and Vizcaya. The Basque, unlike the rest of the Spanish languages ​​modern, not from the latin or belongs to the Indo-European family.

Castilian is the majority language in the homes of the Basque Country in 2001, and was the language spoken at home by 83.0% of the population, while the Basque language was spoken by 11.8% and 5.2% used both languages ​​equally at home. These percentages vary from province to province, where more sde being Gipuzcoa speaks Basque and Alava where less.