Subola comes from the name the Romans gave to the Aquitani tribe that inhabited the region by the time of their arrival, the Suburates, also called Sibusates by Julius Caesar in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico and Sybillates by Pliny the Elder.

Remains of coins and other monetary artifacts have been found, proving the existence of an exchange economy in Soule, which very likely worked as an access point between Aquitaine—Novempopulania—in the north and the southern side of the Pyrenees.

At the time of the Roman arrival in the 1st century, Soule was inhabited by an Aquitani tribe named Suburates, who spoke the Aquitanian language (a form of Proto-Basque).

Finally, in 1449, an army led by Gaston IV, the Count of Foix and Viscount of Béarn, took possession of the castle in the name of the French king ending the English presence in Soule.

In the mid 15th century, Soule finally recognizes the King of France as its own, with the Basque district becoming the smallest province and exclave of the kingdom and the most distant from the centre of power, Paris.

In 1511, King Francis I of France urged the Souletins to set down their institutional and legal framework on paper, which they did in Bearnese, the administrative written language up to that point.

As of 1512, given its proximity to France and its particular geographic situation surrounded by the Kingdom of Navarre-Bearn and the recently invaded Navarre to the south, Soule became ensnared in the political, religious and military manoeuvres derived from its shaky position, with the French Wars of Religion affecting the province tremendously.

By the mid 17th century and in the context of the Treaty of the Pyrenees, anger spread like fire among common Souletins at the aristocracy's takeover of lands and the curtailment of their legal and institutional sovereignty.

Still Soule managed to retain many native laws and institutions, with its representatives attending the Parliament of Navarre and Béarn (six deputies, two for each estate).

The representatives of Soule in the National Costituent Assembly held in Paris (August 1789) voted against the suppression of the French provinces and the establishment of a new administrative arrangement that wiped out the existence of their native order, giving way to the départément system.

In the late 19th century, the establishment of espadrille factories in Mauleón made up for the decay of economic life and emigration, with a number of inhabitants in Navarre and Aragón pouring in and being recruited on the workforce.

Soule is the province with the lowest population density of the Northern Basque Country, with 17 people per square kilometer (44 people/sq mi).

Soule has experienced a significant population decline since the 19th century; many people have emigrated to larger cities and regions outside the province, such as Labourd, Béarn and Paris.

In the last century, Soule has lost more than three quarters of its population, which has caused the need for different municipalities to be merged in order to assure the maintenance of public services.

[3] After decades of emigration and demographic, social and cultural decay, the territory is showing a strong determination to recover the lost vitality of centuries ago.

There is a tradition of folk musical theatre, the pastoral: the inhabitants of a village spend the year preparing and rehearsing the play and its dances.

It consists of a music band in due carnival outfit surrounded with a group of set carnivalesque characters and dancers parading up and down the main street of the host village; at the end, they stage an informal play usually in the market place or handball court.