Some 150,000 years ago, prehistoric man came to the western foothills of the Pyrenees in search of a place to settle and live. Close to the natural border formed by the mountains that stretch across the land adjoining the iberian peninsula to the rest of Europe, he found what he thought he was looking for.

The oldest known settlements founded by the ancestors of the present-day Basques date from the Lower Paleolithic. This most important settlements however, date from the last, Magdalenian-Azilian, glaciation. The characteristic features of today's Basques began to develop around this time, evolution was more or less complete by the Eneolithic period.
The Basques have lived uniterruptedly in this small region since the beginnings of recorded time. By maintaining their age-old cultural traditions, and keeping their historic identity alive, the Basques provide a link with man's distant past. Eskuara, the Basque language, is probably the oldest surviving language in Europe.

• Mauléon - The heart of the "espartina."
• La Rhune (Larrun), Eunate, Ciga & Getaria - see
• more to come...