ERIC ED397622: Euskal Herria: The Country of the Basque Language = Euskal Herria: El Pais de la Lengua Vasca.

71 Pages·2.1 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME'
FL 021 206
ED 397 62'
Intxausti, Joseba
AUTHOR
Language =
Euskal Herria: The Country of the Basque
TITLE
Euskal Herria: El Pais de la Lengua Vasca.
(Spain). General
Basque Autonomous Community, Vitoria
INSTITUTION
Secretariat of Linguistic Policy.
Jan 92
PUB DATE
71p.
NOTE
de
Servicio de Publicidad, Gobierno Vasco, Duque
AVAILABLE FROM
Wellington 2, 01011 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
Descriptive (141) -- Multilingual/Bilingual
Reports
PUB TYPE
Materials (171)
English; Spanish
LANGUAGE
MF01/PC03 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
*Diachronic
*Basque; Cultural Awareness; Demography;
DFSCRIPTORS
Linguistics; European History; Foreign Countries;
*Language Usage; Lexicography; *Official Languages;
Taught
Social History; Sociolinguistics; Uncommonly
Languages; *Written Language
*Geolinguistics; *Spain (Basque Provinces)
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
present
English and Basque versions of this booklet
that straddles the
information on Euskal Herria, the Basque Country
designates both land and
Franco-Spanish border. "Euskal Herria"
which constitutes
people: "the Basque speech community." The area,
the unbroken presence of
the ancient Kingdom of Navarre, represents
thousands of years,
Basque people on the European continent over
This richly illustrated
longer than the Indo-European peoples.
geographic and demographic
booklet covers the following: current
contributions of
information; historical, religious, and cultural
emigrants; the Basque language;
Basque people in the area and as
and institutional
territorial changes, geolinguistic history,
16th and 17th
uncertainties; the first literary works in the
of the written language;
centuries; literature and the consolidation
in the 17th and 18th
socivl acts for and against the Basque language
Franco's dictatorship; the new
centuries; cultural resistance during
language has "the
political era since 1976, in which the Basque
Basque-speaking areas of
character of official language in the
been adopted; and the
Navarre" and laws regar<ing language use have
dictionaries and grammars to
development of instruments such as
(LB)
enable the modernization of the language.
***********************************************************************
be made
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can
from the original document.
***********************************************************************
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A
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
Author:
JOSEBA INTXAUSTI
3
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The Country
n the shores of the Atlantic
of the Basque
Ocean, at the very end of the Bay of
Biscay and straddling the Franco-
Language
Spanish border, Euskal Herria (the
Basque Country) opens up to the sea
through its ports of Bilbao (Bilbo), San
Sebastian (Donostia) and Bayonne
(Baiona). Further inland, by way of
contrast, beyond the mountain range
running parallel to the coast, the
horizon opens up to the southern
lands, domains of sun and vineyards:
these are the plains of Navarre with its
provincial capital Pamplona/lruna and
Araba (capital city: Vitoria-Gasteiz).
This is the country of the Basque people,
the Kingdom of Navarre of old.
EUSKAL HERRIA
This is what Euskal Herna looks like geographically. Its 20.742 km2 are
The unbroken presence of the
incluoed within two different countries and three administrative
territories the Basque Autonomous Community and the Fora!
Basque people on the Continent over
Community of Navarre as well as in the heart of the French
.,Departernent" of the Pyrenees.
thousands of years means that it is the
most European of the Peoples of
Europe, earlier than even the Indo-
European peoples.
Here in one single human
1ric7,2:4Kit,
BIZKAIA
community country, people and
elPULKOA
language have been inseparably
united since time immemorial: a
k.
fascinating oddity. It seems that the
Basques have only ever lived here,
and that this is the only land where
their language has thrived.
It is not surprising, therefore, that all
of this can be expressed in just two
words: Euskal Herria. The term
designates both land and people as
well as serving as a self-definition: .the
Basque speech community».
