Anyway, I decided not to link to each post against Euskal Herria posted by the author of the blog that starts with an N because that would create more traffic towards that blog, something I have to avoid since I refuse to work for the fascists that run Madrid these days.
But here you have his first "myth":
Wait a moment pal, the Iberians, Ligures and Celts and all the peoples mentioned in this paragraph inhabitated areas outside Vasconia, only in the borders there was such mix of peoples and cultures, and certainly they were by no means Spaniards.
Spanish tribes? There was no Spain yet! And they were not simple "tribes" ,by the time they initiated combined warring efforts to fight against the Muslims they were actual kingdoms. Maybe the author should tell us why the Kingdom of Navarre never launched punitive actions south of the Ebro river while the rest of the Iberian kingdoms fought until they asserted their dominion all the way to the Gibraltar strait.
Maybe Castile (not Castille by the way) has a Basque component, after all the Basques were present in the Iberian peninsula long before the Indo-European migrations. But that doesn't mean that they became Spaniards at a time when the Spaniards did not even exist.
The Basques never participated in the re-conquest of Spain because there was never a re-conquest of Spain. When the Muslims started their migration towards the Iberian peninsula there was not an unified political entity called Spain, and then the Muslims remained in the Iberian peninsula for over 800 years. So they were as much a part of it as any other people in that area of Europe, there was even a Basque Muslim kingdom. After 1512 when all of the Basque Country was conquered one of the impositions was precisly that from then one Basques could be drafted to Castile's armies, so yes, Basques did take part in the conquest of America and Asia. One more thing, America was never dicovered by Columbus, millions inhabitated the continent by the time the Genoan tripped on some Caribbean islands by mistake.
Everyone was fighting Napoleon at the time, not only the Basques.
Unamuno spoke at a time when Spain had been supressing the Basque identity for 400 years, little was known by then about the Basque kingdom of Navarre and how it fought against Castile in order to retain its sovereignty.
So, the reality is that the Vascones were a conglomerate of different peoples that somehow managed to retain their cultural identity through several invasions. At the demise of the Roman Empire they were one of the first peoples in Europe to reassert their sovereignty, finally, after the Battle of Orreaga (known as Roncesvalles) in which they defeated the Franks, they merged to conform the Kingdom of Iruñea that would eventually give birth to the Kingdom of Navarre, a kingdom that was sovereign and independent until 1512. Let us remember that Spain did not exist as an unified political entity until the 1800's after Castile lost the majority of its European outposts.
How can the Basques with such a long recorded history can be part of a country that has existed for only a couple hundreds of years?
But here you have his first "myth":
False Myth #1: Spain and the Basque region have been separated and antagonistic entities trough history.
The “Vascones” were a tribe of pre-Roman Hispania. Together with the “Vardulos”, “Caristios” and “Autrigones” they conformed the ancient base of what today is known as Basque people. If we add the population of the pre-roman Hispania (“Iberians”, “Ligures” and “Celts”), the Visigoths and the continuous movements of population, produced by the Muslim invasion and the Christian re-conquest, we will finally configure not only the Basque people, but the people of what is known today as Spain.
Wait a moment pal, the Iberians, Ligures and Celts and all the peoples mentioned in this paragraph inhabitated areas outside Vasconia, only in the borders there was such mix of peoples and cultures, and certainly they were by no means Spaniards.
After the fall of the Visigoth state, all the Spanish tribes without any exception took part of the common project of restoration of the 'lost Spain' and fought against Islam. As the rest of the Spanish, the Basques, always linked with Castille, made of the fight for their religion and the Hispanic project the foundation of their own identity.
Spanish tribes? There was no Spain yet! And they were not simple "tribes" ,by the time they initiated combined warring efforts to fight against the Muslims they were actual kingdoms. Maybe the author should tell us why the Kingdom of Navarre never launched punitive actions south of the Ebro river while the rest of the Iberian kingdoms fought until they asserted their dominion all the way to the Gibraltar strait.
The very origin of Castille has an essential Basque component. The most significant medievalist of the XX century, and president of the 2nd Spanish Republic in the exile, Claudio Sánchez Albornoz, said "Castille and the Castilians were the product of the racial and cultural symbiosis of the Cantabrian, the Basque and the Goth".
Maybe Castile (not Castille by the way) has a Basque component, after all the Basques were present in the Iberian peninsula long before the Indo-European migrations. But that doesn't mean that they became Spaniards at a time when the Spaniards did not even exist.
During centuries the Basque died for the re-conquest of Spain, participated in their government and flew in masses to repopulate where needed. In the Modern Era the Basque discovered, conquered and expanded into the New World, as Spaniards they were.
The Basques never participated in the re-conquest of Spain because there was never a re-conquest of Spain. When the Muslims started their migration towards the Iberian peninsula there was not an unified political entity called Spain, and then the Muslims remained in the Iberian peninsula for over 800 years. So they were as much a part of it as any other people in that area of Europe, there was even a Basque Muslim kingdom. After 1512 when all of the Basque Country was conquered one of the impositions was precisly that from then one Basques could be drafted to Castile's armies, so yes, Basques did take part in the conquest of America and Asia. One more thing, America was never dicovered by Columbus, millions inhabitated the continent by the time the Genoan tripped on some Caribbean islands by mistake.
In 1808, during Napoleon's invasion, the Basque fought and died for Spain, its King and its Religion, combating with enthusiasm against their enemy, as well as did many of the French-Basques, like general Harispe.
As Miguel de Unamuno wrote "We the Basques don't have any feat, any historic labor of universal value, made with the abstention of Spain or against Spain". The Basque have always been part of what is known as Spain, and have constructed this reality from its ancient origins with the collaboration of the rest of the Spanish population.
Everyone was fighting Napoleon at the time, not only the Basques.
Unamuno spoke at a time when Spain had been supressing the Basque identity for 400 years, little was known by then about the Basque kingdom of Navarre and how it fought against Castile in order to retain its sovereignty.
So, the reality is that the Vascones were a conglomerate of different peoples that somehow managed to retain their cultural identity through several invasions. At the demise of the Roman Empire they were one of the first peoples in Europe to reassert their sovereignty, finally, after the Battle of Orreaga (known as Roncesvalles) in which they defeated the Franks, they merged to conform the Kingdom of Iruñea that would eventually give birth to the Kingdom of Navarre, a kingdom that was sovereign and independent until 1512. Let us remember that Spain did not exist as an unified political entity until the 1800's after Castile lost the majority of its European outposts.
How can the Basques with such a long recorded history can be part of a country that has existed for only a couple hundreds of years?
.... ... .
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