Basque Separatists

Basque Separatists are natives of the Basque region who are campaigning for national sovereignty and cultural independence from the surrounding nations of Spain and France. In the past 30 years, the campaign has taken both a political route and a terrorist route to achieve its goal.

The Basque people have lived in the western region of the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France since the Middle Ages. They speak their own language, Euskara, which is one of the oldest languages in Europe, and maintain a degree of ethnic insularity. They were independent throughout the 1700s; around 1800 they were divided, to be partly ruled by both France and Spain. Almost immediately, a strong separatist movement was formed that still exists today. Resentful that they were no longer self-governed, the Basque Separatists formed a political party called the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), held widespread ...