4
41mi
Euskal Herria Today
he Basque Country has a surface
area of 20,742 sq. km., approximately
a- Bare). cna ao 4
F-:.Aros en A .n., Gi.ow.voa
E. 4SCO 1.1979)
I
,CJRCE
C, .,
Prownc,) ae a.ja. ri Gette, Geo-gra:rt.,
!ne Navafmn
4.
3,8,
raal, L
4 .
half of which is taken up by the
'3
B,rCeora 44
TOTAL OF BASQUE SPEAKERS 18661868)
Charter Community of Navarre.
BASQUE SPEAKERS
POPULATION
HSTORICAL TERRITORIES
According to 1982, 1987 and 1988
04
65
000
80
000
CON'rtIEIrk BASOUE COLIN":
123
figures, the total population is
000
50
217
391
PENiNSULAR BASQUE CO:217,
760
'9
97
60
000
300
328
NAVARRE t'E67 681
2.884,900, 91.9% of whom live in the
9
000
494
'20
2
3
A,_AvA 1887)
8'
'49
098
43
098
483
BIZKAIA f '8671
part of the Basque Country situated in
42
04
000
70
297
GPUZKOA 1867
476
the Spanish state, and the rest in the
part in France.
THE BASQUE POPULATION OF PEI
History has divided the Basque
80
Country into the so-called Historical
Territories of Araba, Biscay, Gipuzkoa,
70
Lapurdi, Navarre, Lower Navarre and
60
Zuberoa, thus reflecting the historical
59
THE THREE
50
and administrative peculiarities of
HISTORICAL
5
TERRITORIES
each.
40
Today the territories on the Iberian
peninsula, included in the Spanish
26
3
state, are divided into two autonomous
@
23
administrative
or self-governing
2
TF011101-11E5
I-11510111CA.
17
° THE THREE
regions, with Navarre forming the
10
Charter Community of the same name,
NAVARRE
and Araba, Biscay and Gipuzkoa
1900
1860
making up the Autonomous
Community of the Basque Country
(Euskadi). The territories to the north of
WM= Pnmary Sector
01.111 Secondary Sector
the Pyrenees (Lapurdi, Lower Navarre
---77-1r Terhary Sector
and Zuberoa) fall within the French
.976 I
e,14,r$ .16 43 49
SOURCE al,ca ar. 131134 S
Département des Pyrénées-
Atlantiques.
During the last 130 years, the
Basque Country within Spain has
undergone substantial changes in its
social and economic structure. In just
(1877-1988), the total
over a century
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percentage which had been reduced
BASQUE SPEAKERS (1866-18681
During tne last hundred TIC Merl...five years ine numoers a";!.
to 13% (Navarre) and 5%
have va, cc
Basoesoeak ^g
oercemages
(Autonomous Community of the
significantly The oilingua zation crecess nas ausonJed almost
whole of the population
Basque Country) by 1985. This
startling change in demography can
be explained in terms of two
DEMOiECONOMIC SECTORIZATION (1860-19851
revolutions, one industrial and the
in poninsuiar E,skai Heria. the "austrial revolution of the las: zemury
e popu.ation not only oi,a
veiy
ijenerated imconant c-anges
other migratory. The industrial
put also in the Sectona oicinution of its population s working acirvity
ant to understand the presem sock>
This is an important factor if we
revolution occurred in successive
inguistz situation. and ultimately its o anning
stages, beginning with the coastal
provinces of Biscay and Gipuzkoa
(1876-1930), and extending later on to
the inland areas of Araba and Navarre
(1950-1980).
As far as the continental or French
Basque Country is concerned, the
population has increased from
126,000 inhabitants (1801) to 240,000
(1982). 'n the forty years between
1936 a. d 1975, there was a
substantial population movement from
the interior to the coast (Baiona-
Angelu-Biarritz, etc.). In 1936, 61% of
the population lived in this coastal
area, whilst by 1975, the proportion
had reached 94%.
