BASQUE
Excerpts from Wikipedia.org
The Basques (Basque: Euskaldunak) are an indigenous people who inhabit parts of north-central Spain and southwestern France.
The name Basque derives from Medieval French and ultimately from the ancient tribe of the Vascones, described by Ancient Greek historian Strabo as living south of the western Pyrenees and north of the Ebro River, in modern day Navarre and northern Aragon. This tribal name, of unknown etymology, was extended in late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages to cover all Basque-speaking people on either side of the Pyrenees.
Basques are now mainly found in an area traditionally known as Euskal Herria, located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay.
The Basques are known in local languages as:
Geography (video)
The autonomous community (a concept established in the Spanish constitution of 1978) that is known as Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoa or EAE in Basque, and as (la) Comunidad Autónoma Vasca or CAV in Spanish (in English: Basque Autonomous Community or BAC), is composed of the three Spanish provinces of Alava, Biscay and Guipuscoa. The corresponding Basque names of these territories are Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa and their Spanish name is Álava, Vizcaya and Guipúzcoa.
Although the BAC only includes three of the seven provinces of the currently called "historical territories", it is sometimes referred to simply as "the Basque Country" (or Euskadi).
Under Spain's present constitution, Navarre constitutes a voluntarily separate entity, called the autonomous community of Navarre.
There are other three provinces claimed by the nationalist basque parties as parts of an expanded Basque Country: Labourd, Lower Navarre and Soule (Lapurdi, Nafarroa Beherea and Zuberoa in Basque; Labourd, Basse-Navarre and Soule in French), have no official status within France's present-day political and administrative territorial organization and there is only a marginal political support to the Spanish basque nationalists.
Language
The Basque language is thought to be a language isolate, which means that within the limits of nowadays available scientific knowledge it cannot be shown to "come from" the same languages as, and hence be "related to", other known languages. Thus Basque contrasts with other European languages, almost all of which belong to the large Indo-European language family. Another peculiarity of Basque is that it has been spoken continuously in situ, in and around its present territorial location, for longer than other modern European languages, which have all been introduced in historical or prehistorical times through population migrations or other processes of cultural transmission.
The identifying language of the Basques is called Basque or Euskara, spoken today by 25%-30% of the country's population. An idea of the central place of the ethnic terms in Basque nationalist politicians is given by the fact that, in Basque, Basques identify themselves by the term euskaldun and their country as Euskal Herria, literally "Basque speaker" and "Country of the Basque Language" respectively. The use of the language as a political instrument has damaged the original culture of the Basque Country. Essentially an identity issue, the language has nonetheless been converted into a political issue by Spanish and French policies targeting its use and the widespread Basque response of teaching, speaking, writing and cultivating their heritage language with ever-increasing enthusiasm and success, as a way of maintaining, defending and symbolizing their survival as a people.
As a result of state persecution, school policies, the impact of mass media, and the effects of immigration, today virtually all Basques (except for some children below school age) can use and understand the official language of their state (Spanish or French), meaning that all Basque speakers except for little children are effectively bilingual. Spanish or French is also typically the first language learned by immigrants, many of whom do not learn Basque, although recent Basque Government policies aim to change this pattern.
Classification
The Basques are clearly a distinct ethnic group in their native region. They are culturally and especially linguistically distinct from their surrounding neighbours, and the controversial claim has often been made that they are comparably genetically distinct as well. Traditionally, by popular culture, they are considered to be tall, muscular, high-shouldered, big ears, big noses and with a very high incidence of black hair, fair skin and blue and grey eyes. Some Basques, especially in Spain, are strongly, even violently, nationalist, identifying far more firmly as Basques than as citizens of any existing state. Many others are not, feeling as Basque as Spaniards, and have to suffer from the harassment of the extreme Basque nationalists. Indeed, the only question would seem to be whether the term "ethnic group" is too weak, or whether one should favour the term "nation", advocated by many in Basque Country.
History
The Basque people are a group of people inhabiting adjacent areas of Spain and France. Their history is therefore interconnected with Spanish and French history and also with the history of many other past and present countries, particularly in Europe and the Americas.
It is thought that Basques are a remnant of the early inhabitants of Western Europe, specifically those of the Franco-Cantabrian region. Basque tribes were already mentioned in Roman times by Strabo and Pliny, including the Vascones, the Aquitani and others. There is enough evidence that they already spoke Basque in that time.
In the Early Middle Ages the territory between the Ebro and Garonne rivers was known as Vasconia, being united under the Castillian noblesse. After Muslim invasions and Frankish expansion under Charlemagne, the territory was fragmented and eventually the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Pamplona arose as the main states with basque population in the ninth century.
This state, later known as Navarre, experienced feudalization and was subjected to the influences of its vaster Aragonese, Castilian and French neighbours, with Castile annexing parts of it in the eleventh and twelfth century and from 1512 to 1521. The remainder of Navarre would end up being united to France.
Nevertheless the Basque provinces enjoyed a great deal of self-government until the French Revolution in the North and the mainly religious wars named Carlist Wars in the South trying to establish a catholic theocratic monarchy. Since then, a violent fragment of Basque society has been attempting to stablish a socialist State (see Basque nationalism) in spite of the actual self-government of the Basque Country settled by the Spanish Constitution.
Political Status
Since the nineteenth century, Basque nationalism has demanded the right of self-determination and even independence. The desire for independence is particularly common among leftist Basque nationalists. The right of self-determination was asserted by the Basque Parliament in 2002 and 2006. Since self-determination is not recognized in the Spanish Constitution of 1978, a wide majority of Basques abstained and some even voted against it in the referendum of December 6 of that year. However, it was approved by clear majority at the Spanish level, and simple majority at Navarrese and Basque levels. The derived autonomous regimes for the (Western) Basque Country was approved in later referendum but the autonomy of Navarre was never subject to referendum but just approved by the Navarrese Cortes (parliament).
