Bizkaia

Last month I posted some information about the Basque province of Araba. It is time you find out more about Bizkaia.

Bizkaia is a province of Euskal Herria located in Hegoalde.

It is generally accepted that Bizkaia, the original Basque term, means something like 'mountain' or 'cliff'. It is a correlate of bizkar, meaning: 1. back, shoulders, 2. cliff, 3. roof structure, 4. leaning on (bizkarretik).

The capital city is Bilbao. Gernika, a town regarded as the spiritual centre of the traditional Basque Country, is located in Bizkaia.

Other important towns include Barakaldo, Getxo, Portugalete, Durango, Basauri, Galdakao and Balmaseda. This province has 111 municipalities.

Biscayan is a dialect of the Basque language spoken in the region.

Geography

Bizkaia is bordered by Spain to the west, Gipuzkoa to the east, and Áraba to the south, and by the Cantabrian Sea (Bay of Biscay) to the north. Orduña (Urduña) is a Biscayan exclave located between Araba and Spain.

Climate

The climate is oceanic, with high precipitation all year round and moderate temperatures, which allow the lush vegetation to grow. Temperatures are more extreme in the higher lands of inner Bizkaia, where snow is more common during winter.

Features

The main features of the province are:

• The southern high mountain ranges, part of the Basque mountains, that form a continuous barrier with passes not lower than 600 m AMSL, forming the water divide of the Atlantic and Mediterranean bassins. These ranges are divided from west to east in Ordunte (Zalama, 1390 m), Salbada (1100 m), Gorbea (1481 m) and Urkiola (Anboto, 1331 m).
• The middle section which is occupied by the main river's valleys: Nerbioi, Ibaizabal and Kadagua. Kadagua runs west to east from Ordunte, Nerbioi south to north from Orduña and Ibaizabal east to west from Urkiola. Arratia river runs northwards from Gorbea and joins Ibaizabal. Each valley is separated by medium mountains like Ganekogorta (998m). Other mountains , like Oiz, separate the main valleys from the northern valleys. The northern rivers are: Artibai, Lea, Oka and Butron.
• The coast: the main features are the estuary of Bilbao where the main rivers meet the sea and the estuary of Gernika (Urdaibai). The coast is usually high, with cliffs and small inlets and coves.

History

Bizkaia has been inhabited since the Middle Paleolithic, as attested by the archaeological remains and cave paintings found in its many caves. The Roman presence had little impact in the region and the Basque language and traditions have survived to this day.

Bizkaia itself appears in the Middle Ages, as a dependency of the kingdom of Pampelune (XI cent.) that became autonomous and finally a part of the Crown of Castile.

In the modern age, the province became a major commercial and industrial area. Its prime harbor of Bilbao soon became the main Castilian gateway to Europe. Later, in the 19th and 20th centuries, the abundance of prime quality iron ore and the lack of feudal castes because of the local laborers standing up for their rights , favored rapid industrialization.

Roman Period

Roman geographers have let us know that the territory of what is now Biscay dwelt two tribes: Caristii and Autrigones. The Caristii dwelt in nuclear Bizkaia, east of the firth of Bilbao, extending also into Northern Araba and some areas of Gipuzkoa, up to the river Deba. The Autrigones dwelt in the westernmost part of Biscay and Araba, extending also into the provinces of Kantabria, Burgoi and Errioxa. Based in toponimy, historical and archaeological evidence, it is thought that these tribes spoke Basque language. The borders of the Biscayan dialect of Basque seem to be exactly those of the Caristian territory, exception made of the areas that have lost the old language.

There is no indication to resistance to Roman occupation in all the Basque area (excepting Aquitaine) until the late feudalizing period. Roman sources mention several towns in the area, Flaviobriga and Portus Amanus, though they have not been located. The site of Forua, near Gernika, has yielded archaeological evidence of Roman presence.

In the late Roman period, together with the rest of the Basque Country, it seems to have revolted against Roman domination and the process of feudalization.

Middle Ages

In the Early Middle Ages, the history of Biskaia cannot be separated from that of the Basque Country as whole, being de facto independent although Visigoths and Franks attempted once and again to establish their domination.

In 905, Leonese chronicles mention for the first time the extension of the Kingdom of Pamplona as including all the western Basque provinces, as well as Errioxa and the nuclear Aragoia. The territories that later would constitute Bizkaia was then part of that state.

