There is not a famine of assumptions when it comes to clarify the beginnings of the Basques, Western Europe’s people of mystery. They sort from the incredulous, survivors of the lost city of Atlantis, the mythical, Basques are descendants of the mythical Aitor, pre-historic, Basques descended from the Stone Age, the expansive, related to distant languages, to the probable, Basques are Iberians descendants.

On the outskirts of the Basque city of Gernika, there are caves called Santimamine, which contain the remains of a culture 20,000 years earlier. Some other archeological acquires give belief that the Basque homeland existed as long as 70,000 years previously. What is not known, "is if they where the ancestors of the current Basques" (Crow 10). The argument is whether the Basque populous and culture built-up there in the mountains of the Pyrenees or if they journeyed to the Basque land. Most historians estimate their arrival sometime between 5,000 and 3,000 BC. Even so, these suggested approximations place the Basques in Western Europe before the voyages of the second millennium BC that launched the ethnic arrangement of today’s Europe. Hence, certainty that the Basques are the oldest native people of Western Europe.

A young Frenchman, Philippe Veyrin, grouped two explanations of the Basques into three broad categories: theological, the metaphysical and scientific theories. These theories answer to some degree the origin and the identification of these people. Principal writers from the theological age--the 18th, and 19th centuries--presented claims that Basque was the initial tongue spoken before to the linguistic fragmentation from the Tower of Babel. This was the story of God from the Bible in which he thwarts the human attempt to build a high peak to touch the heavens. To interrupt the plan, God enforced multiple languages on the people so that they could not converse with each other. One person who attempted to validate this statement was Abbe Diharce de Bidassouet who supported his claim on a creative etymological work. Gipuzkoa (one of seven provinces) symbolized Gu-iz-puzk-ko-ak, or in other words broken language. Then Manuel de Larramendi, the person who wrote the first grammar book for the Basque, gave Basque a position among the seventy-five tongues spoken that followed the crumple of the Tower of Babel instead of the first language. Lastly, one more analyst, Abbe Dominique Lahetjuzan stated that Basque confirmed the Biblical story of Genesis. It appears that the originality of Basque established the holiness of Genesis. Undesirably, the down side of these and other clarifications opened minute solid evidence for their accusations and instead depended on uncertain etymologies and theories. Then again these assertions were taken genuinely for a short time. Another theory of language was issued by the Gipuzkoan priest, Erroa, who petitioned the Chapter of the Cathedral of Pamplona, which after months of debate accepted his theory that Basque was the lingo spoken in the Garden of Eden.

A German scientist instigated metaphysical explanations of the Basques in the nineteenth century by the name of Humboldt. He gave the belief that Basques descended from the Iberians, the primary residents of the Iberian Peninsula. Not all adopted his assumption, and Humboldt's studies prompted a race to unit the Basques with other cultures. These cultures ranged from the Finns and Hungarians, to ancient Egyptians and Native Americans, with the Celts, and others just tossed in for good comparison. Rodney Gallop, 1930, favored the theory proposed by Bosch Gimpera. Gimpera assigns the Basques in relation to the Paleolithic residents of the Pyrenees Mountains. He based his theory on the physical likeness of 25-40% of today’s Basque people. Basques were partial to the Iberians and probably borrowed from their lingo, but they were noticeable. It could have been a likely hypothesis, but unfortunately Gallop’s theory it is not definite. Gallop also came to the result that the Basque people are the oldest surviving culture in Europe. But the tricky fact is that there is little or no cite of the Basques pending till the 12th century after "their defeat by the Romans" (Crow 30).

The Basques race identify themselves as Euskaldunak, meaning people who speak Basque, and they label their homeland as Euskal Herria or the land of the Basques speakers. As it came to be, the Basque homeland was positioned at an active way on the Iberian Peninsula. The Romans stopover, followed by many other cultures, armies, and people. These groups also contained the Frank, Moors, and Goths. Two rising countries, Spain and France finally spoke for the Basques’ land. A good number Basques are informed that the Basque region if made up of seven provinces residing in today’s Spain and France. Most can label that four reside in Spain and three in France. This tradition goes back to the Treaty of the Pyrennes, 1659. Representatives from both Spain and France grouped to settle on a mutual margin between them. The ending decision, that divided the province of Nafarroa, was apparently set upon natural aspects that split Spain and France. At the Madrid conferences in 1651, it was declared that the Pyrennes Mountains, which was the natural divider of Spanish and French territories, symbolized the boundary of the two nations.

