Bassussarry (; eu, Basusarri) is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; eu, Pirinio Atlantiarrak or ) is a department in the southwest corner of France and of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Pyrenees mountain range and the Atlant ...

department in the

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by ...

region of southwestern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Basusartars''.

Geography

Bassussary is located in the former province of

Labourd Labourd ( eu, Lapurdi; la, Lapurdum; Gascon: ''Labord'') is a former French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées Atlantiques ''département''. It is one of the traditional Basque provinces, and identified as one of the territorial c ...

and within the urban area of

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine r ...

some 5 km south-east of

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spa ...

and 4 km south by south-west of Bayonne. Access to the commune is by the D932 road from

Anglet Anglet (; , eu, Angelu )ANGELU

in the north which passes through the commune on the eastern side and continues south to

Ustaritz Ustaritz (; eu, Uztaritze) is a town in the traditional Basque province of Labourd, now a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, southwestern France. It is located on the river Nive some inland from Bayonne. Ustaritz station has r ...

. The town is in the west of the commune and can be accessed by the D254 road which branches from the D932 on the northern border of the commune and continues through the town west to join the D810 south-west of Biarritz Airport. The D3 comes from the A63 autoroute Exit (Bayonne-Sud) to the town then south forming the western border of the commune and continuing to

Arcangues Arcangues (; ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France in what was formerly the Basque province of Labourd. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Arcanguais'' or ''Ar ...

. South-east of the town is another urban area of Betbeder. Much of the commune is urbanised with some areas of forest and meadows. The eastern part next to the D932 contains an industrial estate. Two bus services pass through and have stops in the commune operated by ''Transports 64'': *Service 860 Bayonne to Cambo-les-Bains *Service 880 Bayonne to Arbonne The commune lies in the

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

of the

Adour The Adour (; eu, Aturri; oc, Ador) is a river in southwestern France. It rises in High-Bigorre (Pyrenees), in the commune of Aspin-Aure, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean ( Bay of Biscay) near Bayonne. It is long, of which the uppermost ca. ...

with the

Nive The Nive (; eu, Errobi; oc, Niva) is a French river that flows through the French Basque Country. It is a left tributary of the river Adour. It is long. The river's source in the Pyrenees in Lower Navarre. The river Nive was made famous by ...

river forming the whole eastern border of the commune as it flows north to join the Adour. The ''Ruisseau d'Urdains'' flows from a small lake just south of the commune northwards, forming the north-eastern border of the commune, before joining the Nive in the north-eastern corner. The ''Ruisseau de Harrieta'' flows from the south-west of the commune to the north-east joining the ''Ruisseau d'Urbaine'' near the D932. The ''Ruisseau de Pétaboure'' rises in the north-west of the commune and forms the northern border as it flows east to join the ''Ruisseau de Harrieta'' in the commune.

Places and Hamlets

* Axerimendi * Behikenea * Betbeder * Borda Nasa * Bordaberria * Castanche * Dorriotz * Harrieta * Juanita * Juantipi * Larrebure * Lataste * Luberri * Martinaskoenea * Moussans * Oihenart * Peillé * Penen * Portukoborda * Urdains (château) * la Vigne * Xemeto

Toponymy

The commune name in

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

is ''Basusarri''.Euskaltzaindia - Academy of the Basque language
Jean-Baptiste Orpustan proposed a structure of ''baso'' meaning "forest" and ''sarri'' meaning "dense" or "tight" giving the overall meaning of "dense forest".Jean-Baptiste Orpustan,
''New Basque Toponymy''
Presses universitaires de Bordeaux, 2006, , p. 30-31 The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune. Sources: * Raymond:''
''Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees''
1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. ''Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees''
Paul Raymond, Imprimerie nationale, 1863, Digitised from Lyon Public Library 15 June 2011 *Orpustan: Jean-Baptiste Orpustan,
'' New Basque Toponymy''
ref name="Orpustan"/> *Ldh/EHESS/Cassini: *Lhande:

Pierre Lhande Pierre Lhande Heguy ( eu, Pierre Allande Hegi) was a French writer. He was born in Bayonne, France on 9 July 1877 and died 17 April 1957 in Tardets, Soule; for unknown reasons he was given his grandfather's surname, Lhande, as opposed to his fath ...

