SPAIN • French Basque Country

The French Basque Country, or Northern Basque Country 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.

It includes three former historic French provinces in the north-east of the traditional Basque Country: Lower Navarre until 1789 nominally Kingdom of Navarre, with 1,284 km2 (496 sq mi); Labourd, with 800 km2 (310 sq mi); Soule, with 785 km2 (303 sq mi). 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 Béarnese 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 Euroregion. It is a popular tourist destination and is somewhat distinct from neighbouring parts of the southern Basque Country, since it was not industrialized as Biscay or Gipuzkoa and remained agricultural and a beach destination.

The most important city in the territory is Bayonne. The ancient Roman Lapurdum, from which the toponyms Labourd and Lapurdi originate, is a part of the Biarritz-Anglet-Bayonne agglomeration community (BAB) alongside Biarritz and Anglet, the most populated urban space in the territory. It is the political capital of its subprefecture and economic capital of the largest region, which includes the French Basque country and the south of Landes. Other important places are Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Hendaye, Sainte-Jean-Pied-de-Port, the capital of Lower Navarre, and Mauleon, the capital of Soule.