Basque Diaspora
Large numbers of Basques have left the Basque Country for other parts of the world in different historical periods, often for economic or political reasons, and in some cases to escape imprisonment or death.
A great many Basques emigrated to Argentina, where they represent about 10% of the national population, and substantial numbers settled elsewhere in North and South America, particularly in Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela and the United States, where Basque place names are to be found, such as New Biscay, now Durango (Mexico), Biscayne Bay, Aguerreberry or Aguereberry Point in the United States.
In Mexico most Basques are concentrated in the Monterrey, Jalisco, and Durango areas. The largest of several important Basque communities in the United States is in the area around Boise, Idaho, home to the Basque Museum and Cultural Center and host to a Basque festival every five years. Reno, Nevada, where the Center for Basque Studies and the Basque Studies Library are located in the University of Nevada, is another significant nucleus of Basque population. There also exists a history of Basque culture in Chino, California. In Chino, there are two annual Basque festivals that celebrate the dance, cuisine, and culture of the peoples. In Winnemucca, Nevada there is an annual Basque festival that celebrates the dance, cuisine and cultures of the peoples, much like Chino. Many people in Uruguay are of Basque blood also.
There are also many Basques and people of Basque ancestry living outside their homeland in Spain, France and other European countries.
* Basques in Argentina
* Basque-American
The Basque Museum and Cultural Center
Basque Library
Basque Heritage
Center for Basque Studies University of Nevada, Reno
North American Basque Organizations
Basques in Asia
There is a little known, but thriving Basque population based in Asia, especially in the Philippines. The Philippines having been a Spanish colonial asset for over 300 years, was populated by the conquistadors, merchants, clergy, sailors and entreupeneurs that were mostly of Basque origin. These families of Basque lineage over time entrenched themselves and slowly integrated into the Philippine social landscape, developing themselves into some of the most prominent families in the country. This is evident to this day in the market dominance of Basque-originating families such as the Aboitiz shipping magnates, the Zobel de Ayala family and political clans like the Zubiris and the Ozámiz. A majority of names of Iberian (mostly Castilian and Catalan) origin in the Philippines, however, come not from actual peninsular ancestors but from the Catálogo alfabético de apellidos, a list of surnames imposed on the former Spanish province’s native inhabitants by then Captain-General Narciso Clavería. As a result of this, most Basque surnames in the Philippines are a veritable indicator of actual Iberian Peninsular ancestry, while common Castilian and Catalan family names in the Philippines could very well be traced to the catalog used by the colonial administrators in issuing out family names to natives of the Philippines who did not yet use surnames.
Some of the first Christian missionaries in Asia were of Basque descent such as the Jesuit Francis Xavier who died on Sancian Island off the Chinese Coast.
* Basques in the Philippine Islands by Jon Bilbao
Genetics
Although they are genetically distinctive in some ways, the Basques are still very typically west European in terms of their mt-DNA and Y-DNA sequences, and in terms of some other genetic loci. These same sequences are widespread throughout the western half of Europe, especially along the western fringe of the continent. The Saami people of northern Scandinavia show an especially high abundance of a mt-DNA type found at 11% amongst Basques. Somewhat higher among neighbour Cantabrians, being the isolated Pasiegos with mt-DNA V haplogroup of wider microsatellite variation than Saami.
It is thought that the Basque Country and neighbouring regions served as a refuge for palaeolithic humans during the last major glaciation when environments further north were too cold and dry for continuous habitation. When climate warmed into the present interglacial, populations would have rapidly spread north along the west European coast. Genetically, in terms of Y-chromosomes and Mt-DNA, inhabitants of Britain and Ireland are closely related to the Basques, reflecting their common origin in this refugial area. Basques, along with Irish, show the highest frequency of the Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup R1b in Western Europe; some 98% of native Basque men have this haplogroup. The rest is mainly I and a minimal presence of E3b. The Y-chromosome and mtDNA relationship between Basques and people of Ireland and Wales is of equal ratios as to neighbouring areas of Spain, where similar ethnically "Spanish" people now live in close proximity to the Basques, although this genetic relationship is also very strong among Basques and other Spaniards. In fact, as Stephen Oppenheimer has stated in The Origins of the British (2006), although Basques have been more isolated than other Iberians, they are a population representative of south western Europe.
In fact, according to a European wide study, the main components in the European genomes appear to derive from ancestors whose features were similar to those of modern Basques and Near Easterners, with average values greater than 35% for both these parental populations, regardless of whether or not molecular information is taken into account. The lowest degree of both Basque and Near Eastern admixture is found in Finland, whereas the highest values are, respectively, 70% ("Basque") in Spain and more than 60% ("Near Eastern") in the Balkans
Before the development of modern Genetics based on DNA sequencing, Basques were noted as having the highest global apportion of Rh- blood type (35% phenotypically, 60% genetically). Additionally Basques also have virtually no B blood type (nor the related AB group). These differences are thought to reflect their long history of isolation, along with times when the population size of the Basques was small, allowing gene frequencies to drift over time. The history of isolation reflected in gene frequencies has presumably been key to the Basque people retaining their distinctive language, while more recently arrived Indo-European languages swamped other indigenous languages that were previously spoken in western Europe. In fact, in accordance with other genetic studies, a recent genetic piece of research from 2007 claims: "The Spanish and Basque groups are the furthest away from other continental groups (with more diversity within the same genetic groups) which is consistent with the suggestions that the Iberian peninsula holds the most ancient West European genetic ancestry."
