Urkulu

Urkulu
Urkulu
	Remains of the Roman tower on Urkulu's summit
Highest point
Elevation	1,419 m (4,656 ft)
Coordinates	43°2′44.52″N01°14′28.6″W / 43.0457000°N 1.241278°W Coordinates: 43°2′44.52″N01°14′28.6″W / 43.0457000°N 1.241278°W
Naming
Language of name	Basque
Pronunciation	Basque: [uɾˈkulu]
Geography
	Urkulu Location in Spain
Location	Spain, France
Parent range	Pyrenees
Climbing
Easiest route	From Organbidexka

Last updated June 24, 2019

Urkulu (1,419 m) is a mountain in the Basque Country straddling the border between France and Spain. The summit is located in the western Pyrenees, within walking distance from Roncevaux and close to the so-called French Way of St James, which crosses the mountain range at the historic Roncevaux Pass.

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. Euskal Herria is the oldest documented Basque name for the area they inhabit, dating from the 16th century.

Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain, is a country mostly located in Europe. Its continental European territory is situated on the Iberian Peninsula. Its territory also includes two archipelagoes: the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, and the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The African enclaves of Ceuta, Melilla, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera make Spain the only European country to have a physical border with an African country (Morocco). Several small islands in the Alboran Sea are also part of Spanish territory. The country's mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar; to the north and northeast by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the west and northwest by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean.

The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between Spain and France. Reaching a height of 3,404 metres (11,168 ft) altitude at the peak of Aneto, the range separates the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of continental Europe, and extends for about 491 km (305 mi) from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean Sea.

Access

The mountain is easily accessible from the old arms factory of Orbaizeta in Navarre and Béhérobie (via the Organbidexka pass) in Lower Navarre, and is also located on the trekking trail stretching east to west along the southern slopes of the Pyrenees, the GR 11.

Orbaizeta is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain.

Navarre, officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is an 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.

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.

History

The main feature of the mountain is the remains of a Roman tower topping the summit. With the summit providing excellent views over the northern and southern slopes alike, it was used as a watchtower in medieval times.

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Hautes-Pyrénées is a department in southwestern France. It is part of the Occitanie region.

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Department of France

Pyrénées-Atlantiques is a department in the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, in southwestern France. It takes its name from the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. It covers the French Basque Country and the Béarn.

Aneto is the highest mountain in the Pyrenees and in Aragon, and Spain's third-highest mountain, reaching a height of 3,404 metres (11,168 ft). It stands in the Spanish province of Huesca, the northernmost of all three Aragonese provinces, 4 miles south of the French border. It forms the southernmost part of the Maladeta massif. It is also still locally known as Pic de Néthou in French, that name and its variants having been in general use until the beginning of the 20th century.

The Pre-Pyrenees are the foothills of the Pyrenees.

The Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778 saw a large force of Basques ambush a part of Charlemagne's army in Roncevaux Pass, a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees on the present border between France and Spain, after his invasion of the Iberian Peninsula.

Pass of Roncesvalles or Roncesvalles Pass, is a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees near the border between France and Spain. The pass itself is entirely in Spain.

The Kingdom of Navarre, originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a Basque-based kingdom that occupied lands on either side of the western Pyrenees, alongside the Atlantic Ocean between present-day Spain and France.

Roncesvalles is a small village and municipality in Navarre, northern Spain. It is situated on the small river Urrobi at an altitude of some 900 metres (3,000 ft) in the Pyrenees, about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the French frontier as the crow flies, or 21 kilometres (13 mi) by road.

Bigorre is a region in southwest France, historically an independent county and later a French province, located in the upper watershed of the Adour, on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees, part of the larger region known as Gascony. Today Bigorre comprises the centre and west of the département of Hautes-Pyrénées, with two small exclaves in the neighbouring Pyrénées Atlantiques. Its inhabitants are called Bigourdans.

Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France close to Ostabat in the Pyrenean foothills. The town is also the old capital of the traditional Basque province of Lower Navarre. Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is also a starting point for the French Way Camino Francés, the most popular option for travelling the Camino de Santiago.

Luzaide is a Basque town in Navarre, northern Spain, located just a few kilometers from the French border and the village of Arnéguy.

Sare is a village in the traditional Basque province of Labourd, now a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France on the border with Spain.

Anhaux is a French commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France in the former province of Lower Navarre.

The Haute Randonnée Pyrénéenne (HRP) is a high level long-distance trail in the Pyrenees joining the Atlantic and Mediterranean. It mostly follows the approximate French and Spanish border and passes through Andorra.

Port de Larrau is a mountain pass on the France – Spain border in the western Pyrenees between the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France and Navarre, Spain. The climb from the French side was used in the 2007 Tour de France.

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 Battle of Roncevaux Pass was a battle in which a combined Basque-Qasawi Muslim army defeated a Carolingian military expedition in 824. The battle took place only 46 years after the first Battle of Roncevaux Pass (778) in a confrontation showing similar features: a Basque force engaging from the mountains a northbound expedition led by the Franks, and the same geographical setting.

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