Topic summary
Basque Country (autonomous community)
image_alt. Replace with alt.blank_info_sec1. Replace with custom_data_sec1.blank2_info_sec1. Replace with custom_data2_sec1.blank3_name_sec2. Replace with custom_label3_sec2.blank2_info_sec2. Replace with custom_data2_sec2.blank1_info_sec1. Replace with custom_data1_sec1.mapsize1. Replace with map_size1.blank2_name_sec2. Replace with custom_label2_sec2.imagesize. Replace with image_size.The Basque Country or Basque Autonomous Community (), also officially called Euskadi (Basque pronunciation:), is an autonomous community in northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava (Araba), Biscay (Bizkaia), and Gipuzkoa (Guipúzcoa). It surrounds two enclaves, Treviño and Valle de Villaverde.
The Basque Country was granted the status of nationality, attributed by the Spanish Constitution of 1978. The autonomous community is based on the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country, a foundational legal document providing the framework for the development of the Basque people in the Southern Basque Country. Parallel to this; Navarre, which narrowly rejected a joint statute of autonomy in 1932, was granted a separate chartered statute in 1982.
Currently there is no official capital in the autonomous community, but the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, in the province of Álava, is the de facto capital as the location of the Basque Parliament, the headquarters of the Basque Government, and the residence of the President of the Basque Autonomous Community (the Palace of Ajuria Enea). The High Court of Justice of the Basque Country has its headquarters in the city of Bilbao. Whilst Vitoria-Gasteiz is the largest municipality in area, with 277 km (107 sq mi), Bilbao is the largest in population, with a population of 347,342, located in the province of Biscay within a conurbation of 875,552 people.
The term Basque Country may also refer to the larger cultural region (Basque: Euskal Herria), the home of the Basque people, which includes the autonomous community.