Native speakers are concentrated in a contiguous area including parts of the Spanish Autonomous Communities of the Basque Country and Navarre and in the western half of the French Département of Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

The language has official status in those territories that are within the Basque Autonomous Community, where it is spoken and promoted heavily, but only partially in Navarre.

* in the Basque Autonomous Community, 30. 1 % were fluent Basque speakers, 18. 3 % passive speakers and 51. 5 % did not speak Basque.

The percentage of fluent speakers turns out to be even higher if those under 16 are also taken into account, given that the proportion of bilinguals is particularly high in this age group ( 76. 7 % of those aged between 10 and 14 and 72. 4 % of those aged 5 – 9 ): 37. 5 % of the population aged 6 and above in the whole Basque Autonomous Community, 25. 0 % in Álava, 31. 3 % in Biscay and 53. 3 % in Gipuzkoa.

Taken together, in 2006 out of a total population of 2, 589, 600 ( 1, 850, 500 in the Autonomous Community, 230, 200 in the Northern Provinces and 508, 900 in Navarre ), there were 665, 800 who spoke Basque ( aged 16 and above ).

The 2011 figures show an increase of some 64, 000 speakers compared to the 2006 figures to 714, 136, with significant increases in the Autonomous Community but a slight drop in the Northern Basque Country to 51, 100, overall amounting to an increase to 27 % of all inhabitants of Basque provinces ( 2, 648, 998 in total ).

Guernica (; official and ) is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain.

The Basque Country (,, ) as a cultural region ( not to be confused with the homonym Autonomous Community of the Basque country ) is a European region in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain, on the Atlantic coast.

Eusko Gudariak ( originally spelt Euzko Gudariak, " Basque Soldiers ") was the republican anthem of the Eusko Gudarostea, the army of the Basque Autonomous Government during the Spanish Civil War.

It is the largest of the three provinces in the Basque Autonomous Community in geograohical terms, with 2, 963 km², but also the least populated with 317, 352 inhabitants.

Rioja is made from grapes grown not only in the Autonomous Community of La Rioja, but also in parts of Navarre and the Basque province of Álava.

There were more than 98, 000 null votes in the Basque Autonomous Country and more than 15, 000 in Navarre.

Due to fascist control of large parts of it, the first short-lived Basque Autonomous Community had power only over Biscay and a few nearby villages.

The 1978 constitution, accepted the particular Basque laws ( fueros ) In 1979 the Statute of Guernica was approved and Biscay, Araba and Gipuzkoa formed the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country.

The Autonomous Community of the Basque Country has its own parliament.

As a whole, support for Basque nationalism is stronger in the Spanish Basque Autonomous Community and north-west Navarre, whereas in the French Basque Country support is low.

While tensions remain ( for example, with Muslim immigrants and in the Basque region ), modern Spain has seen the development of a robust, modern democracy as a constitutional monarchy with popular King Juan Carlos, one of the fastest-growing standards of living in Europe, entry into the European Community, and the 1992 Summer Olympics.

It comprises 17 autonomous communities ( Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castile and León, Castile – La Mancha, Catalonia, Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja, Community of Madrid, Region of Murcia, Basque Country, Valencian Community, Navarre ) and 2 autonomous cities ( Ceuta and Melilla ).

Castilian identity is thus excluded from the historical nationalities of Spain such as Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country, but also other autonomous communities of Spain which due to historical reasons have their own strong identities, such as Andalusia, Asturias, Aragon, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and the Valencian Community.

Besides Andalusia, Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia, which identified themselves as nationalities, other communities have also taken that denomination in accordance to their historical regional identity, such as the Valencian Community, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, and Aragon.

Navarre (; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( Spanish: Comunidad Foral de Navarra ; Basque: Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea ), is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France.

* 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Guernica ( or Gernika in Basque ), Spain is bombed by German Luftwaffe.

Abbadie gave his domain the name Abbadia, which is the name still used in Basque.

