Biscay is one of the most renowned and prosperous provinces of Spain, historically a major trading hub in the Atlantic Ocean since medieval times and, later on, one of the largest industrial and financial centers of theIberian Peninsula. Since the extensive deindustrialization that took place throughout the 1970s, the economy has come to rely more on theservices sector.
It is accepted in linguistics (Koldo Mitxelena, etc.) thatBizkaia is a cognate ofbizkar (cf.Biscarrosse inAquitaine), with both place-name variants well attested in the wholeBasque Country and out[3] meaning 'low ridge' or 'prominence' (Iheldo bizchaya attested in 1141 for the Monte Igueldo inSan Sebastián).[4]
Bizkaia is the only official name in Spanish or Basque approved for the historical territory by theGeneral Council of the province and the Spanish laws.
Vizcaya is thehispanized modulation for the given name, used in non-official documents, as recommended by theRoyal Spanish Academy. It is also the co-official name used in the Spanish version of the Constitution, and of the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country.
Biscay has been inhabited since the MiddlePaleolithic, as attested by thearchaeological remains andcave paintings found in its many caves. TheRoman presence had little impact in the region,[5] and theBasque language and traditions have survived to this day.
According to Anton Erkoreka,[6] theVikings had a commercial base there from which they were expelled by 825.Mundaka is likely a Viking name, and theria ofMundaka is the easiest route to the riverEbro and at the end of it, theMediterranean Sea and trade.
The first time Biscay is mentioned with that name (inLatin in the formsBizkai andBizcai) is in theChronicle of Alfonso III in the late 9th century, which tells of the regions repopulated under orders ofAlfonso I, and how some territories "owned by their own", among them Biscay, were not affected by these repopulations. Biscay is mentioned again in the 10th-centuryCódice de Roda, which narrates the wedding between Velazquita, daughter ofSancho I of Pamplona, toMunio Velaz, Count ofÁlava, in Biscay. It is recorded in 1070 in a donation act to themonastery of Bickaga, located on the ria of Mundaka.[7]
In themodern age, the province became a major commercial and industrial area. Its primeharbour 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 offeudal castes favored rapid industrialization.
The first evidence of human dwellings (Neanderthal people) in Biscay happens in this period of prehistory.Mousterian artifacts have been found in three sites in Biscay: Benta Laperra (Karrantza), Kurtzia (Getxo) and Murua (Durangoaldea).
Paleolithic art is also present. The Benta Laperra cave has the oldest paintings, maybe from the Aurignacian or Solutrean period. Bison and bear are the animals depicted, together with abstract signs. The murals of Arenaza (Galdames) and Santimamiñe were created in later periods (Magdalenian). In Arenaza female deer are the dominant motif; Santimamiñe features bison, horses, goats and deer.
This period (also calledMesolithic sometimes) is dominated in Biscay by theAzilian culture. Tools become smaller and more refined and, while hunting remains, fishing and seafood gathering become more important; there is evidence of consumption of wild fruits as well.Santimamiñe is one of the most important sites of this period. Others areArenaza,Atxeta (not far from Santimamiñe),Lumentxa and nearbyUrtiaga and Santa Catalina, together withBolinkoba and neighbourSilibranka.
While the first evidences ofNeolithic contact in the Basque Country can be dated to the 4th millennium BCE, it was not until the beginning of the 3rd that the area accepted, gradually and without radical changes, the advances of agricultural cultivation and domestication of sheep. Biscay was not particularly affected by this change and only three sites can be mentioned for this period: Arenaza, Santimamiñe and Kobeaga (Ea) and the advances adopted seem limited initially to sheep, domestic goats and very scarcepottery.
Together with Neolithic technologies,Megalithism also arrives. It will be the most common form of burial (simpledolmen) untilc. 1500 BCE.
While open-air settlement started to become common as the population grew, they still used caves and natural shelters in Biscay in theChalcolithic andBronze Age. Hunting game became a less important source of protein, as the people relied on sheep, goats and somebovine cattle. Metallic tools become more common but stone-made ones are also used.
Pottery types shows great continuity (not decorated) until thebell beaker makes its appearance.
The sites of this period now cover all the territory of Biscay, many being open air settlements, but the most important caves of the Paleolithic are still in use as well.
Few sites have been identified for this period. Caves are abandoned for the most part but they still reveal some remains. The main caves of prehistory (Arenaza, Santimamiñe, Lumentxa) were still inhabited.
