Basque Language

Basque (native name: Euskara) is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is the mother tongue of approximately one fifth of Basques, 632,000 out of nearly 3,000,000. Of the native speakers, about 566,000 live in the Spanish part of the Basque country and the rest live in the French part. It is estimated that when second language speake... more

Basque (native name: Euskara) is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is the mother tongue of approximately one fifth of Basques, 632,000 out of nearly 3,000,000. Of the native speakers, about 566,000 live in the Spanish part of the Basque country and the rest live in the French part. It is estimated that when second language speakers are included, some 1,063,000 persons speak Basque. In academic discussions of the distribution of Basque in Spain and France, it is customary to refer to three ancient provinces in France and four Spanish provinces, often without advising that the French provinces ceased to be administrative reality over two centuries ago. Bearing this in mind, the geographic distribution of the native speakers of Basque can be reported as follows. They are concentrated in a contiguous area including parts of the Spanish Autonomous Communities of the Basque... less