Álava in the context of "Vitoria-Gasteiz"

Basque (/ˈbæsk, ˈbɑːsk/ BASK, BAHSK; euskara [eus̺ˈkaɾa]) is a language spoken by Basques and other residents of the Basque Country, a region that straddles the westernmost Pyrenees in adjacent parts of southwestern France and northern Spain. Basque is classified as a language isolate (unrelated to any other known languages), the only one in Europe. The Basques are indigenous to and primarily inhabit the Basque Country. The Basque language is spoken by 806,000 Basques in all territories. Of them, 93.7% (756,000) are in the Spanish area of the Basque Country and the remaining 6.3% (51,000) are in the French portion.

Native speakers live in a contiguous area that includes parts of four Spanish provinces and the three "ancient provinces" in France. Gipuzkoa, most of Biscay, a few municipalities on the northern border of Álava and the northern area of Navarre formed the core of the remaining Basque-speaking area before measures were introduced in the 1980s to strengthen Basque fluency. By contrast, most of Álava, the westernmost part of Biscay, and central and southern Navarre are predominantly populated by native speakers of Spanish, either because Basque was replaced by either Navarro-Aragonese or Spanish over the centuries (as in most of Álava and central Navarre), or because it may never have been spoken there (as in parts of Enkarterri and south-eastern Navarre).

The province of Burgos is a province of northern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Palencia, Cantabria, Vizcaya, Álava, La Rioja, Soria, Segovia, and Valladolid. Burgos is the province of Spain that has borders with most provinces. Its capital is the city of Burgos.

The Cartularies of Valpuesta from the monastery Santa María de Valpuesta, in Burgos, are considered to be the oldest known documents containing words written in the Spanish language.

Miranda de Ebro (Spanish: [miˈɾan̪da ðe ˈeβɾo]) is a Spanish municipality belonging to the province of Burgos in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Straddling the Ebro river, near its confluence with the Bayas, the city is located on the northern watershed of the Obarenes Mountains, near the border with the Basque province of Álava and the autonomous community of La Rioja. As of 2 January 2025, the municipality has a registered population of 37,138.

The city has an industrial economy focusing on the chemical industry. Connected to the Meseta Central through the Pancorbo Pass [es], Miranda is an important transportation hub, served by the AP-1 and AP-68 road routes and the Madrid–Hendaye and Tudela–Bilbao rail routes. Within 80 kilometres (50 miles) are the cities of Bilbao, Burgos, Logroño and Vitoria-Gasteiz.

The Caristii were a pre-Roman tribe settled in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, in what today are known as the historical territories of Biscay and Álava, in the Basque Country, northern Spain.

The Basque Country or Basque Autonomous Community (/bæsk, bɑːsk/), also officially called Euskadi ([eus̺kadi]), is an autonomous community in northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava (Araba), Biscay (Bizkaia), and Guipúzcoa (Gipuzkoa). 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 on Southern Basque Country. Parallelly, Navarre, which narrowly rejected a joint statute of autonomy in 1932, was granted a separate chartered statute in 1982.

Gipuzkoa (US: /ɡiːˈpuːskoʊə/ ghee-POO-skoh-ə, Basque: [ɡipus̻ko.a]; Spanish: Guipúzcoa [ɡiˈpuθkoa] ; French: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques at the northeast, with the province and autonomous community of Navarre at east, Biscay at west, Álava at southwest and the Bay of Biscay to its north. It is located at the easternmost extreme of the Cantabric Sea, in the Bay of Biscay. It has 66 kilometres (41 miles) of coastline.

With a total area of 1,980 square kilometres (760 square miles), Gipuzkoa is the smallest province of Spain. The province has 89 municipalities and a population of 720,592 inhabitants (2018), from which more than half live in the Donostia-San Sebastián metropolitan area. Apart from the capital, other important cities are Irun, Errenteria, Zarautz, Mondragón, Eibar, Hondarribia, Oñati, Tolosa, Beasain and Pasaia.

Old Castile (Spanish: Castilla la Vieja [kasˈtiʎa la ˈβjexa]) is a historic region of Spain, which had different definitions across the centuries. Its extension was formally defined in the 1833 territorial division of Spain as the sum of the following provinces: Santander (now Cantabria), Burgos, Logroño (now La Rioja), Soria, Segovia, Ávila, Valladolid and Palencia. As the rest of regions in that division, Old Castile never had any special administrative agency; only the individual provinces had their own management.

The name Old Castile reflects the fact that this territory corresponds very roughly to the extension of the Kingdom of Castile around the 11th century, before it expanded to the south. This kingdom had its origins in the 9th century in an area now comprising Cantabria, Álava, and Burgos province.

Estella (Spanish) or Lizarra (Basque) is a town located in the autonomous community of Navarre, in northern Spain. It lies south west of Pamplona, close to the border with La Rioja and Álava.

The town was founded in 1090 when the place, lying by the fortified settlement of Lizarra, was granted a charter by the Pamplonese king Sancho Ramirez. The town became a landmark in the Way of St. James pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, thriving on the privileged location and the melting pot of Francos called in by Navarrese kings (mainly Occitans from Auvergne and Limousin), Jews and the original Navarrese inhabitants. The wealth resulted in a development of Romanesque architecture, well represented in the town: Church of San Pedro de la Rúa, Palacio de los Reyes de Navarra, Church of San Miguel, among others.

Pascual de Andagoya (1495–1548) was a Spanish Basque conquistador. He was born in the village of Andagoya, in the valley of Cuartango (Álava), in Spain.

As often happened at the time, Andagoya left as an explorer of the New World at a very young age of 19, on April 11, 1514, under the command of Pedro Arias de Ávila. The expedition left carrying an army of over 2,000 in 22 ships, with the objective of colonizing Central America.

The Bayas (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈbaʝas]) or Baia (Basque pronunciation: [bai.a]) is a river of Spain. From its source in the Gorbeia massif in Biscay, it flows southwards through Álava before discharging into the Ebro River near Miranda de Ebro, Burgos.

Rioja (pronounced [ˈrjoxa]) is a wine region in Spain, with denominación de origen calificada (D.O.Ca., 'Qualified Designation of Origin', the highest category in Spanish wine regulation). Rioja wine is made from grapes grown in the autonomous communities of La Rioja and Navarre, and the Basque province of Álava. Rioja is further subdivided into three zones: Rioja Alta, Rioja Oriental and Rioja Alavesa. Many wines have traditionally blended fruit from all three regions, though there is a slow growth in single-zone wines.

The Treviño Enclave (Basque: Trebiñuko Barrendegia Spanish: Enclave de Treviño) in northern Spain is part of the territory of the province of Burgos (part of Castile and León), but is completely surrounded by the territory of the Basque Country province of Álava. Thus, it is an enclave of the Basque Country and an exclave of Castile and León. It consists of two municipalities—Condado de Treviño and La Puebla de Arganzón—and is part of the Judicial district (partido judicial) of Miranda de Ebro in the province of Burgos.

The enclave consists of the municipalities of Condado de Treviño, with an area of 260.71 square kilometres (100.66 sq mi) and a 2009 population of 1,432, giving it a population density of 5.49 per square kilometre (14.2/sq mi) and La Puebla de Arganzón, with an area of 18.87 square kilometres (7.29 sq mi) and a 2009 population of 529, giving it a population density of 28.03 per square kilometre (72.6/sq mi). This gives the enclave as a whole an area of 279.58 square kilometres (107.95 sq mi) and a 2009 population of 1,961, for a population density of 6.77 per square kilometre (17.5/sq mi).