Basques

ETHNONYMS: Eskualdunak, Euskaldunak, Vascos

Orientation

Identification. Basques inhabit the area of southwestern Europe where the western spur of the Pyrenees meets the Cantabrian seacoast. Their territory straddles the French-Spanish frontier, providing a distinction between Spanish Basques and French Basques. There are four traditional Regions (Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, Nafarroa, Araba) on the Spanish side and three (Lapurdi, Behe-Nafarroa, and Zuberoa) on the French side. Basques refer to their homeland as "Euskal-Herria" (land of the Basques) or "Euskadi" (country of the Basques). While the seven regions have not been unified for nearly a millennium, the Basques remain one of Europe's most distinctive ethnic groups.

Location. The Basque country is located between 41° to 43° N and 0° to 3° W. It contains 20,747 square kilometers, of which 17,682 square kilometers are on the Spanish side of the frontier. The Basque country contains three ecological zones. The northern zone is comprised of the Cantabrian seacoast and interior foothills. It has a maritime climate and is one of the wettest regions in Europe. The ridges of the Pyrenees constitute a central zone with an alpine climate. The southern zone, or about two-thirds of the Basque country, is in the rain shadow of the Pyrenees and has a continental climate.

Demography. In 1975 the population was 2,871,717, of which only 229,383 persons resided on the French side. Population density varies greatly by region. Highly urbanized Biz-kaia has 533 persons per square kilometer, while rural Behe-Nafarroa has only 22. There are an estimated 828,000 Basque speakers. Basque language proficiency is distributed unevenly, being concentrated primarily in the northern and central ecological zones. It is also more pronounced in rural and fishing communities than in the urban centers. In recent years there has been a vigorous campaign by Basque nationalists to encourage Basque language acquisition. It has met with considerable (though not total) success. AU Basques are fluent in either French or Spanish (some in both), depending on which side of the border they inhabit. Use of the Basque language has declined over the centuries in places where it was spoken previously, and use of French and Spanish has increased because of the influx of non-Basque speakers into the area.

Linguistic Affiliation. Basque is an agglutinative language and employs the Roman alphabet. It is the sole representative of its own language family. Scholars have tried to demonstrate affinities between Basque and languages from disparate parts of the world, particularly languages in the Caucasus Mountains of Russia. Another possibility is that Basque is linked to Ibero, a language spoken throughout the Iberian Peninsula in pre-Roman times.

