Northern Basque Country in the context of "Atlantic Europe"

The Basque Country (Basque: Euskal Herria; Spanish: País Vasco; French: Pays basque; Occitan: Bascoat) is the name given to the home of the Basque people. The Basque Country is located in the western Pyrenees, straddling the border between France and Spain on the coast of the Bay of Biscay.

Encompassing the Autonomous Communities of the Basque Country and Navarre in Spain and the Northern Basque Country in France, the region is home to the Basque people (Basque: Euskaldunak), their language (Basque: Euskara), culture and traditions. The area is neither linguistically nor culturally homogeneous, and certain areas have a majority of people who do not consider themselves Basque, such as the south of Navarre. The concept is still highly controversial, and the Supreme Court of Navarre has upheld a denial of government funding to school books that include the Navarre community within the Basque Country area.

The communauté d'agglomération du Pays Basque (Occitan: Communautat d'aglomeracion del País Basco; Basque: Euskal Hirigune Elkargoa, "agglomeration community of the Basque Country"), is the agglomeration community (federation of communes), centred on the cities of Bayonne and Biarritz. Also referred to as the French Basque Country, or Northern Basque Country (Basque: Iparralde (lit. 'the Northern Region'), French: Pays basque, Spanish: País Vasco francés), it is located in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, southwestern France.

It was created in January 2017 by the merger of the former communauté de l'agglomération Côte Basque-Adour, communauté de l'agglomération Sud Pays Basque and eight communautés de communes. Its area is 2968 km. Its population was 312,278 in 2018, including 51,411 in Bayonne and 25,532 in Biarritz.

Béarn (US: /beɪˈɑːrn/; French: [beaʁn] ; Occitan: Bearn [beˈaɾ] or Biarn; Basque: Bearno or Biarno; Latin: Benearnia or Bearnia) is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in Southwestern France. Along with the three Basque provinces of Soule, Lower Navarre and Labourd, the Principality of Bidache, as well as small parts of Gascony, it forms the current Pyrénées-Atlantiques department. The capitals of Béarn were successively Beneharnum (until 841), Morlaàs (from c. 1100), Orthez (from the second half of the 13th century) and then Pau (beginning in the mid-15th century).

Béarn is bordered by the Basque provinces of Soule and Lower Navarre to the west, Gascony (Landes and Armagnac) to the north, Bigorre to the east, in addition to Spain (Aragon) to the south.

Hendaye (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃daj] ; Basque: Hendaia, Spanish: Hendaya; Occitan: Hendaia) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department and Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France.

The town, Metropolitan France's most southwesterly and a popular seaside tourist resort, stands on the right bank of the River Bidasoa – which marks the Franco-Spanish border – at the point where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean in the French Basque Country.

The Adour (French pronunciation: [aduʁ] ; Basque: Aturri; Occitan: 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 308.3 kilometres (191.6 mi) long, of which the uppermost ca. 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) is known as the Adour de Payolle. At its final stretch, i.e. on its way through Bayonne and a short extent upstream, the river draws the border between the Northern Basque Country and Landes regions.

The Nive (French pronunciation: [niv]; Basque: Errobi; Occitan: Niva) is a French river that flows through the French Basque Country. It is a left tributary of the river Adour. It is 78.9 km (49.0 mi) long. The river's source in the Pyrenees in Lower Navarre. The river Nive was made famous by the Le petit Nicolas series.