* 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 )

Family transmission of Basque language ( Basque as initial language ) Percentage of students registered in Basque language schools ( 2000 – 2005 ). Location of the Basque-language provinces within Spain and France

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.

A standardized form of the Basque language, called Euskara Batua, was developed by the Basque Language Academy in the late 1960s.

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.

The role of this standard Basque language depends on the linguistic educational model of each region and each school.

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 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.

Bayonne ( from Basque ibai, " river ") became a key place on the route between the Adour and Ebro Rivers, which served as a kind of link between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

As time passed, the role of separate assemblies was superseded by the single assembly in Guernica, and by 1512, its oak, known as the Gernikako Arbola, became symbolic of the traditional rights of the Basque people as a whole.

The term Japhetic was also applied by the early linguists ( brothers Grimm, William Jones, Rasmus C. Rask and others ) to what later became known as the Indo-European language group, on the assumption that, if descended from Japheth, the principal languages of Europe would have a common origin, which apart from Uralic, Kartvelian, Pontic, Dagestanian, and Basque, appears to be the case.

On May 20, 1980, by decision of the Basque Parliament, Vitoria-Gasteiz became the capital of the Basque Country.

Regional identification is most pronounced today in cultures linked to regional languages and non-French-speaking traditions-French language itself being only a dialect of Langue d ' oïl, the mother language of many of the languages to-be-mentioned, which became a national vehicular language, like ( in alphabetical order ): Alsatian, Arpitan, Basque, Brezhoneg ( Breton ), Burgundian, Corsu ( Corsican ), Català ( Catalan ), Francique, Gallo, Lorrain, Norman, Occitan, Picard, Poitevin, Saintongeais, etc., and some of these regions have promoted movements calling for some degree of regional autonomy, and, occasionally, national independence ( see, for example, Breton nationalism, Corsica and Occitania ).

During World War II the exiled PNV government attempted to join the Allies and settled itself in New York to gain American recognition and support, but soon after the war finished, Franco became an American ally in the context of the Cold War, depriving the PNV any chance for power in the Basque Country.

Following the standardization of Basque in the 1960s, the name of the restored force became " Ertzaintza " from the respelled herri and zain ( compare with artzain, " shepherd " from ardi + zain ), with the suffix-tzain.

This industrial tradition had its continuity in modern times, and Legazpi became one of the most important metallurgic centres in the industrialised modern Basque Country.

Before Yosemite became a park, Basque sheepherders would graze their flocks here, and in other areas of the Sierra Nevada.

José Antonio Aguirre, the party leader, became in October 1936 the first lendakari ( Basque president ) of the wartime multipartite Basque Government, ruling the unconquered parts of Biscay and Guipuzcoa.

He was nominated PNV presidential candidate on March 28, 1998 to compete in the October 25 Basque election and became President on January 2, 1999.

A long-time associate of José María Aznar, Rajoy made the move into national politics when Aznar became Prime Minister in 1996 with the support of Basque Nationalist Party ( PNV ), Convergence and Union ( CiU ) and the Canarian Coalition, serving as Minister of Public administration and Minister of Education and Culture in the first Aznar administration.

Tejero entered the Guardia Civil in 1951 and was the leader of the Comandancia in the Basque province of Guipúzcoa, but had to ask to be transferred to another region when his public declarations against the Basque flag, the Ikurriña, became known.

Renowned as a climber, Mayo turned pro with in 2000, and became one of the Basque Country's prospects for glory.

In 1833, Navarre and the whole Basque region in Spain became the chief stronghold of the Carlists, but recognized Isabella II as queen in 1839 after the First Carlist War.

The genre of the music became known as " Rock Radical Vasco " ( Basque Radical Rock ).

In 1928 these three clubs and Athletic Bilbao became founding members of La Liga, demonstrating further the strength in depth of the Basque canteras at the time.

The Iberian language, like all the other Paleohispanic languages except Basque, became extinct by the 1st to 2nd centuries AD, after being gradually replaced by Latin.

Although Franco suppressed basically all Basque culture, it is said that “ when General Franco became the dictatorial leader of Spain at the end of the war, he took immediate active steps to eradicate the Basque language.

They reached a huge degree of influence in Basque and Spanish punk, as other bands like La Polla Records, Cicatriz and Eskorbuto became famous in the 80's underground scene.

Apart from this standardized version, there are five main Basque dialects: Bizkaian, Gipuzkoan, and Upper Navarrese in Spain, and Navarrese-Lapurdian and Zuberoan ( in France ).

Despite its nominal submission to the Merovingians, the ethnic make-up of new realm Aquitaine wasn ´ t Frankish, but Gallo-Roman north of the Garonne and main towns and Basque, especially south of the Garonne.

It was built in 1918 as the main residence of the family of the local entrepreneur Serafin Ajuria, and it is a fine example of the Basque architecture of the period.

In 1991, the Basque government suggested to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation that it would fund a Guggenheim museum to be built in Bilbao's decrepit port area, once the city's main source of income.

The areas over which Carlism could establish some sort on territorial authority during the first war ( Navarre, Rioja, rural Basque Country, inner Catalonia and northern Valencia region ) would remain the main holdings of Carlism for all its history, although the movement was actively supported everywhere else in Spain.

This was the main reason that drove the Francoist provincial government of Alava to create a network of Basque medium schools ( Ikastola ) in 1973 which were State financed.

Their main task was the creation of a police force named Ertzaña ( a Basque neologism for " People care "), with on foot and motorised corps ( Igiletua ), totalling joint forces of around 1, 500 agents.

In 1609 and 1610 Logroño was the main seat of the Basque witch trials, part of the Spanish Inquisition.

* The First Carlist War ( 1832-1839 ) lasted more than seven years and the fighting spanned most of the country at one time or another, although the main conflict centered on the Carlist homelands of the Basque Country and Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia.

Born in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France, a Basque fishing village, he served in the French Army during World War I before returning home to become the French champion in main nués, pala and chistera, all varieties of Basque pelota.

One simple, and possible reason for Richthofen sanctioning the bombing, was that two main roads were being used to supply 23 Basque battalions at Bilbao intersected at Guernica.

The main sport in the Basque Country, as in the rest of Spain and much of France, is football.

The main town of Labourd is Bayonne, although the capital up to the French Revolution was Ustaritz, 13 km away, where local Basque leaders assembled.

This situation changed when Basque film maker Álex de la Iglesia appointed them for the main themes in his films Acción mutante ( Mutant Action, 1993 ) and El día de la bestia ( The Day of the Beast, 1995 ).

After leaving the harbour the whalers either proceeded to the main whaling grounds off southern Labrador, or headed home to the Basque country.

Although their lyrics also evolved from " party-ska " to " combat-rock " ( in their last record all the songs were sung in Basque ) the main tone stayed intact: police torture, oppression of the Basque people and the need for social justice are recurrent subjects in their songs.

Arzalluz was the main spokesman for the Basque Nationalist Party, publishing his opinions every Sunday in the Basque newspaper Deia and in many public speeches during PNV rallies, some of which took place on Party Day and on the Day of the Basque Homeland.

Both " Mojave " and " La Cote Basque " were exposes of the dysfunctional personal lives led by the author's main benefactors, CBS head Bill Paley and his wife Babe, then terminally ill with cancer.