History and Cultural Relations

The uniqueness of the language underscores the mystery of the origins of the Basques. Some scholars have suggested that they may even be the direct descendants of Cro-Magnons and the Upper Paleolithic cave painters active in Southwestern Europe about 15,000 years ago. Until the Middle Ages Basques were an enclaved, pastoralist people, fierce in resisting the intrusions of outsiders and regarded as barbarians by them. Romans, Goths, Franks, and Moors all controlled parts of the Basque Country without ever quite subjugating it. It was a Basque force that attacked Charlemagne's rear guard as it traversed the Pass of Roncesvalles, killing Roland and giving rise to the famous epic The Song of Roland. After a.d. 1000 the several Basque regions came increasingly under the influence of emerging European kingdoms and duchies. Subsequently the embryonic states of England, France, and Spain fought for control over the regions, which frequently became pawns in larger power plays. Sovereignty over the various Basque regions shifted according to the fortunes of battle or the whims of marital alliances among Europe's royalty. Basques retained, however, a considerable degree of autonomy in their own affairs, codified in written fueros or charters. This relative autonomy was reflected in the custom whereby the monarchs of Castille, upon ascending the throne, were required to travel to the town of Guernica to swear beneath a sacred oak to respect Basque laws. Coastal Basques were Europe's earliest whalers. Their shipbuilding and navigational skills made them Iberia's most noted seafarers. By the early fifteenth century (and possibly earlier) Basques were crossing the Atlantic for whaling and cod fishing off the Labrador coast. Basques crewed the ships of Columbus and Magellan. (The Basque Elcano was the first to circumnavigate the globe.) Basque mariners, mercenaries, merchants, and missionaries swelled the ranks of Spain's colonial elite, providing much of the shipping in the American trade and capital for development of the colonies and becoming major figures in both the civil and ecclesiastical administrations. The French Revolution, with its strong centralist tendencies, destroyed the political autonomy of Lapurdi, Behe-Nafarroa, and Zuberoa. Many of their residents resisted and were sent to the guillotine or to concentration camps. In the nineteenth century Basques fought on the losing side of Spain's two Carlist Wars, relinquishing much of their political autonomy in defeat. This, coupled with the late nineteenth-century influx of Spanish workers to Basque industries, which threatened to make Basques a minority in their homeland, caused concern. By 1900 a modern Basque nationalist movement had emerged to confront Madrid's policies in the Basque country. The nationalists contested elections when allowed to do so, gaining control of many municipalities and the provincial assemblies of Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia. When the Spanish Civil War erupted in 1936, those two provinces remained loyal to the republic, fielded an army, and elected an autonomous government that issued passports and coined its own currency. Within nine months the Basques were defeated by Franco, many were executed or imprisoned, thousands were exiled, and the Basque government had been removed to Paris. During the Franco years there was systematic repression of Basque culture. Consequently, in the late 1950s disaffected Basque youths founded an organization known as "ETA" (Euskadi ta Azkatasuna, or "Basque Country and Freedom") with the goal of complete independence from Spain. Its opposition to Franco escalated into violence, providing Europe with one of its most virulent terrorist movements. Franco's death in 1975 ushered in an era of democracy in Spain. Mainline Basque nationalists collaborated in the framing of a new constitution that accorded considerable autonomy to the regions.

Settlements

In the northern ecological zone there are major cities such as Bilbo (Bilbao), Donastia (San Sebastian), and Baiona (Bayonne), as well as regional manufacturing centers of considerable importance (Eibar, Mondragon, Irun). There are many coastal fishing villages with 5,000-10,000 inhabitants. The interior foothills have peasant villages ranging from 500 to 3,000 inhabitants. The village usually encompasses a river valley and the surrounding hillsides. The nucleus, with church, school, taverns, town hall, handball court or fronton (jai alai arena), general stores, and offices of a few professionals (doctor, veterinarian, pharmacist, postmaster) is located on the valley floor. The surrounding hillsides contain baserriak, or farmsteads (sing., baserria ), either isolated from one another or clustered into hamlets of ten or twelve dwellings surrounded by their collective landholdings. The dwellings are massive stone structures, often three stories tall. The ground floor is for animal stables, the second floor is living space, while the third is used to store hay and other crops.

Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities. Only about 20 percent of the population is engaged in agriculture. In Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa more than 50 percent of the active labor force is employed in industry. Until recently the Basque baserria was a mixed-farming enterprise in which the emphasis was upon self-sufficiency. The farm family grew its own wheat, corn, vegetables, fruits, and nuts and raised poultry, rabbits, pigs, cows, and sheep. Land held in common by the village was an important source of animal pasturage, ferns for animal bedding, limestone for fertilizer, and wood for fuel and building materials. Over the past fifty years there has been increasing commercialization of agriculture. Cropland has been converted either to intensive vegetable growing or fodder Production for dairy farming, both to supply urban markets. Agriculture is mechanized, though on a small scale because of the steep terrain. In the central ecological zone there is little permanent settlement. In the summer months shepherds ascend with their flocks and loggers cut hardwood species (oak and beech). In the southern ecological zone agriculture is of the large-estate variety with widely dispersed "agrotowns" surrounded by large holdings. The main crops are the Mediterranean trilogy of wheat, olives, and grapes. Near the Ebro River there is extensive irrigation that permits vegetable growing on a large commercial scale. Basque coastal fishing villages today send their fleets into the Cantabrian and Irish seas for hake, anchovies, and sea bream, and as far as the coasts of western Africa in search of tuna. Some of the vessels are state-of-theart with mechanical nets, refrigeration, and sonic depth finders and helicopters for finding their quarry.

