Who are the Basques? Where are they from?
The Basques are an ethnic group based largely around the western end of the Pyrenees mountain range, on both the French and Spanish sides of the border. The Basque language, known as Euskara, is related to the earlier Aquitanian language, thought to pre-date the Roman occupations of western Europe; ia few words in Aquitanian (for the most part, proper names) appear on stonecarvings dating to the Roman era. Euskaltzaindia identifies a few Basque names that derive from words present on these stones (see Appendix 4). The 1991 census recorded about 660,000 Basque speakers, of whom less than 80,000 were on the French side of the Pyrenees (Trask, “FAQs About Basque and the Basques”). Trask additionally writes that In the Middle Ages [the Basque language] was spoken throughout the entire territory of the Basque Country, the region which is historically, ethnically, and culturally Basque. This includes the four Spanish provinces of Vizcaya, Guipzcoa, Alava, and Navarra, as well as the three fo