30 1940
1985
1960
In 1982 the sectorial distribution of
the population showed that 12% was
population of the peninsular Basque
occupied in the primary sector, 28%
Country has increased from 754,000
in the secondary sector and 60% in
to almost three million. Moreover, in
services. These figures can be
1860, in the two Autonomous
explained by the rapid growth of the
Communities, 59% of the population
tourist industry
was employed in the primary secto,, a
POPULATION
Km
ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORICAL TERRITORIES
233 000
3 060
THE CONTINENTAL BASQUE COUNTRY (LAPURDI. NAFARROA ElEHEREA, ZUBEROA)
FRANCE
2.136.000
7 261
BASQUE AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY (ALAVA, BIZKAIA, GIPUZKOA)
SPAIN
515 000
10 241
FORAL COMMUNITY OF NAVARRE
2 884 000
20 742
TOTAL
\
12Ctarist and mt.11%) tf.11.11ts trstOVS.,e
I
and 1982 4,1 ,!19' t TN) Cont.118,8 2.3t.lut CottrItt,
"Yrnqrar,* Ifiver
'988 dias7we 01.'unemeos COrnmufmv t,at.tt COM/MANI,
34.0
.
4_
3
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The Basque Country
A land of
enturies before Isabel II of Spain
migrations
and Napoleon III brought tourism to
San Sebastian and Biarritz, European
the
routes already crossed through
Basque lands: the route from
Burdigala (Bordeaux) to Asturica
(Astorga) was used by Roman troops;
the route from Aix-la-Chapelle to
Zaragoza, via Roncesvalles (Orreaga),
by Charlemagne's; and the route to
Santiago de Compostela, through
Zangoza, Eunate and Lizarra, by
medieval pilgrims... Both these and
other routes linked the Roman towns
(Pompaelo and Veleia), the pilgrims'
hospices, the merchants' boroughs,
the monasteries, the Romanesque
treasures... Europe entered into the
Country.
very heart of the Basque
They came and we, the people of
this land, left. People from Navarre
places such
went to Euro rean meeting
in Paris (12th 13th
as the Sorbonne
LEIRE MONASTERY
In the documentation oinich exists in rneoieyal monasteries we can find
centuries), the Councils of Basle and
abundant material referring to the knowledge of Euskara at the time.
Latin
ei.en though. as ii.as normal then this material o,as written in
Constance, and the universities of
Bologna and Salamanca. To the Royal
Court of Navarre came the
troubadours of Occitania, or those
It
sciences of the
ti
eager to learn the
c
provided
Arab world; that same court
Ci
tAtA
the world with beautiful musical
compositions such as Leogundia (10th
first of
century), a unique work and the
its kind. This patchwork of cultures
Ketton
brought the Englishman Robert
in
and Herman the Dalmatian together
do,
'7
to England, the North Sea, Norway
medieval Iruna. to make the first
and Spitzberg, and the Mediterranean
translation of the Koran into Latin. at
to Genoa and Palermo (15th century),
the behest of Peter the Venerable,
sighting the Antilles, Newfoundland
Abbot of Cluny (1143).
and the river Plate during the following
When, later on in the Middle Ages,
century and reaching both the
the seas were opened up, thanks to
Moluccas and the Philippines with their
new ship-building techniques (from the
men. Humble fishermen, reckless
13th century onwards), ships built in
corsairs, arrogant admirals and
the Basque Country sailed the Atlantic
discoverers, the Basque seamen left
their plates and place-names in
Newfoundland and Canada, created a
pidgin Basque-Icelandic in the North
Atlantic and took part in the great sea
battles. They had been preceded by
others with diverse occupations, and
they rqerred to themselves 'mainly as
.Navar*se» or .Biscayan»: they went
NEWFOUNDLAND
The traditicral fishing activities of the Basque Country meant that
to Paris, Bologna and Bruges.