* Baltic Sea is used in English ; in the Baltic languages Latvian ( Baltijas jūra ) and Lithuanian ( Baltijos jūra ); in Latin ( Mare Balticum ) and the Romance languages French ( Mer Baltique ), Italian ( Mar Baltico ), Portuguese ( Mar Báltico ), Romanian ( Marea Baltică ) and Spanish ( Mar Báltico ); in Greek ( Βαλτική Θάλασσα ); in Albanian ( Deti Balltik ); in the Slavic languages Polish ( Morze Bałtyckie or Bałtyk ), Czech ( Baltské moře or Balt ), Croatian ( Baltičko more ), Slovenian ( Baltsko morje ), Bulgarian ( Baltijsko More ( Балтийско море ), Kashubian ( Bôłt ), Macedonian ( Балтичко Море / Baltičko More ), Ukrainian ( Балтійське море (" Baltijs ' ke More "), Belarusian ( Балтыйскае мора (" Baltyjskaje Mora "), Russian ( Балтийское море (" Baltiyskoye Morye ") and Serbian ( Балтичко море / Baltičko more ); in the Hungarian language ( Balti-tenger ); and also in Basque ( Itsaso Baltikoa )

Basque ( endonym:, ) is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France.

In academic discussions of the distribution of Basque in Spain and France, it is customary to refer to three ancient provinces in France and four Spanish provinces.

Euskara Batua was created so that Basque language could be used — and easily understood by all Basque speakers — in formal situations ( education, mass media, literature ), and this is its main use nowadays.

In most areas of the Basque Country, the educational Model D, where all subjects are taught in Basque, except " Spanish language and literature " ( which is taught in Spanish ) is now the predominant model.

In Basque, the name of the language is officially Euskara ( alongside various dialect forms ).

The term Vascuence, derived from Latin vasconĭce, has acquired negative connotations over the centuries and is not well liked amongst Basque speakers generally.

Its use is documented at least as far back as the 14th century when a law passed in Huesca in 1349 stated that Item nuyl corridor nonsia usado que faga mercadería ninguna que compre nin venda entre ningunas personas, faulando en algaravia nin en abraych nin en basquenç: et qui lo fara pague por coto XXX sol — essentially penalizing the use of Arabic, Hebrew or Vascuence ( Basque ) with a fine of 30 sols.

Though geographically surrounded by Indo-European Romance languages, Basque is classified as a language isolate.

Little is known of its origins but it is likely that an early form of the Basque language was present in Western Europe before the arrival of the Indo-European languages to the area.

Some authors even argue that the language moved westward during Late Antiquity, after the fall of Rome, into the north part of Hispania in which Basque is spoken today.

All hypotheses on the origin of Basque are controversial, and the suggested evidence is not generally accepted by most linguists.

* Georgian: Linking Basque to Kartvelian languages is now widely discredited.

* Dené – Caucasian superfamily: Based on the possible Caucasian link, some linguists, for example John Bengtson and Merritt Ruhlen, have proposed including Basque in the Dené – Caucasian superfamily of languages, but this proposed superfamily includes languages from North America and Eurasia, and its existence is highly controversial.

In France, the Basque language school Seaska and the association for a bilingual ( Basque and French ) schooling Ikasbi meet a wide range of Basque language educational needs up to the Sixth Form, while often struggling to surmount financial and administrative constraints.

The delegations ( in Aragonese deputazions, in Catalan diputacions, in Basque aldundia and in Galician deputación ) have territorial character and their function is to manage the economic and administrative interests of the provinces.

While Fueros have disappeared from Spanish administrative law ( except for the Basque Country and Navarre ), there are remnants of the old laws in family law.

The Basque Government, an autonomous regional administrative body formed by Basque nationalists and leftists, sought to defend Biscay and parts of Guipuzcoa with its own light Basque Army.

The nearby coast is generally undeveloped and receives strong north-easterly winds throughout the winter, which makes the comarca or administrative unit of la Mariña Lucense, like much of the Asturian and Basque coast, excellent for surfing and water sports.