With the combination of the Basque territory into the nations of the Spanish and the French, many foreigners led way to Basque land. So, when the originator of today’s Basque nationalism at the close of the 19th century set about his task, this inquiry of meaning emerged vital. Sabino de Goiri’s explanations integrated negotiations of cultural and ethnic features, but he strained racial clarity. In his effortless description, the quantity of Basque surnames appeared dominant. The identification of being Basqueness has altered by modern means. The evolution of the definition started with the initial inflection on racial purity, to today’s weight on Basque language and culture.

Added researchers have noticed and pointed to physical relations to classify the Basques and distinguish them from their neighbors. There are assertions of a unique structure of the skulls, and distinctive eye and hair colors. Also there have been blood comparisons. Basques prove to have a excessive percentage of type O blood, in specific a high rate of Rh negative, "with an even higher percentage in remote areas where the language is best preserved" (Kurlansky 19). Unfortunately, this fact by itself can not justify a distinct ethnic group, and it resides difficult to calculate Basques in physical terms. Then the plot thickens, when the spotlight sheds light to a cultural distinction of the Basques. Basque nationalists have concluded that the language remains the only acceptable aspect to label questions of Basque individuality. This is contentious, because it prohibits an extensive assembly of people who think of themselves as Basques even though they do not use the language. There are also non-born nor bread Basques who have lately studied the language and now think of themselves as a Basques people. Now in modern times being a Basque individual is becoming a state of mind.

Then the examination of the language has revealed several truths. Euskara is not in any way related to Spanish or French because it lingers as the only non-Indo-European language in Europe. It paved the way for the latter versions of Latin, the language of the Romans by at least 3,000 years. A style of Euskara has been in the land of Europe longer than any other current language used today and in the past. Though the word Basque is used, the origin of the word is also doubtful. In some way or time the Euskaldunak implied the names of Basque in France and in Spain. Also Roman composers refereed to a specific tribe and in which their neighboring cultures did not comprehend their lingo. The earliest mention came a generation BC, and the Romans made reference to the inhibitors of this corner pocket of Europe by an array of names, these included Vascones. Gallop gave explanation that the Latin root "vasc" is most likely a variation of the Basque "eusk". He reckoned this from the developed modern terms Basque, Gascon and Vasco. But it is still undecided as to whether this was in reality the Basque people. In the twelfth century, a more clarified suggestion marked them the Bascli. Another theory ended up with the French edition of the term because the English made vast usage of French terminology. Unfortunately, there is hardly any sureness when debating the Basques. They continue to be Europe's people of mystery because the source of the population and their language remains is left blank. While there still resides more questions than answers, what is definite is that the Basques and their language are Western Europe's oldest.

In 1931, while Spanish retroaction was going on, Basques saw an opportunity to target full autonomy. This included taking four Basque-Navarrese officials and meting in the city of Lizarra in Navarre. At first it the idea was rejected, but after reconciliation from Madrid it was granted in 1936 with 84% of Basque electorate. The country had already set up a government that included their own currency, passports, judicial system, army, and relationship with other countries. Well, in the fall 1936 when complete autonomy was granted, the Spanish Civil War broke out. Franco cut off all resources to them in hopes to break them down and he took away their short-lived independence. Also France let the German allies use the Basque land for bomb testing grounds, which destroyed their two main functioning towns, Bilbo and Gernika. The people of the land had no other choice but to fall into the hands of Franco. People fled, the government retrieved into exile, and children were sent away. This was the only recorded time in history that the Basque were granted their independence and with jealousy it was taken away within months of its beginning.

Until Franco’s long-lived dictatorship ended, the Basque country remained suppressed. Franco took away all their rights such as speaking and teaching their language and culture, but that quickly ended as soon as his anticipated death came. Two political coalitions seeking Basque independence were formed during the transition in the 1970’s (after Franco’s death), Euskadiko Ezkerra (EE, Euskadi's Left), and Herri Batasuna (HB, People's Unity), a coalition of several left-wing groups. Both groups were backed by 30% of the Basque electoral votes. Herri Batasuna was a supporter the ETA, while Euskadido Ezkerra was a political arm of the ETA. In the general elections of March 1979 and the municipal election in the following month, the vote of the socialists and the center-right crumbled. The PNV surfaced as the major Basque party but the most suppressing result of the elections was the dominance of the nationalist left represented by Herri Batasuna, HB.