Industrial Arts. The Basque country is one of Iberia's most industrialized regions. The city of Bilbo (Bilbao) houses many heavy industries, including steel plants and shipbuilding facilities. It is also one of western Europe's major ports for off-loading petroleum from supertankers. Smaller industrial towns specialize in modern consumer goods ranging from plastics to sewing machines. There is also an arms industry. Industrial pollution is a major problem in the Basque Country, causing poor air quality in the cities, which is exacerbated by traffic congestion. Most of the rivers are notably polluted.

Trade. While some farmers and fishermen market their products directly in nearby towns and cities, the Basque country now has an efficient network of commercial outlets including supermarkets and department stores.

Division of Labor. There is considerable equality between the sexes. In agriculture women frequently work alongside men at the same tasks. In urban areas women are increasingly employed in industry and services. Domestic chores remain, however, largely the purview of women.

Land Tenure. To be the owner of a farm was socially prestigious and represented economic security in a society in which arable land was at a premium. However, developments over the past fifty years have produced both a glut and a scarcity of land. On the one hand, the inability of peasant agriculture to generate sufficient income to support a twentieth-century life-style has prompted many families simply to abandon agriculture, departing for a city and either letting their baserria fall into disuse or planting it with pines for eventual sale to the paper-pulp industry. On the other hand, many urbanites are now buying or renting baserriak and converting them into chalets—weekend refuges from urban ills.

Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. The urban Basque family is of the nuclear variety, maintaining its own apartment. In the southern ecological zone the nuclear family also predominates in rural districts. On the baserriak the stem family is the basic social form. Kinship is reckoned bilaterally; there is an Ego-centrically defined kindred but it is important only at the marriage or death of the defining member. Neighbors, usually unrelated, play a key role in rural Basque society. One's lenbizikoatia, or "first of the neighborhood," is the household of first recourse in a crisis. The larger auzoa, or neighborhood, is the source of social intimacy and support.

Kinship Terminology. Eskimo-type terms are used. Sibling terms differ according to whether the speaker is male or female.

Marriage and Family

Marriage. Basques are monogamous and exercise considerable personal choice in selecting spouses. However, people regard the marriage of the designated male or female heir to the baserria as a household affair. The parents transfer ownership of the farm to the newlyweds as part of the marital arrangements. Small villages tend to be endogamous and cousin marriage is not infrequent, including some unions Between first cousins.

Domestic Unit. The heir to the baserria and spouse form a stem-family household with his or her parents. Unmarried siblings of the heir may remain in residence in their natal households until death, but they are subject to the authority of the active male and female heads. The family works the baserria together, with children and the elderly contributing to the lighter tasks as well. In the urban areas the apartment-dwelling nuclear family, possibly with a live-in servant for the affluent, is the domestic unit. It may also contain a spinster aunt or aging parent.

Inheritance. Ownership of the baserria is transferred to a single heir in each generation. In parts of the Basque country custom dictates male primogeniture unless the candidate is blatantly unsuitable. Out-marrying siblings of the heir are provided with dowries. They also share equally in the "Personal" wealth of their deceased parents (e.g., money, jewelry, etc.). In urban areas the offspring usually share equally in the estate of the deceased, although the national legal codes favor one recipient with a maximum of one-third of the total.

Socialization. Children are raised by everyone in the household. In the case of affluent urbanites the household may also include a female domestic servant who doubles as a nanny. On the baserriak families emphasize subordination of individual interests to the well-being of the domestic unit. One child is socialized as the heir, and his or her siblings are raised with the understanding that they should leave. This system has made the rural Basque country a seedbed of emigrants.

Sociopolitical Organization

The Basque country is a part of Spain and France, both constitutional democracies.

