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The Basque people refers to a culture occupying areas within modern day northern Spain and the far south-west of France, bordering the bay of Biscay and the western foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains (https://www.britannica.com/place/Basque-Country-region-Spain). This area incorporates Three regions, one in modern day France ( The “Northern Basque Country), and two in Spain: The “Basque Autonomous Community”, and the “Chartered Community of Navarre.” These regions are further divided into seven provinces: Three located within the Northern Basque Country (Labourd, Lower Navarre and Soule); three located within the Basque Autonomous Community (Alava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa), while the Chartered Community of Navarre (The capital of which is Pamplona) contains no subregions (https://www.britannica.com/place/Basque-Country-region-Spain ). When referring to the broader Basque territory, known as “The Basque Region”, the homeland of the ethnic Basque people, this is disparate from the “Basque Country”, which generally refers to the Basque Autonomous Community region, see “The Basque People: Who Are the Basques?”
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History of the Basque people
The area today known as the historic Basque Country, is largely mountainous and is split by a number of significant river systems. This relative geographic isolation has strongly contributed to the area’s historical isolation, which in turn has been fundamental in the uniqueness of the Basque Region in terms of the area’s culture, language and genetic profile.
The first known inhabitants of the Basque Country date from the Lower Palaeolithic, around 200,000 years ago (https://www.eke.eus/en/kultura/basque-country/history). With regards to more recent habitation, over the part 6,000-10,000, as was the case all throughout Europe, the area was settled by a number of tribes, with those classified as European Hunter Gatherers, and European Farmers - who originated in Anatolia and introduced agricultural practices into Europe - being the most influential. However, despite a significant contribution, the Basque region was not as heavily influenced by the Indo-European expansion from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe, throughout Europe, around 4,000-5,000 years ago, when compared to most of the remainder of Western Europe. This distinction is believed to have contributed to the relatively unique genetic profile of the Basque people - as will be discussed later - and the uniqueness of the Basque language (Euskara) which,- unlike almost every other surviving language in Europe, is not an Indo-European dialect.
During the Roman era, the Roman Empire had a presence in the region but did not remain afterward, and left very little in the way of a genetic or cultural legacy. In later times, the Vascones, a tribe native to the Pyrenees, ruled the region for a significant period, before threats from the expansion of the Franks to the north and the Moors to the south, led to the creation of the Kingdom of Navarre, whose borders covered the present day Basque Country in addition to surrounding territories which are also a part of modern day France and Spain (https://www.eke.eus/en/kultura/basque-country/history). The territorial changes during this period would contribute significantly to the genetic differentiation observed between the Basque and inhabitants of the remainder of Spain today, as - unlike the vast majority of Spain - the Basque region was not incorporated into the Moorish kingdom of Al-Andalus.
In 1515, the territory was placed under the Spanish crown of Castille during the reign of Fernando, the Catholic. Since this time, the majority of the historic Basque region has remained under Spanish rule; however, in 1981, three of the four Spanish Basque provinces were granted political autonomy, while remaining a part of Spain, with Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa forming the ‘Basque Government’, while the province of Navarre has since formed its own government and parliament (https://www.eke.eus/en/kultura/basque-country/history). With regards to the three French provinces, on 1 January, 2017, they were incorporated into the Basque Autonomous Community, which comprises the Western half of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques Department (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Basque_Country), with Béarn (Historically apart of the French Basque Country until the French Revolution of 1789 when its provinces - and other surrounding areas which were historically Basque - were abolished and incorporated into departments) comprising the eastern half of the historical French Pyrenees region. However, the Basque Autonomous Community, unlike its Spanish counterparts, does not have political autonomy, with the subject of Basque autonomy currently a point of political contention in France, with growing campaigns for Basque political autonomy emerging in France in recent decades.
Genetics of the Basque people
Over the past decade, numerous studies on the genetics of the Basque people have been released, uncovering deep insights into the origins of the Basques. A 2015 study, published in PNAS Journal, based on genetic analysis of eight Stone Age human skeletons from El Portalón in Atapuerca, northern Spain, indicated the Basque people today descend from early farmers - originally from Anatolia - who mixed with local southwest European hunter gatherers (https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34175224). These were the same farmers who spread throughout most of Europe approximately 7,000 years ago. Additionally, the study confirmed these Stone Age individuals are the closest known genetic relatives of modern Basque people, who displayed distinct genetic patterns when compared to their French and Spanish neighbours. In contrast to most sampled French and Spanish individuals, the Basque generally lack the small admixtures from other populations, such as the Romans and North Africans, observed in these individuals, resulting from historical conquests. Furthermore, as noted above, most other Spanish retain a small amount of North African DNA, resulting from the Muslim conquest of Iberia from 711 AD (https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34175224). In simple terms, the Basque could be thought of as a genetic hybrid of ancient Celtic and Iberian populations.
