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 view of the Basque Country from the landsat satellite
The main natural limits of the Basque Country are the Bay of Biscay (south-east of Cantabrian Sea) to the north and westside, and in the south side, the Ebro river. The highest point in the Basque Country is the Hiru Erregeen Mahaia peak (2438 m high).
Coast
The Butroe river joins the sea in Plentzia
The coast of the Basque Country has three sides. The coast of Biscay is rough but in general there are big beaches. There are also at least two big estuaries, that of Ibaizabal (known also as the Ría de Bilbao) and Urdaibai.
The coast of Gipuzkoa shows a more rugged terrain and in general the slopes are steeper. From the limit of Biscay to Zumaia there are smaller beaches and they are more rocky. East of Zumaia, they are larger and longer. When different rivers join the sea, small estuaries can be found (Oria), and in the others, maritime branches (Urumea, Bidasoa).
The coast of Lapurdi is flatter. The beaches are longer and the slopes gentler. The rivers Bidasoa and Adour join the ocean in Lapurdi.
Mountains
The Aliutz mountain (Biscay)
The Basque country is mountainous. Most of the mountains are along an east-west axis, at the west of the Pyrenees.
The most important rock there is limestone, but there are also mountains composed of other materials. For example, Aiako Harria is composed of granite.
The Ebro is the largest river which crosses the Basque Country. It is 910km long, and flows along the southern boundary of the Basque Country before it joins the Mediterranean sea. On its way east, the Ebro harvests the water of a string of tributaries, such as Zadorra, Baias, Ega and Aragon. Aragon's course is the longest, at 192km. The river rises in Astun, located in Aragon; it flows down past the Esa reservoir, and crosses thereafter eastern Navarre until it joins the river of Ebro.
Aturri, which joins the sea in the coast of Basque Country, is the largest river and has the biggest water flow. Its source is in Tourmalet and it joins the sea in Baiona, crosses 335km of land, the last 30km of which are in Basque Country. It has several tributaries from the Pyrenees, including the Biduze, Errobi, and Aran. Like Aturri, other Basque rivers join the sea in the Bay of Biscay, such as Nerbioi, Bidasoa, Oria, Deba, Urola, and Urumea. The Nerbioi is the longest such river in the Basque Country, with a length of 75km.
Forests
The forest of Irati is the largest in the Basque Country, and one of the main beech forests in Europe. It covers parts of Lower Navarre, Zuberoa and Spanish Navarre.
Otherwise, from Sakana to Aezkoa extending all over the north of Navarre, deciduous forests abound. These breed of trees can be also found on the east of Álava, in the region called Mendialdea and Araialdea, and in Zuberoa and Lower Navarre. They exist in Gipuzkoa too, in the middle of Urola and in Aralar.
In Biscay, there are evergreen forests throughout 66% of the province. The main exceptions of this are some places of Enkarterri and in Durango (Urkiola Natural Park). In Gipuzkoa, 56% of the trees there are conifers, but in Álava they consist of only 28% of the trees.
Currently, 55% of Basque Country is covered by trees, and in Navarre the figure is 45%.
Desert
The natural park of Barde is the biggest desert, and is located in the south east of Navarre. It is 41.845 hectares in area. It is 45km from north to south, and 24km from west to east.
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.
Biscay is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao.
Basque nationalism is a form of nationalism that asserts that Basques, an ethnic group indigenous to the western Pyrenees, are a nation and promotes the political unity of the Basques, today scattered between Spain and France. Since its inception in the late 19th century, Basque nationalism has included Basque independence movements.
In Spain, a comarca is either a traditional territorial division without any formal basis, or a group of municipalities, legally defined by an autonomous community for the purpose of providing common local government services. In English, a comarca is equivalent to a district, county, area or zone.
Nervión is a river that runs through the town of Bilbao, Spain into the Cantabrian Sea. Its lowermost course, downstream of its confluence with the Ibaizabal River, is known as the Estuary of Bilbao.
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.
Gipuzkoa is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques at the northeast, with the province and autonomous community of Navarre at east, Biscay at west, Álava at southwest and the Bay of Biscay to its north. It is located at the easternmost extreme of the Cantabric Sea, in the Bay of Biscay. It has 66 kilometres of coast land.
Akelarre is the Basque term meaning Witches' Sabbath. Akerra means male goat in the Basque language. Witches' sabbaths were envisioned as presided over by a goat.
The Urola is a river and valley in Gipuzkoa, Basque Autonomous Community, 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.
The Bidasoa is a river in the Basque Country of northern Spain and southern France that runs largely south to north. Named as such downstream of the village of Oronoz-Mugairi in the province of Navarre, the river actually results from the merger of several streams near the village Erratzu, with the stream Baztan that rises at the north-eastern side of the mount Autza being considered the source of the Bidasoa. It joins the Cantabrian Sea between the towns of Hendaye and Hondarribia.
Mount Oiz, is one of the most popular summits of Biscay in the Basque Country (Spain). Its summits form part of a long range that feeds several rivers: Ibaizabal, Artibai, Lea, Oka and Deba in Gipuzkoa all of them running to the Bay of Biscay.
The Urdaibai estuary is a natural region and a Biosphere Reserve of Biscay, Basque Country, Spain. It is also referred as Mundaka or Gernika estuary.
The Basques are an indigenous ethno-linguistic group mainly inhabiting Basque Country. Their history is therefore interconnected with Spanish and French history and also with the history of many other past and present countries, particularly in Europe and the Americas, where a large number of their descendants keep attached to their roots, clustering around Basque clubs which are centers for Basque people.
The Southern Basque Country refers to the Basque territories within Spain as a unified whole.
The Basque Country, also called the Basque Autonomous Community, is an autonomous community in northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay, and Gipuzkoa. It also surrounds an enclave called Treviño, which belongs to the neighboring autonomous community of Castile and León.
Donostialdea is one of the eight regions of Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Autonomous Community, corresponding to the basin of the lower Urumea River, along with a strip of basin corresponding to the Oria River. The region's name is derived from Donostia-San Sebastián, the capital city of Gipuzkoa in Spain. The region comprises eleven municipalities extending in an area of 305.72 km2. It borders in the east with the region or subcomarca of Oarsoaldea, on the south with Leitzaldea or Norte de Aralar in Spanish (Navarre), on the west with Urola Kosta and on the north with the Bay of Biscay.
Tourism in the Basque Autonomous Community has increased considerably in recent years, and is a popular destination for tourists from Spain and France. According to data from the Eustat the number of tourists entering the region in the year 2009 was 1,991,790, with the final result still pending. 71% of the yearly visitors come from the rest of Spain; the greatest number from Madrid Autonomous Community (14.2%), and Catalonia (11.1%). International visitors make up the remaining 29% - the largest percent come from France (7.2%). 62% of the people who come to the Basque Autonomous Community visit one of the three capitals, 27% visit inland and 11% visit the coast. The average stay of the visitors is 2 days.
EH Bildu, short for Euskal Herria Bildu, is a left-wing, Basque nationalist and pro-independence political party and a federation of political parties in Spain. It is the main political force of the abertzale left in Spain. EH Bildu is active in the Spanish autonomous communities of Basque Country and Navarre and in the Treviño enclave of the Burgos Province.
The autonomous community of the Basque Country within Spain contains several comarcas or eskualdeak in the Basque language, referring to local districts, grouped into its three long-established provinces.
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