Aezkoa Valley is an administrative unit of Navarre, Spain. It is formed by several smaller municipalities: Abaurregaina, Abaurrepea, Aria, Aribe (seat of the Valley administration), Garraioa, Garralda, Hiriberri (town), Orbaitzeta and Orbara.
The valley has c. 1200 people inscribed as residents but only around 800 live there regularly.
Aezkoa valley encompasses the upper course of the Irati river, a territory full of oak and beech woods (60% of the land). The more mountainous fraction of it is known as the Irati Forest, that also extends into Lower Navarre. It has two natural reserves: Mendilatz, in the Irati Forest, and Truistuibartea. The upper Irati also has a reservoir known as Irabia reservoir, in the midst of Irati Forest.
Other points of interest are the ruins of the weapons' manufacture of Orbaizeta. Orbaizeta also has an accommodation and used to have a camping but it is now out of business. There are several megalithic monuments in the mountains north of the valley, that are part of the Pyrenees. Best known, maybe because it's easy access, is the dolmen of Urkuilu mountain.
It is known that, before the consolidation of the Kingdom of Navarre in the 9th century, there was already a community in the valley that possibly was participant in the famous Battle of Roncevaux, not far away. The lineage of Abaurrea is the oldest one to be mentioned living in the valley.
Aezkoans also participated in the Battle of Navas de Tolosa in 1212. King Sancho the Wise improved the chart of the valley in 1229. In 1443 Aezkoa gained the control of its mountain passages. In 1462 the Valley gained collective gentry rights for all its inhabitants. Since then, all kings gave oath to respect the chart of the valley until 1609.
After Navarre was annexed by Castile, the valley suffered two persecutions for witchery. In 1525, soon after the consolidation of the Spanish conquest, 9 neighbours were burnt at the stake and many others died in prison or suffered tortures. In 1575 6 women of the valley were brought to Logroño accused of witchcraft, nothing was proven but 4 of them died because of the tortures.
In 1774, the valley suffered, together with other areas of northern Navarre, a massive epidemic that killed all its cattle. The war of 1793-95 against France caused much destruction in the valley. It was in this period when the weapons' manufacture of Orbaizeta was built(1784–94), employing more than 50 workers and being able to manufacture up to 3600 bombs per year. This manufacture was also affected by the Napoleonic and Carlist Wars in the 19th century.
In the 20th century the most important phenomenon is the rural exodus, caused by the crisis of the cattle-herding sector, that reduced its population to only c.1000 inhabitants.
The Basque sub-dialect of the valley, known as Aezkera, belongs to the High Navarrese dialect but it has strong influence from Lower Navarrese and specially nearby subdialect of Salazar Valley. It used to be a Basque-speaking valley before the fascist coup of 1936, nowadays Basque-speakers are estimated to be around 40% of the inhabitants. Though the dialect is still alive, its situation is extremely delicate.
The vast majority of children go nowadays to Basque-speaking schools, which is helping to revive the traditional language of the valley.
Navarre, officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Nouvelle-Aquitaine in France. The capital city is Pamplona. The present-day province makes up the majority of the territory of the medieval Kingdom of Navarre, a long-standing Pyrenean kingdom that occupied lands on both sides of the western Pyrenees, with its northernmost part, Lower Navarre, located in the southwest corner of France.
Pamplona is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain.
Álava or Araba, officially Araba/Álava, is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Álava, former medieval Catholic bishopric and now Latin titular see.
The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people. The Basque Country is located in the western Pyrenees, straddling the border between France and Spain on the coast of the Bay of Biscay.
Lower Navarre is a traditional region of the present-day French département of Pyrénées-Atlantiques. It corresponds to the northernmost merindad of the Kingdom of Navarre during the Middle Ages. After the Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre (1512–24), this merindad was restored to the rule of the native king, Henry II. Its capitals were Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and Saint-Palais. In the extreme north there was the little sovereign Principality of Bidache, with an area of 1,284 km2 (496 sq mi) and a decreasing population of 44,450, 25,356.
Labourd is a former French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées Atlantiques département of Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. It is one of the traditional Basque provinces, and identified as one of the territorial component parts of the Basque Country by many, especially by the Basque nationalists.
Ainhoa is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwestern France.
Ochagavía or Otsagabia is a town and municipality in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain. It is situated in the north of the Valley of Salazar, near the Irati Forest and not far from the border with France.
Uharte-Arakil is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain.
Getaria is a town on the Urola coast, in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in northern Spain. It borders Zarautz to the east and Zumaia to the west.
La Bastide-Clairence is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France.
The French Basque Country, or Northern Basque Country, is a region lying on the west of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Since 1 January 2017, it constitutes the Basque Municipal Community presided over by Jean-René Etchegaray.
Gipuzkoan is a dialect of the Basque language spoken mainly in the central and eastern parts of the province of Gipuzkoa in Basque Country and also in the northernmost part of Navarre. It is a central dialect of Basque according to the traditional dialectal classification of the language based on research carried out by Lucien Bonaparte in the 19th century. He included varieties spoken in the Sakana and Burunda valleys also in the Gipuzkoan dialect, however this approach has been disputed by modern Basque linguists.
Hernani is a town and municipality located in the province of Gipuzkoa, Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. The town sits on the left bank of the Urumea river. It is located at a distance of 9.2 km from San Sebastián. The municipality of Hernani occupies an area of approximately 40 square kilometres and is bordered by San Sebastián, Astigarraga, Arano, Elduayen, Errenteria, Lasarte-Oria and Urnieta.
Campoo is a comarca (district) of Cantabria (Spain) located in the High Ebro. With an area of slightly more than 1,000 km2, it includes the municipalities of Hermandad de Campoo de Suso, Campoo de Enmedio, Campoo de Yuso, Valdeolea, Valdeprado del Río, Valderredible, Reinosa, Las Rozas de Valdearroyo, Santiurde de Reinosa, Pesquera, and San Miguel de Aguayo. The local inhabitants are called Campurrians . Its highest elevation is the Cuchillón peak, and the lowest is Pesquera, with the capital, Reinosa at 850 m.
The Battle of Orbaizeta was fought from 15 to 17 October 1794 during the War of the Pyrenees, between the French Army of the western Pyrenees led by Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey and Spanish forces under the command of Pedro Téllez-Girón, 9th Duke of Osuna. Part of the wider French Revolutionary Wars, this engagement was fought over a wide area to the northwest and northeast of Pamplona in Navarre and ended in a French victory. The Spanish defenders gave up territory to the north of Pamplona, including a number of strategic locations.
The physical geography of the Basque Country is very diverse despite the small size of the region. The territory hosts a blend of green and brown to yellowish tones, featuring hilly terrain altogether. The Basque Country spreads from the rough coastal landscape to the semi-desert of the Bardenas on the south-eastern fringes of Navarre.
The Irati river(Basque: Iratiko erreka) is a right bank tributary of the Aragon in Sangüesa, Navarre. It begins in the Irati Forest, then feeds the water retenue of 'Itoiz.
Ostabarret is a central region of the traditional province of Basse-Navarre in the far south of France. It corresponds to the valley of the upper reaches of the river Bidouze. It is hilly, open country, characterized by low mountains and round hills between 160 and 650 metres in elevation. The region takes its name from the village of Ostabat.
The Sierra de Leyre or Sierra de Leire is a mountain range in Navarre (Spain). It is the first pre-Pyrenean mountain range and is located in the northeast of the Comunidad Foral. It is 30 km long and has an east–west orientation.