, ''Basque-French Dictionary'', 1926 *Register: Church Register of BayonneManuscripts from the 18th century - Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques Origins: *Bayonne:

Cartulary A cartulary or chartulary (; Latin: ''cartularium'' or ''chartularium''), also called ''pancarta'' or ''codex diplomaticus'', is a medieval manuscript volume or roll ('' rotulus'') containing transcriptions of original documents relating to the f ...

or ''Livre d'Or'' (Book of Gold)Manuscript from the 14th century in the Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques *Collations: Collations of the Diocese of BayonneManuscripts from the 17th and 18th centuries in the Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques *Navarre: Titles of the

Kingdom of Navarre The Kingdom of Navarre (; , , , ), originally the Kingdom of Pamplona (), was a Basque kingdom that occupied lands on both sides of the western Pyrenees, alongside the Atlantic Ocean between present-day Spain and France. The medieval state took ...

Titles of the Kingdom of Navarre in the Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques Bassussarry appears as ''Baßußarry'' on the 1750

Cassini Map The Cassini Map or Academy's Map is the first topographic and geometric map made of the Kingdom of France as a whole. It was compiled by the Cassini family, mainly César-François Cassini (Cassini III) and his son Jean-Dominique Cassini (Ca ...

and does not appear at all on the 1790 version.

History

During the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spai ...

on 10 December 1813 Bassussarry was the scene of a battle between General Suchet and the Spanish-English.

Heraldry

Administration

List of Successive

Mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

Intercommunality

Bassussarry is one of nine inter-communal structures: *the

Communauté d'agglomération du Pays Basque The communauté d'agglomération du Pays Basque ( eu, Euskal Hirigune Elkargoa), is the ''communauté d'agglomération'', an intercommunal structure, centred on the cities of Bayonne and Biarritz. It is located in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques depa ...

; *the SIVOM of Arbonne-Arcangues-Bassussarry; *the energy association of Pyrénées-Atlantiques; *the inter-communal association for the management of the Txakurrak centre; *the inter-communal association to support Basque culture; *the joint association for the management of drinking water Ura; *the joint association for collective and non-collective sanitation Ura *the joint association of maritime Nive; *the joint association of the

of the Nive. Bassussarry is the seat of the SIVOM Arbonne-Arcangues-Bassussarry The commune is part of the Bayonne-San Sebastián Eurocity.

Demography

In 2017 the commune had 3,126 inhabitants. Bassussarry war memorial in the church

Education

The commune has a public primary school.

Economy

The commune is in the

Appellation d'origine contrôlée An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical bo ...

(AOC) zone of

Ossau-iraty Ossau-Iraty is an Occitan-Basque cheese made from sheep milk. Origin Ossau-Iraty or Esquirrou is produced in south-western France, in the Northern Basque Country and in Béarn. Its name reflects its geographical location, the Ossau Valley in Béa ...

Culture and heritage

Bassussarry interieur de l'église avec balcon

Religious heritage

The Parish Church of Saint-Barthélemy (19th century) is registered as an historical monument.

Language

According to the ''Map of the Seven Basque Provinces'' by

Louis Lucien Bonaparte Louis Lucien Bonaparte (4 January 1813 – 3 November 1891) was a French philologist. The third son of Napoleon's second surviving brother, Lucien Bonaparte, he spent much of his life outside France for political reasons. After a brief political ...

the

spoken in Bassussarry is Northern

Upper Navarrese dialect Upper Navarrese (sometimes called High Navarrese) is a dialect of the Basque language spoken in the Navarre ( eu, Nafarroa or ''Nafarroa Garaia'') community of Spain, as established by linguist Louis Lucien Bonaparte in his famous 1869 map. He ...

Notable people linked to the commune

Dominique Joseph Garat Dominique Joseph Garat (8 September 17499 December 1833) was a French Basque writer, lawyer, journalist, philosopher and politician. Biography Garat was born at Bayonne, in the French Basque Country. After a good education under the direction ...

, born in 1749 at Bayonne and died in 1833 at Bassussarry, was a lawyer, journalist, and French philosopher. He was elected to the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

in 1803. * Christophe-Louis Légasse, born in 1859 at Bassussarry and died in 1931 at

Périgueux Périgueux (, ; oc, Peireguers or ) is a commune in the Dordogne department, in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Périgueux is the prefecture of Dordogne, and the capital city of Périgord. It is also ...

, was a French Catholic Prelate, successively

Apostolic prefect An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...

Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Pierre and Miquelon (), officially the Territorial Collectivity of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (french: link=no, Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Pierre et Miquelon ), is a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France in t ...

from 1899 to 1915, Bishop of Oran from 1915 to 1920, and Bishop of Périgueux from 1920 to 1931. * Christophe Hondelatte, journalist born in 1962 at

, grew up in Bassussarry.Interview with Christophe Hondelatte by the ''Journal du Pays basque'' on 24 January 2009
''"I, who grew up in Bassussaury..."''