Spanish names of the Basque Country
In the Spanish public discourse the territory traditionally inhabited by the Basques was assigned a variety of names across the centuries.
The names used demonstrate changing perceptions of the area and until today the nomenclature employed could be battleground between partisans of different options.
[1] The below list contains names applied in Spanish cultural realm to the territory traditionally inhabited by the Basques.
In public usage the term was already firmly related to Santander when the Basque nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century.
Today "Cantabria" is official name of the autonomous community centered upon Santander; also in unofficial circulation the term is used likewise, with application to Álava, Biscay, Gipuzkoa and/or Navarre only in historical discourse.
Most commonly it simply denoted a Basque realm, understood as a conglomerate of historical, regional, ethnic, cultural and religious ingredients.
In the later 20th century the term was re-adopted by the nationalists;[8] since 1979 “Euskal Herria” is one of two official Basque names of the autonomous community consisting of Biscay, Gipuzkoa and Álava.
[16] Originally the term was applied to all territories perceived as forming part of the Basque realm and is still used this way by some nationalist groupings.
Geographical application was ambiguous; prevailing usage ignored existing administrative divisions and pointed to area inhabited by people belonging to the Basque cultural realm.
Similar in meaning and geographical application to “provincias vascas”, i.e. could have been applied to 3, 4 or 7 units in Spain and France; the difference was that it underlined unity of the area and did not put its internal administrative heterogeneity on the forefront.
[22] In present-day nationalist discourse it could be applied (capitalized or not) to any area deemed part of the proper Basque country.
[23] Applied to Biscay, Gipuzkoa, Álava and Navarre when intending to underline any sort of commonality (historical, economic, geographical etc., though rather not ethnic) linking the four.
Upon growth of the Basque nationalism it got used against the background of differences between Navarre on the one hand and Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa on the other, though with various intentions (to stress or to downplay them).
There were two key differences between “país vascongado” and “provincias vascongadas”: 1) the former was not the official name of the region (though at times used in the interchanging mode), and 2) the former underlined unity of the area and did not put its internal administrative heterogeneity on the forefront.
[27] Geographical usage of the term differed; generally it was applied to Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, though sporadically (especially in the early 19th century) it could have denoted also Navarre.
The name underlines that provinces in question enjoy some traditional, separate, province-specific (not region-specific) legal establishments, known as fueros.
In most cases usage and context imply detailed administrative coverage,[30] which is by no means obvious; understanding might differ depending which provincial legal specifics is considered "fueros".
It was unique among all terms discussed here, as it was the only one capturing both diversity (referring to different provinces) and commonality (acknowledging their sister character).
[45] Until the early 20th century it was also the most common, rather neutral way of naming the area in question; in the 1920s it started to give precedence to “País Vasco”.
[46] Though the name technically pointed to distinct linguistic character of the area, the component was later subject to lexicalization and ceased to stand out.
[55] Except sporadic cases and rather accidental usage in official documents[56] it was not revived afterwards, as most common denomination replaced by “País Vasco”.
Currently out of circulation, except in historical discourse or in personal columns, sometimes consciously used to note nominal controversies.
The term emerged in Roman times and until medieval era it was occasionally used in Latin documents and maps, usually with ambiguous geographical rather than political denotation.
It enjoyed modest revival in the late 19th century,[62] used generally against a cultural, historical and regional background; it appeared mostly in literary or scientific Vascólogist discourse.
Following demise in the early 20th century,[63] “Vasconia” enjoyed some revival during Francoism; unlike politically-charged “país vasco” or “provincias vascas”, censorship tolerated it easily as a historical, semi-scientific reference.