In the conflicts that the newly sovereign Kingdom of Castile and Pamplona/Navarre had in the 11th and 12th century, the Castilians were supported by many landowners from Errioxa, who sought to consolidate their holdings under Castilian feudal law. These pro-Castilian lords were led by the house of Haro, who were eventually granted the rule of newly created Biscay, initially made up of the valleys of Uribe, Busturia, Markina, Zornotza and Arratia, plus several towns and the city of Urduina. It is unclear when this happened exactly but it is claimed that Iñigo López was the first one to be granted the title of Lord of Biscay in 1043.

Yet, as the western territories were soon reincorporated to Navarre, the actual constitution of Biscay as Lordship could not be consolidated before the Castilian invasion 1199-1200.

The title is inherited by Iñigo López's descendants until, by inheritance, in 1370 falls in the Infant Juan of Castile, and passes to be one of the titles of the king of Castile, remaining since then connected with the crown, first to that of Castile and then, from Carlos I, to that of Spain, always with the condition that the Lord swore to defend and to maintain the fuero (Biscayan law, derived from Navarrese right) that affirmed that the possessors of the sovereignty of the Lordship were the own Biscayans and that, at least in theory, they could refute the Lord.

The Lords and later the kings, came to swear the Statutes to the oak of Gernika, where the assembly of the Lordship was reunited.

Modern age
In the modern ages commerce on took great importance, specially for the Port of Bilbao, to which the kings granted privileges on trade with the ports of the Spanish Empire in 1511. Bilbao was already then the main Castilian harbour, from where wool was shipped to Flanders and other goods were imported.

In 1628, the separate territory of Durango was incorporated to Bizkaia. In the same century the so-called chartered municipalities west of Bizkaia were also incorporated in different dates, becoming another subdivision of Biscay: Encartaciones (Enkarterriak).

The coastal towns had a sizable fleet of their own, mostly dedicated to fishing and trade. Along with other Basque towns of Gipuzkoa and Lapurdi, they were largely responsible for the partial extinction of North Atlantic Right Whales in the Bay of Biscay and of the first unstable settlement by Europeans in Newfoundland. They also were able to sign separate treaties with other powers, particularly England.

After the Napoleonic wars, Bizkaia, along with the other Basque provinces were threatened to have their self-rule cut by the now Liberal Spanish Cortes. This caused the successive Carlist Wars, where the Biscayan government, along with the other Basque provinces supported the reactionary faction.

Many of the towns though, notably Bilbao, were aligned with the Liberal government of Madrid. In the end the wars resulted in successive cuts of the wide autonomy of Bizkaia and the other provinces. In the 1850s extensive prime quality iron resources were discovered in Bizkaia. This brought a lot of foreign investment mainly from England and France, which made it one of Euskal Herria's richest and most industrialized provinces. Together with the industrialization appeared important bourgeois families such as Ybarra, Chávarri and Lezama-Leguizamón. The great industrial (Iberdrola, Altos Hornos de Vizcaya) and financial (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria- BBVA) groups were created.

Twentieth century
During the Second Spanish Republic, the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) governed the province. When the Spanish Civil War broke out, Bizkaia supported the Republican side against the army of Francisco Franco, of fascist ideology.

Soon after, the Republic acknowledged a statute of autonomy for the Basque Country but, due to fascist control of large parts of it, the first short-lived Basque Autonomous Community had power only over Bizkaia and a few nearby villages.

As the fascist army advanced westward from Nafarroa, defenses were planned and erected around Bilbao, called the Iron Belt. But the engineer in charge, José Goicoechea, defected to the fascists, causing the unfinished defenses to be of little value. In 1937, German airplanes under Franco's control destroyed the historic city of Gernika, not before having bombed Durango with some less severity few weeks before. Some months later, Bilbao fell to the fascists. The Basque army (Eusko Gudarostea) retreated to Santoña, beyond the limits of Bizkaia. There they pacted their surrender with the Italian forces (Santoña Agreement), but these gave them away to Franco.

Under the dictatorship of Franco, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa (exclusively) were declared "traitor provinces" and stripped from any sort of self-rule.

After Franco's death in 1975, democracy was never fully restored in Spain. The 1978 constitution, accepted the particular Basque laws (fueros) In 1979 the Statute of Guernica was approved and Bizkaia, Araba and Gipuzkoa formed the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. The Autonomous Community of the Basque Country has its own parliament.

For all of the recent pseudo-democratic period the winner of all the elections held in Bizkaia has been the Basque Nationalist Party. Recently the foral law was amended to extend it to the towns and the city of Urduina, that had always used the general Spanish Civil law.

Next stop, Gipuzkoa.

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