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Northern Basque Country


The French Basque Country, or Northern Basque Country (Basque: Iparralde, French: Pays basque français, Spanish: País Vasco francés, i.e. 'the Northern Region') is a region lying on the west of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Since 1 January 2017, it constitutes the Basque Municipal Community (Euskal Hirigune Elkargoa / Commnauté d'Agglomeration du Basque Basque) presided over by Jean-René Etchegaray.

It includes three former historic French provinces in the north-east of the traditional Basque Country totalling 2,869 km²: Lower Navarre (Nafarroa Beherea in Basque, Basse-Navarre in French), until 1789 nominally Kingdom of Navarre, with 1,284 km²; Labourd (Lapurdi in Basque), with 800 km²; Soule (Zuberoa in Basque), with 785 km². The population included in the Basque Municipal Community amounts to 295,970 inhabitants distributed in 158 municipalities.

It is delimited in the north by the department of Landes, in the west by the Bay of Biscay, in the south by the Southern Basque Country and in the east by Béarn (although in the Bearnese village of Esquiule, Basque is spoken), which is the eastern part of the department. Bayonne and Biarritz (BAB) are its chief towns, included in the Basque Eurocity Bayonne-San Sebastián. It is a popular tourist destination and is somewhat distinct from neighbouring parts of either France or the southern Basque Country, since it was not industrialized as Biscay or Gipuzkoa and remained agricultural and a beach destination.


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