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BASQUE PROVINCES (Provincias Vasconga...

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 485 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BASQUE PROVINCES (Provincias Vascongadas) , a See also:

division of See also:north-eastern See also:Spain, comprising the three provinces of See also:Alava, See also:Biscay or Vizcaya and Guipfizcoa. Pop. (1900) 603,596; See also:area 2739 sq. in., the third in See also:density in Spain. The territory occupied by the Basque Provinces forms a triangle bounded on the See also:west and See also:south by the provinces of See also:Santander, See also:Burgos and Logrono, on the See also:east by See also:Navarre, on the north by See also:France and the See also:Bay of Biscay. The See also:French Pays Basque forms See also:part of the arrondissements of-See also:Bayonne and See also:Mauleon. For an See also:account of the See also:people, their origin, customs and See also:language, see See also:BASQUES. Of the Provinces, Guipfizcoa is the only one which is wholly Basque, Alava is the least so. Its See also:capital, See also:Vitoria, is said to have been founded by the See also:Gothic See also:king See also:Leovigild (581). Older than these divisions, the date of which is uncertain, the See also:ancient limits of the dioceses of See also:Pamplona, Bayonne and See also:Calahorra, probably corresponded more nearly to the boundaries of the ancient tribes, the Autrigones, the Caristi, the Varduli and the Vascones, with their still differing dialects, than do these See also:civil provinces. Leaving aside the legendary and uncertain portion of their See also:history, we find the Provinces in some districts dependent See also:allies of Navarre, in others of See also:Castile. In Biscay the See also:counts of See also:Haro were lords of Biscay from 1093 to 1350. There was a See also:short See also:union with Castile under Pedro the Cruel, but the definitive union did not take See also:place till 137o.

In Alava the ruling See also:

power was the See also:con-federation of Arriaga (so called after its See also:meeting place), which See also:united the See also:province to the See also:crown of Castile in 1332. Guipfizcoa, which had been dependent sometimes on Navarre, sometimes on Castile, was definitively united to Castile in 1200. From the See also:year 1425 the provinces were desolated by party See also:wars among the lesser nobles (parientes mayores) but these came to an end in 146o-1498, when See also:Henry IV. and See also:Ferdinand the See also:Catholic strengthened the power of the towns and forbade the erection of any fortified See also:house in the See also:country. Though the three Basque Provinces were thus united to the crown of Spain, they still remained a See also:land apart (tierra apartada). Their juntas acted to some extent in See also:common; and although no written federal pact is known to have existed, they employed, as the See also:symbol of their unity, a See also:seal with the word Iruracbat, " The Three One," engraved upon it. They preserved their own See also:laws, customs, fueros (see BASQUES), which the See also:Spanish See also:kings swore to observe and maintain. Unless countersigned by the juntas the decrees of See also:Cortes and Spanish legislation or royal orders had no force in the Provinces. In the See also:junta of 1481 See also:Guipuzcoa alone proposed a treaty of friendship, See also:peace and See also:free See also:trade for ten years with See also:England, and this was signed in See also:Westminster, on the 9th of See also:March 1482 (see See also:Rymer, Foedera). The Basques still made their own See also:treaties with England and France and are mentioned apart from Spain in the treaty of See also:Utrecht (1713). They still preserved in their municipal institutions the old See also:style of republicas derived from the civitales and respublicae of ancient See also:Rome. This See also:kind of See also:independence and See also:autonomy lasted unchallenged until the See also:death of Ferdinand VII. in 1833, when, in See also:default of male heirs, his See also:brother See also:Don See also:Carlos claimed the See also:throne, confirmed the Basque fueros, and raised the See also:standard of revolt against his niece, See also:Isabel II. A seven years' See also:war followed, in which an See also:English See also:legion under See also:Sir See also:George de See also:Lacy See also:Evans and a See also:naval force under See also:Lord See also:John See also:Hay took part.

It was ended by the Convenio de Vergara (See also:

August 31st, 1839) in which the con-cession and modification of the fueros was demanded. The troubled See also:period which followed the See also:expulsion of Isabel II. in 1868 gave opportunity for a second Carlist war from 1872 to 1876. This ended, unlike the former one, in the utter defeat of the Carlist forces, and See also:left the Provinces at the See also:mercy of the See also:government, without terms or agreement. In See also:general government and legislation the Provinces were then assimilated to the See also:rest of the nation. After 1876, the Provincial parliaments (d¢putaciones) were elected like the other provincial See also:councils of Spain, deprived of many privileges and subjected to the See also:ordinary interference of the civil See also:governors. But their representatives,assisted by the senators and deputies of the Basque Provinces in the Cortes, negotiated successive pacts, each lasting several years, securing for the three Provinces their municipal and provincial self-government, and the See also:assessment, See also:distribution and collection of their See also:principal taxes and See also:octroi duties, on the understanding that an agreed sum should be paid annually to the See also:state, subject to an increase whenever the See also:national See also:taxation of other provinces was augmented. In See also:December 1906, after See also:long discussion, the contribution of the Basque Provinces to the state, according to the See also:law of the 21st of See also:July 1876, was fixed for the next twenty years; for the first ten years at 8,500,000 pesetas, for the next ten an additional 500,000 pesetas, from 31st December 1916 to 31st December 1926, the province of Guipuzcoa paying in addition 700,000 pesetas to the See also:treasury. These pacts have hitherto been scrupulously observed, and as the See also:local authorities See also:levy the contribution after their own local customs, landed See also:property and the See also:industrial and commercial classes are less heavily taxed in these territories than in the rest of Spain. Enough is raised, however, besides the amount handed over to the government, to enable the See also:schools, roads, harbours and public See also:works of every kind to be maintained at a standard which compares very favourably with other parts of Spain. When the three provinces sent in their first contingent of con-scripts in 1877, it was found that all but about sixty knew how to read and write, and succeeding contingents have kept up this high standard. In See also:agriculture the Basque Provinces and the Pays Basque were See also:great See also:cider countries, but during the 19th See also:century this was gradually replaced by See also:wine-growing. The See also:chief See also:industries of the Basque Provinces are the See also:sea See also:fisheries and See also:iron See also:mining.

Some of the mines See also:

round See also:Bilbao have been worked from pre-historic times. In 1905 the Basque Provinces produced 5,302,344 tons of iron, over five millions of which came from Biscay, out of a See also:total of 9,395,314 tons for the whole of Spain. More than the See also:half of this total 5,845,895 tons, was exported to England. The svyords of Mondragon in Guipfizcoa were renowned before those of See also:Toledo. Eibar in the same province has long been a small-arms factory. There in the 19th century Senor See also:Zuloaga successfully revived the See also:artistic See also:inlaying of See also:gold and See also:silver in See also:steel and iron.

End of Article: BASQUE PROVINCES (Provincias Vascongadas)

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