EUSKAL HERRIA IN DEPTH: Population

Numerous peoples not unlike ours have disappeared over the course of history. Despite the difficulties encountered on the way, the Basque People have managed to keep alive their will to remain. They have opened their doors to human and cultural contributions from neighbouring peoples, while preserving their own linguistic and cultural identity. Basqueness has always been, both for ourselves and for others, a necessary reference when it comes to indicating who we are and where we are from.

Euskal Herria, a country of emigrants in the XIX century, the preferred destination being America, became a focus of immigration in the XX century. Marked industrial development in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, and Araba and Nafarroa Garaia at a later stage, produced extraordinary demographic growth in Hegoalde (Southern Basque Country) due to the arrival en masse of immigrants drawn by the job opportunities available. This industrial revolution and the demographic changes it brought about changed the social physiognomy of the country, generating an open, plural, multicultural Basque society.