Social Organization. Basque society is suffused with an egalitarian ethos. The owner of a baserria is extolled as an etxekojaun (lord of the household) and his spouse as etxekoandria (lady of the household). Basque fishermen are similarly proud and independent. The Basque country was largely untouched by western European feudalism, and there is a common belief that every Basque is a noble. There is considerable social mobility, and wealth differences do not automatically determine social status. However, there is an urban Basque plutocracy of factory owners, bankers, and wealthy professionals who relate more to the Spanish and French national elites than to their fellow Basque peasants, shopkeepers, etc. There is a near castelike division between Basques and non-Basques, with the latter constituting much of the lower-class, urban proletariat. Non-Basques are the frequent targets of resentment and discrimination.

Political Organization. At the municipal level Communities are governed by an elected mayor and town council. The three regions in France form, with Bearn, the "Département des Pyrénées Atlantiques" with its seat of government in Pau. Each of the four provinces in Spain has its own popularly elected assembly or diputación. Nafarroa now constitutes its own autonomous region within the Spanish state. Gipuzkoa, Bizkaia, and Araba together form the Autonomous Community of Euskadi. This regional government is funded largely by the participating diputaciónes. With its capital in Vitoria (Gasteiz), it has its own popularly elected president, parliament, and ministries. It controls some mass media, the educational system, economic development, and cultural affairs. All foreign relations are handled by Madrid. Basques elect representatives to the Spanish and French parliaments as well.

Social Control. Social control at the local level is largely through peer pressure. The parish priest exercises moral influence beyond the strictly religious sphere.

Conflict. The Basque area is heavily policed, particularly on the Spanish side. The Spanish "Guardia Civil" is an Omnipresent, largely despised factor in local life. Even political moderates tend to regard their homeland as "occupied," and removal of this force is one of the main demands of Basque nationalists of all persuasions. Clashes between the guardias and the ETA have produced more than 600 deaths over the past three decades.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. With very few exceptions Basques are Roman Catholic. Even the smallest village has its own church. There are several major monasteries. Basque Catholicism has strong Jansenistic overtones.

Religious Practitioners. While possibly the last people in western Europe to convert to Christianity, the Basques have produced such titans of the Catholic church as Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Saint Francis Xavier. There is strong Marist devotion focused on icons of the Virgin Mary housed in several churches. Until recently there were so many religious vocations that Basque priests and nuns regularly staffed Catholic missions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Since the Second Vatican Council church attendance and religious vocations have plummeted, prompting the closure of some churches. Formerly Basques believed in witches and legendary supernatural dwellers of mountain caverns and forest fastnesses.

Arts. Practically every village has its folk-dance group. The txistu (flute) and drum, played simultaneously by a single performer, are the distinctive musical instruments. There are bertsolariak, or versifiers, capable of spontaneously composing and singing rhymes on any subject. Such performances are a part of every village festival, and regional and national championships are held periodically. In the fine arts Basques have produced several composers of note (Arriaga, Guridi, Ravel), writers (Baroja, Unamuno), painters, and sculptors (including the world-famous Eduardo Chillida).

Medicine. Even the most remote villages have access to modern medical care. Nevertheless, beliefs in the efficacy of certain folk treatments (usually herbal) persist. Some of the older generation still fear the evil eye.

Death and the Afterlife. A funeral is the most important life ritual in Basque society, triggering a year-long series of ceremonies involving the deceased's household, neighborhood, kindred, and village. Failure to conduct them is felt to compromise the deceased's smooth transition to the afterlife. Otherwise standard Christian beliefs in heaven, purgatory, and hell obtain.

Bibliography

Douglass, William A. (1969). Death in Murelaga: Funerary Ritual in a Spanish Basque Village. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Douglass, William A. (1975). Echalar and Murelaga: Opportunity and Rural Exodus in Two Spanish Basque Villages. London: C. Hurst.

Greenwood, Davydd J. (1976). Unrewarding Wealth: The Commercialization and Collapse of Agriculture in a Spanish Basque Town. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ott, Sandra (1981). The Circle of Mountains: A Basque shepherding Community. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Zulaika, Joseba (1988). Basque Violence: Metaphor and Sacrament. Reno: University of Nevada Press.

WILLIAM A. DOUGLASS