Basque lisherrien Nent to distant waters and lands where sometimes
they even left reirnants of tneir language viinich still exist today in some
Some of these people are well
place names T- s is Me case of Newlounoland as can be seen trom
the map oelow
known: the navigator J.S. Elkano, who
completed F. Magellan's round the
world. sea voyage in 1523; Legazpi
and Urdaneta, who opened the Pacific
route to the Philippines in 1565; J. de
Garai and M. de Zabala who founded
Buenos Aires in 1583 and Montevideo
in 1730 respectively; Friar J. de
Zumarraga (1476-1548), first
Archbishop of Mexico, who also
introduced the printing press to the
New World; B. de Etxabe, Mexico's
national painter and apologist for the
Basque language (1607); Ignatius of
Loyola (1491-1556), founder of the
Company of Jesus: Francis Xavier,
*?;164.1...
leader of the Christian Mission in the
THE MUNTSARA7Z FORTRESS
The first archbis-co of Mexico. Friar Juan de Zumarraga is the author
Far East; or Lope de Aguirre, self-
ot the longest kroNn text in Basque (1537) petore tre first book /las
published in Basque (1545). In this family letter he mentions the
confessed rebel against Philip II of
fortress which be.onged :o his ancestors in tne Durango plains o'
V.zcaya
Spain, portrayed by W. Herzog in his
1973 film as «the Wrath of God»...
Crossing into the 18th century, the
Compania Guipuzcoana de Caracas
had taken over the colonial trade with
Venezuela (1729), whilst, somewhat
later, the Country witnessed, together
with the return of migrants who had
made their fortunes in the New World
such as those who had their coats
of arms sculpted on their family homes
arrival of
-, the
in the Baztan district
the ideas and projects of the
European Enlightenment: it was the
Sociedad de Amigos del Pais set up
by the gentry of Azkoitia, ahd the
LOYOLA
In the XVillth century. the Loyola Sanctuary, with the birthplace ot Saint
Amigos del Pais de Tudela which
Ignatius (lounger al the company of Jesus) was also a sanctuary ot the
Basque language Here. important figures such as Larramenal and
paved the way for the thinking and
Kardaeraz worked
reforms of theAge of the
Enlightenment. The Royal Seminary of
Bergara became an innovative
educational model at the time of the
Spanish Enlightenment (1776).
It was with the uncertainties and
flounderings of a new age at the very
beginning of the 19th century that
North
young Basque men from the
Basque Country experienced war
under the leadership of Napoleon's
Imperial Eagle; soon afterwards came
the exile of pro-Fret-lc') peninsular
inhabitants (1839), which was the first
of a number of periods of exile to take
"---MIEML,-11181=011111IL:=11111
q
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place during this century after each of
the Carlist wars. J.M. Iparraguirre,
author of the anthem .Gernikako
Arbola», (1853), can be taken, in his
bohemian life in Europe and America,
r*
as a symbol of the thousands of men
and women economic migrants or
political exiles who left Europe for
the Argentinian Pampas or the
American West (Idaho, Nevada).
During these comings and goings of
BASQUE-SPEAKING EMIGRANTS
its own children others, too, stirred by
This family photograph (Elizondo. Baztan. 1924) reminds us that Euskal
Herne has traditionally been a country of emigration (althouo also of
curiosity, made the Basque Country
immigration, to industrial-urban areas). In the XIXth century and the first
half of the XXth century this emigrant population came from rural
the object of their visits and left their
Basque-speaking villages
mark. Without forgetting the medieval
pilgrims or later travellers (some of
whom left us valuable testimonies of
BASQUE ILLUSTRATION
our language), these visitors included
The roads of iilustration
came into the country
W. von Humboldt, founder of the
arid were transmitted by
the io-called i,Gentlemen
r,702-.
University of Berlin (1816), Victor
ot Azkoitia The Intxausti
palace became the
Hugo, who lived in the fishing village
cenacle of ther Ideas
and initiatives, where
of Pasai Donibane (1841-1843) and
they created
a Basque
Prince L.L. Bonaparte, founder of
dictionary
and carried out
Basque Dialectology studies (1863),
theatre pieces
and plays the German Romanist H. Schuchardt,
who in 1900 re-edited the classic
version of the Bible by Leizarraga
(1571). Thanks to, for example, the
interest shown by Basque scholars like
the Frenchman Vinson, the
Englishmen W. Webster and E.S.
Dodgson, the Germans V. Stempt, H.
--,!il
Schuchardt and T. Linschinann, the
Dutchmen W.J. van Eys and C.C.
Uhlenbeck, Basque studies aquired a
new status in scientific circles at the
beginning of the century.