Using its electoral superiority, the PNV moved on the concern of autonomy insisting that a satisfactory Basque autonomy statute had to be issued immediately if ETA's armed fight were to cease. The Basque General Council was bypassed and the PNV quickly negotiated an autonomy statute with Madrid in July 1979. The exclusion of all other Basque political parties from the negotiations with the Spanish government was explained by the PNV as unfortunate but the urgency of the condition had not allowed time for multi-party discussions to take place. This profits the PNV by uniting the three Basque Provinces (Araba, Bizkaia and Gizpuzkoa) under its particular political sway. Unfortunately by leaving Navarre outside the existing separation of the Basque Country becomes permanent view of the PNV’s legitimation.

On October 1979 the statute of autonomy for Araba, Bizkaia, and Gipuzkoa (Bascongadas) was accepted in referendum. The statute that was offered to the Basque electorate for approval was not the one drafted in Gasteiz and Gernika (the Gernika Statute). It was by the regional parties but the profound modified version (the Moncloa Statute) negotiated at the Moncloa palace in Madrid between the PNV and the center-right alliance that carried out the Spanish political reform. Preparations for the referendum included political speeches promising, among other things, the union with Navarre and the removal of the security forces, and a flier called "12 Minutes" promoting the statute. Which was distributed among the population of Bascongadas. But the unity of Bascongadas and Navarre has been, and continues to be, a vital issue in the Basque debate. According to Luis Nuñez Astrain (La Razón Vasca), although there is a great difference of opinion within Navarrese society as to the union of Bascongadas and Navarre, the issue could have been explained during the Spanish political transition. This is when most political parties, Navarrese, nationalists and Spanish, supported the unity of the four Basque provinces, and Iruñea as the political center of the autonomous community.

On October 1979 the statute of autonomy for Araba, Bizkaia, and Gipuzkoa (Bascongadas) was agreed in referendum. The statute presented to the Basque electorate for agreement was not the one drafted in Gasteiz and Gernika (the Gernika Statute) by the regional parties but the profound modified version (the Moncloa Statute) negotiated at the Moncloa palace in Madrid between the PNV and the center-right alliance that carried out the Spanish political reform. Unlike the Statute of Autonomy of 1933 during the Spanish Republic, which was approved by 84% of the Basque electorate, with the same question and in the same region, the Statute of Autonomy of 1979 for Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa was approved by only 53% of the Basque electorate, but sufficient to approve the statute negotiated in Madrid by the PNV and the central government on July 1979.

Meanwhile in Navarre, an alliance of the Left (PSOE, Spanish Socialist Party) and the Right (UCD, Union of the Democratic Center and UPN, Union of the Navarres People) negotiated an autonomy statute with the central government. Three members of parliament, including Herri Batasuna's, member parliament, were banned from the negotiating Commission. In 1982 the law of Amejoramiento del Fuero Navarro (approved by the Navarrese parliaments and not by referendum) provided Navarre with its own autonomy statute thus maintaining the division between Bascongadas and Navarre. In this way, the institutional division of Southern Basque Country was finally joined. The transition from the Franquist regime to the current cannot be fully understood without mentioning the coup d'Etat of February 1981 in the Spanish parliament. The coup brought about the Ley Organica de Armonizacion del Proceso Autonomico (LOAPA, Organic Law for the Harmonization of the Autonomic Process), approved by the Spanish parliament in 1982, and which recovered the paltry concessions to autonomy that had been made in 1979. In 1983 the Constitutional Court declared fourteen articles of the law wholly or partially unconstitutional but the remaining portions of the LOAPA (now known as LPA) became law and entered into force in October 1983. The law of the State Security Corps and Forces, the law of Judicial Power, and the Basic Law on Civil Servants further weakened regional autonomy. The possibilities of state decentralization, which would have benefited the autonomous communities of Bascongadas and Navarre, are controlled, watched, and weakened by central legislation and state organs. Though through all of the politics and fighting it is still in the Basques heart to keep their want alive for complete autonomy.

In the end, the Basque people are thought of as long-lived, strong, and a dedicated culture of people. They have been thriving the longest, communicating longest, and sticking out to obtain what they deserve the longest, complete autonomy. Through all the theories and all the beliefs these people are just like any other closely related culture. The only difference though, is their persistent thinking and determination to remain constant and untouched by outside factors that could disrupt their goal, independence.