Roman geographers identified two tribes in the territory now known as Biscay: theCaristii andAutrigones. TheCaristii dwelt in nuclear Biscay, east of the firth of Bilbao, extending also into NorthernAraba and some areas ofGipuzkoa, up to the river Deba. TheAutrigones dwelt in the westernmost part of Biscay and Araba, extending also into the provinces ofCantabria,Burgos andLa Rioja. Based in toponymy, historical and archaeological evidence, it is thought that these tribes spoke theBasque language.[9] The borders of theBiscayan dialect of Basque seem to be those of the Caristian territory, with an exception of the areas that have lost the old language.
There is no indication to resistance to Roman occupation in all the Basque area (exceptingAquitaine) 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 ofForua, nearGernika, has yielded archaeological evidence of Roman presence[1]Archived 12 March 2007 at theWayback Machine.
In the late Roman period, together with the rest of the Basque Country, Biscay seems to have revolted against Roman domination and the growing society organized byfeudalism.
In the EarlyMiddle Ages, the history of Biscay cannot be separated from that of the Basque Country as a whole. The area wasde facto independent althoughVisigoths andFranks attempted to assert their domination from time to time. Encounters between the Visigoths and Basques usually led to defeat for the latter. The Visigoths established an outlying post at the later city ofVitoria to counter incursions and the migration of Basques from the coastal regions to the north.
In 905, Leonese chronicles define for the first time theKingdom of Pamplona as including all the westernBasque provinces, as well as theRioja region. The territories that would later constitute Biscay were included in that state.
Monument to Lope García de Salazar (1399-1476), opposite one of his tower houses, in Portugalete
In the conflicts that the newly sovereignKingdom of Castile and Pamplona/Navarre had in the 11th and 12th century, the Castilians were supported by many landowners from La Rioja, who sought to consolidate their holdings under Castilian feudal law. These pro-Castilian lords were led by the house ofHaro, who were eventually granted the rule of newly created Biscay, initially made up of the valleys ofUribe,Busturia,Markina,Zornotza andArratia, plus several towns and the city ofUrduina. It is unclear when this happened, but tradition says that Iñigo López was the firstLord of Biscay in 1043.[citation needed]
The title to the lordship was inherited by Iñigo López's descendants until, by inheritance, in 1370 it passed toJohn I of Castile. It became one of the titles of the king of Castile. Since then it remained connected to the crown, first to that of Castile and then, fromCharles I, to that ofSpain, as ruler of the Crown of Castile. It was conditioned on the lord swearing to defend and maintain thefuero (Biscayan laws, derived from Navarrese and Basque customary rights), which affirmed that the possessors of the sovereignty of the lordship were the Biscayans and that, at least in theory, they could refute the lord.
The lords and later the kings, came to swear theStatutes to the oak of Gernika, where the assembly of the Lordship sits.
In themodern ages commerce took on great importance, specially for thePort of Bilbao, to which the kings granted privileges in 1511 for trade with the ports of theSpanish Empire. Bilbao was already the main Castilian harbour, from wherewool was shipped toFlanders, and other goods were imported.
In 1628, the separate territory ofDurango was incorporated to Biscay. In the same century the so-calledchartered municipalities west of Biscay 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 ofGipuzkoa andLabourd, they were largely responsible for the partial extinction ofNorth Atlantic right whales in theBay of Biscay and of the first unstable settlement by Europeans inNewfoundland. They signed separate treaties with other powers, particularly England.[citation needed]
After theNapoleonic wars, Biscay, along with the other Basque provinces, were threatened to have their self-rule cut by the now LiberalSpanish Cortes. Together with opposing factions that supported different parties for the throne, this desire to maintain foral rights contributed to the successiveCarlist Wars. The Biscayan government and other Basque provinces supportedCarlos V, who represented an autocratic monarch who would preserve tradition.
Many of the towns though, notably Bilbao, were aligned with the Liberal government ofMadrid. In the end, with victory by anti-Carlists, the wars resulted insuccessive cuts of the wide autonomy held by Biscay and the other provinces.
In the 1850s extensive prime quality iron resources were discovered in Biscay. This brought much foreign investment mainly from England and France. Development of these resources led to greater industrialization, which made Biscay one of Spain's richest provinces. Together with theindustrialisation, important bourgeois families, such as Ybarra, Chávarri andLezama-Leguizamón, developed from the new sources of wealth. The great industrial (Iberdrola,Altos Hornos de Vizcaya) and financial (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria- BBVA) groups were created.
