[10] The French Basque Country is traditionally subdivided into three provinces: This summary presentation suggests difficulty in justifying the inclusion of a few communes in the lower Adour region.

Jean Goyhenetche suggests it would be more accurate to depict the region as the reunion of five entities: Labourd, Lower Navarre, Soule but also Bayonne and Gramont.

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 states that Navarre may become a part of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country if it is so decided by its people and institutions (the Disposición transitoria cuarta or "Fourth Transitory Provision").

Inland areas in Navarre and the southern regions of the autonomous community are transitional, with continental Mediterranean climate, with somewhat wider temperature swings between seasons.

According to some theories, Basques may be the least assimilated remnant of the Paleolithic inhabitants of Western Europe (specifically those of the Franco-Cantabrian region known as Azilian) to the Indo-European migrations.

There is considerable evidence to show their Basque ethnicity in Roman times in the form of place-names, Caesar's reference to their customs and physical make-up, the so-called Aquitanian inscriptions recording names of people and gods (approx.

Geographically, the Basque Country was inhabited in Roman times by several tribes: the Vascones, the Varduli, the Caristi, the Autrigones, the Berones, the Tarbelli, and the Sibulates.

The ancient tribes are last cited in the 5th century, after which track of them is lost, with only Vascones still being accounted for,[17]: 79  while extending far beyond their former boundaries, e.g. in the current lands of Álava and most conspicuously around the Pyrenees and Novempopulania.

[18]: 4 In the Early Middle Ages (up to the 9th century) the territory between the Ebro and Garonne rivers was known as Vasconia, a blurred ethnic area and polity struggling to fend off the Frankish feudal authority from the north and the pressure of the Iberian Visigoths and Andalusi Cordovans from the south.

[19]: 33–40 By the turn of the millennium, a receding Carolingian royal authority and establishing feudalism left Vasconia (to become Gascony) fragmented into a myriad of counties and viscounties,[18]: 207–208  e.g. Fezensac, Bigorre, Astarac, Béarn, Tartas, Marsan, Soule, Labourd, etc., out of former tribal systems and minor realms (County of Vasconia), while south of the Pyrenees, besides the above Kingdom of Pamplona, Gipuzkoa, Álava and Biscay arose in the current lands of the Southern Basque Country from the 9th century onward.

[17]: 249–254  Meanwhile, the viscounties of Labourd and Soule under English suzerainty were finally incorporated to France after the Hundred Years' War, with Bayonne remaining the last Plantagenet stronghold up to 1453.

[22]: 86, 100–104 From 1525, witchcraft allegations originating in a number of Pyrenean valleys on the rearguard of the Lower Navarre front and recent theatre of war (Salazar, Roncal, Burguete, etc.)

In the heat of the Wars of Religion and the struggle for Navarre, persecution came to a head in the hysteria of the 1609–1611 Basque witch trials on both sides of the Spanish-French border, easing afterwards.

After Franco's dictatorship, a new statute was designed that resulted in the creation of the current Basque Autonomous Community and Navarre, with a limited self-governing status, as settled by the Spanish Constitution.

[citation needed] In the Middle Ages, many Franks settled along the Way of Saint James in Navarre and Gipuzkoa and to a lesser extent in Bizkaia.

Despite being spoken in a relatively small territory, the rugged features of the Basque countryside and the historically high population density resulted in a heavy dialectal fragmentation throughout history, which increased the value of both Spanish and French respectively as lingua francas.

It is spoken by approximately a quarter of the total Basque Country, its stronghold being the contiguous area formed by Gipuzkoa, northern Navarre and the Pyrenean French valleys.

In the central region, Basque teaching in the public education network is fairly limited, and part of the existing demand is served via private schools or ikastolak.

In southern and some central areas this policy has resulted in schoolchildren having to travel sometimes for hours every day in order to attend education provided in the historic language of Navarre, largely relying on public subscription (yearly festival Nafarroa Oinez, solidarity from the ikastola network, donations, etc.)

[42] In 1868, in order to fulfill the need for college graduates for the thriving industry that was flourishing in the Bilbao area, there was an unsuccessful effort to establish a Basque-Navarrese University.

[51] On 2 May 2018, ETA issued a historic statement declaring a definitive end to its armed struggle and the organisation was officially dissolved, after six decades of political conflict.

[44] The same court has also ruled against considering the knowledge of the Basque language when hiring in the public administration, and the establishment of Basque-medium schools has usually been opposed by Navarrese and municipal governments.

As an example, the Administrative Court of Navarre (Spanish: Tribunal Administrativo de Nafarroa) recently ordered the removal of the Basque coat of arms from a fronton, placed by the municipal government.

The most renowned Basque footballer of all time is possibly Andoni Zubizarreta, who holds the record for appearances in La Liga with 622 games and won six league titles and one European Cup.

In the 2010s, Aviron Bayonnais FC developed international players Stéphane Ruffier and Kévin Rodrigues (capped by Portugal) and Aymeric Laporte who eventually played for Spain based on his residency in the southern Basque country.

Its riders were Basque, or at least grew up in the region's cycling culture; members of the team were sometimes strong contenders in the Tour de France or Vuelta a España.

Edurne Pasaban became the first woman to climb the fourteen mountains of greater than 8000 metre altitude; Alberto Iñurrategi and Juanito Oiarzabal have done so without supplementary oxygen.

Related to mountaineering is trail running, where the Basque Country plays host to the popular Zegama-Aizkorri skyrunning races, held annually since 2002.

The Basque country sporting tradition is linked to agricultural pursuits such as mowing with a scythe, or loading carts, but adapted as competitions with points awarded for specific criteria such as time, precision, elegance and productivity.

Rural Basque sports include Aizkolaritza (wood chopping), Harri-jasotzaileak (stone lifting), Idi probak (leading oxen to drag rocks) and Sokatira (tug-of-war).