Similarly, a 2021 study by Bello Et al. (2021) confirmed the relative genetic singularity of the Basque population, with the Basques region - in both France and Spain - forming their own genetic cluster, displaying a gradual genetic gradient, with genetic differentiation growing as the physical distance from the Basque region increases, with regions on both sides of the border surrounding the Basque region representing a genetic midpoint between the Basques and other French and Spanish populations, respectively (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982221003493). However, rather than this being the result of the Basques descending from a unique source population, their findings suggest it is rather the result of a lack of gene flow during the Iron Age, with the relative geographic isolation of the Basque region likely playing a significant role in this relative genetic differentiation from surrounding populations. As the authors note, the Basques can be viewed as a common Iberian Iron Age source population (Which was heavily Celto-Iberian in composition), with a significant contribution from Indo-European Steppe sources - as was the case throughout most of Europe by the Iron Age - but unlike most Iberians today, lacking in additional sources such as Roman, North African and Germanic.
Likewise, another 2021 study (Luiz Et al.) exploring the Y-DNA - DNA passed from father to son - haplogroups of the Basques confirmed that the R-S116 (P312) haplogroup (A common subclade of R1B - the most common haplogroup of Western Europe and associated with the expansion of the Bronze Age Indo-European expansion) was the most abundant haplogroup observed in the studied Basque samples, presenting at 75.0% in Alava, 86.7% in Guipuzcoa and 87.3% in Vizcaya. Additionally, the estimated age of spread of the haplogroup subclade into each of the three regions was between 3500-4500 years ago, during the Bronze Age, further supporting the Indo-European expansion hypothesis. However, the authors also note the Indo-European expansion disproportionately impacted the paternal lineages in the region, with studies of Mt DNA - DNA passed down through the maternal line - throughout Iberia as a whole, pointing to strong connections to the Palaeolithic era when European hunter gatherers occupied the region (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84915-1). This contention was supported by a recent (2024) study by Crawford, who collected DNA samples from 652 individuals in 35 villages across the Basque Country in order to test common hypotheses about the genetics of the Basque people (https://academic.oup.com/book/56196/chapter-abstract/443509545?redirectedFrom=fulltext). His findings suggested the Basques are an ancient European population with strong influences from the Paleolithic era of the hunter gatherers, as well as a considerable - but not complete - replacement by farming groups during the Neolithic era (https://academic.oup.com/book/56196/chapter-abstract/443509545?redirectedFrom=fulltext).
The Basque people today
The modern day Basque Region is populated by over 3 million inhabitants, with the majority of these living in the Spanish Basque Region (https://www.eke.eus/en/kultura/basque-country). Most of the industry is located in major towns and cities along the coastline of the Bay of Biscay, with the majority of Basque inhabitants living in these areas. Much of the coastal area, particularly on the French side of the border, is dotted with high, scenic cliffs. In the interior, the areas located in and around the Pyrenees are widely dispersed and largely occupied by individual farmsteads, while the western and southern interior areas are heavily occupied by open fields and vineyards (https://www.britannica.com/place/Basque-Country-region-Spain), which grape harvesting a major industry in the Basque region.
Culturally, the Basques are a largely communal people, with many celebrated festivals and traditions. One particularly famous tradition is the Festival of San Fermín, in honour of Saint Fermín, which includes the well-known ‘running of the bulls’ event. The region is also famous for its traditional markets. Aside from these, the Basques also have strong traditions in literature, poetry and music, rooted heavily in their unique Euskara language. One uniquely Basque musical traditions is bertsularism, or improvisation, where…”t(T)he singer or bertsulari has to improvise verses in the Basque language, following a pre-determined melody, respecting rhyme and working to a set topic” (https://www.eke.eus/en/kultura/improvisation).
There are numerous Basque diaspora located around the world, today. Their numbers are greatest in the southern areas of Latin America, especially in the country of Chile, where it is estimated between 1.8 million and 4.8 million (10-27% of the total population) are of at least partial Basque ancestry (http://www.ohigginstours.com/eng/basques). The Basque emigrated to the region in large numbers both during the colonial era of the 1700s, as well as after the Spanish civil war. The Basque were often entrepreneurs, who were known for their strong work ethic, which is believed to have strongly contributed to their success the new world (http://www.ohigginstours.com/eng/basques).
Explore more about the Basque ethnicity
- https://www.britannica.com/place/Basque-Country-region-Spain
- The Basque People: Who Are the Basques? MyHeritage wiki.
- History; https://www.eke.eus/en/kultura/basque-country/history
- French Basque Country; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Basque_Country
- Ancient DNA cracks puzzle of Basque origins; https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34175224
- Genetic origins, singularity, and heterogeneity of Basques, Current Biology; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982221003493
- The Y chromosome of autochthonous Basque populations and the Bronze Age replacement, Scientific Reports; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84915-1
- Crawford, M. H. Basque Origins and Genetic Structure; https://academic.oup.com/book/56196/chapter-abstract/443509545?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false
- Basque Country; https://www.eke.eus/en/kultura/basque-country
- Improvisation; https://www.eke.eus/en/kultura/improvisation
- The Basques in Chile; http://www.ohigginstours.com/eng/basques.