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Euskara or Basque, is the language belonging to the territory called the Basque Country, which includes all the Basque territories, and is a direct translation from the Basque expression Euskal Herria. The Basque society commonly uses Euskal Herria to refer to its own country, an expression that can be found in literary texts from as early as the mid XVI^th century and that literally translated means 'The Country of Euskara'. The speakers and experts of Basque are called euskaldunak, which means literally 'those who possess Euskara'.

The Basque country is distributed between France (Iparralde) and Spain (Hegoalde). Labourdi, Basse Navarre (Low Navarre) and Soule (Zuberoa) are French territories, whereas Biscay, Guipuzcoa, Alava and Navarre are Spanish. Geographically speaking, the Basque country is situated between the Bay of Biscay, in the Cantabrian Sea, to the West, and the Pyrenees to the East; it borders on the rivers Adour in the North and Ebro in the South. Approximately 2,901,000 inhabitants live in an area which covers 20,524 km².

	LAND AREA	INHABITANTS
Biscay	2.217 km²	1.122.637
Guipuzcoa	1.980 km²	673.563
Alava	3.037 km²	286.387
Navarre	10.421 km²	555.829
Labourdi	800 km²	219.029
Basse Navarre	1.284 km²	28.076
Soule	785 km²	15.535

(Figures regarding Hegoalde were taken in 2001, whereas those about Iparralde belong to 1999.)

Administratively speaking, the territories of Biscay, Guipuzcoa and Alava in the Spanish state make up the Euskal Herriko Komunitate Autonomoa (Autonomous Community of the Basque Country). Navarre is a community with one province called Nafarroako Komunitate Forala (Statutory Community of Navarre). The three territories of France belong to a more extensive demarcation of the Region of Aquitaine or the Departament of the Atlantic Pyrenees.

Number of euskaldunes by territories

The official language of the Basque territories was firstly Latin (for example, in the XI^th century in the old reign of Navarra), and later on, the corresponding Romance language (XIII^th century, in the same reign). The Basque language was recognised as an official language by the Spanish state for the first time in the Statute of Autonomy in 1936, during the Civil War.

"The Basque language, like the Spanish language, will be the official language of the Basque country, and consequently, the official provisions that emanate from the autonomous power will be written in both languages " [Title 1, Article 1, 1936]

Nowadays, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, both the Basque and the Spanish languages are official and all its inhabitants have the right to know and use both languages [Article 6.1 Statute of the Autonomy].

"1. Euskara, the Basque Country's own language, will be like Spanish an official language in Euskadi, and all its inhabitants have the right to know and use both languages.
2. The Common institutions of the Autonomous Community, while taking into account the sociolinguistic variety of the Basque Country, will guarantee the use of both language by regulating its official character, and they will arbitrate and regulate the necessary measures and means to assure its knowledge.
3. Nobody will be discriminated because of the language ".
[Title 1, Article 6, 1979]

In the Statutory Community of Navarre, the Basque language is official in the Basque speaking areas of Navarre.

"1. Spanish is the official language of Navarre.
2. The Basque language will also have official character in the Basque speaking regions. A statutory law will determine these regions, will regulate the official use of Basque, and within the limits of the general law of the Spanish State, it will impose the teaching of this language".
[The Law of Statutory Improvement, Article 9, 1982]

These two communities have posthumously developed the law about this issue with the Basic Law of Normalisation of Basque Usage (1982) in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country and the Basque Law (1986) in the Statutory Community of Navarre.

In the French territories the Basque language has no official recognition.