The historicOak of Gernika, symbol of the Basque institutions
During theSecond Spanish Republic, theBasque Nationalist Party (PNV) governed the province. When theSpanish Civil War broke out in 1936, Biscay supported the Republican side againstFrancisco Franco's army and ideology. Soon after, the Republic acknowledged a statute of autonomy for the Basque Country. Due to fascist control of large parts of it, the first short-lived Basque Autonomous Community had power only over Biscay and a few nearby villages.
As the fascist army advanced westward from Navarre, defenses were planned and erected around Bilbao, called the Iron Belt. But the engineer in charge,José Goicoechea, defected to the Nationalists, causing the unfinished defenses to be of little value. In 1937, German airplanes under Franco's controldestroyed the historic city of Gernika, after having bombed Durango with less severity a few weeks before. Some months later, Bilbao fell to the fascists. The Basque army (Eusko Gudarostea) retreated to Santoña, beyond the limits of Biscay. There they surrendered to the Italian forces (Santoña Agreement), but the Italians yielded to Franco. Other Republican forces considered the surrender a betrayal by the Basques.
Under the dictatorship of Franco, Biscay and Gipuzkoa (exclusively) were declared "traitor provinces" because of their opposition and stripped of any sort of self-rule. Only after Franco's death in 1975 wasdemocracy restored in Spain. The 1978 constitution accepted the particular Basque laws (fueros) and in 1979 the Statute of Guernica was approved whereupon Biscay,Araba andGipuzkoa formed the Autonomous Community of theBasque Country with its own parliament. During this recent democratic period, Basque Nationalist Party candidates have consistently won elections in Biscay. Recently the foral law was amended to extend it to the towns and the city of Urduina, which had previously always used the general SpanishCivil law.
The climate isoceanic, 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 Biscay, where snow is more common during winter. The average high temperatures in main city Bilbao is between 13 °C (55 °F) in January and 26 °C (79 °F) in August.[10]
The main geographical features of the province are:
The southern high mountain ranges, part of theBasque mountains, that form a continuous barrier with passes not lower than 600 mAMSL, forming thewater divide of the Atlantic and Mediterranean basins. These ranges are divided from west to east in Ordunte (Zalama, 1390 m), Salbada (1100 m),Gorbea (1481 m) andUrkiola (Anboto, 1331 m).
The middle section which is occupied by the main river's valleys:Nervion,Ibaizabal andKadagua. Kadagua runs west to east from Ordunte, Nervion south to north from Orduña and Ibaizabal east to west from Urkiola. The Arratia river runs northwards from Gorbea and joins Ibaizabal. Each valley is separated by mountains likeGanekogorta (998 m). Other mountains, likeOiz, separate the main valleys from the northern valleys. The northern rivers are Artibai, Lea, Oka and Butron.
The coast: the main features are theestuary of Bilbao where the main rivers meet the sea and the estuary ofGernika (Urdaibai). The coast is usually high, with cliffs and small inlets and coves.
According to the 2010INE census, Biscay had a population of 1,155,772 and a population density of 519.9 inhabitants/km2, only surpassed by the one ofMadrid andBarcelona. In 1981 Biscay was the fifthSpanish province in population, and despite the strongdemographic crisis the province has been living since theTransition it is today the ninth province in population.
A 2021 survey found that 30.6% of the population spoke theBasque language.[11]
Demographic evolution of Biscay and percentage of the national total[12][13]
The government and foral institutions of Biscay, as a historical territory of theBasque Country are theJuntas Generales de Vizcaya and the Foral Diputation of Biscay.
TheJuntas Generales of Biscay are a unicameral assembly that has normative authority in the province. Its members, calledapoderados, are elected byuniversal suffrage. The elections are held every four years.
After the 2015 elections, the configuration of the Juntas is the following:[14]
The Foral Diputation has an executive function and regulatory authority in Biscay. The Foral Diputation is configured by a General Deputy, who currently is Unai Rementeria[15] (PNV) and who is chosen by the Juntas Generales and by the rest of deputies.
Biscay's main and only airport isBilbao Airport, which is the most important hub in northern Spain, and the number of passengers using the new terminal continues to rise. It is located in the municipalities ofLoiu andSondika.
