page_title: French Basque Country
section_title: Modern period
hierarchical_section_title: French Basque Country / History / Modern period
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Impression en 3 coul. par Frick frères à Paris Fait partie d'un ensemble de recueils de lithographies de Mercereau composés de lithographies provenant de "La France de nos jours", vaste suite publiée par livraisons, de 1853 à 1876, et comprenant 475 planches en deux tirages, l'un à deux teintes (noir et bistre), l'autre en couleurs. Les libraires ont réuni ces planches en albums de composition variable quant au nombre de planches et aux dessinateurs (Asselineau, Mercereau, Maurice, Deroy, etc). Un titre (Les Pyrénées, par Ch. Mercereau; Bagnères-de-Luchon, par Ch. Mercereau) était frappé sur le plat supérieur de la reliure de l'album, ainsi que le nom du Libraire pour lequel il était réalisé. La plupart des recueils de ces planches pyrénéennes portent le nom de Sajous, libraire à Bagnères-de-Luchon. Pl. 1 à 18 numérotées de 370 à 386. Pl. 374 (pl. 5 et 6) en double -- Pl. 19, 20 et 21 numérotées respectivement 407, 415 et 418. Ces trois pl. ont été dessinées et lithographiées par Asselineau -- Pl. 22, 23 et 24 numérotées 438, 439 et 440 -- Pl. 22 lith. par Aubrun -- Pl. 25 numérotée 441 -- Pl. 26 à 40 numérotées de 327 à 341 -- Pl. 41 à 46 numérotées de 363 à 368 -- Pl. 47 numérotée 369 -- Pl. 48 num. 292 -- Pl. 49 et 50 num. 264 et 265 -- Pl. 51 et 52 num. 268 et 269 -- Pl. 53 à 55 num. de 293 à 295 -- Pl. 56 num. 300 -- Pl. 57 à 59 num. de 307 à 309 -- Pl. 60 à 70 num. de 316 à 326 -- Pl. 71 num. 63, dessin et lith. d'Asselineau, imprimerie Destouches -- Pl. 72 et 73 num. 87 et 88, dessin et lith. d'Asselineau, imprimerie Destouches -- Pl. 74 num. 124, signée Lebreton, éditée chez Lalonde à Paris et imprimée chez Becquet frères à Paris -- Pl. 75 num. 161, dessin et litho. d'Asselineau, imprimerie Destouches. --Pl. 76 à 78 num. de 207 à 209 -- Pl. 79 à 81 num. de 211 à 213 -- Pl. 82 num. 220, dessin et lith. de Maurice, imprimerie Destouches -- Pl. 83 à 86 num. de 226 à 229 -- Pl. 87 et 88 num. 234 et 235 -- Pl. 89 à 91 num. de 273 à 275 -- Pl. 92 et 93 num. 290 et 291. Pièces jointes&#160;: 6 pl. sépia dont certaines sont des doubles du recueil de Mercereau. Les cinq premières planches sont numérotées respectivement 318, 321, 324, 331, 386. La dernière planche n'est pas extraite de La France de nos jours mais de L'Espagne pittoresque et monumentale. Ces six planches sont signées Mercereau, éditées chez Sinnet et imprimées chez Frick frères. Ancely, René (1876 - 1966). Possesseur
context_page_description: The French Basque Country, or Northern Basque Country is a region lying on the west of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Since 1 January 2017, it constitutes the Basque Municipal Community presided over by Jean-René Etchegaray.
  It includes three former historic French provinces in the north-east of the traditional Basque Country totalling 2,967 km²: Lower Navarre, until 1789 nominally Kingdom of Navarre, with 1,284 km²; Labourd, with 800 km²; Soule, with 785 km². The population included in the Basque Municipal Community amounts to 309,723 inhabitants distributed in 158 municipalities.
  It is delimited in the north by the department of Landes, in the west by the Bay of Biscay, in the south by the Southern Basque Country and in the east by Béarn, which is the eastern part of the department. Bayonne and Biarritz are its chief towns, included in the Basque Eurocity Bayonne-San Sebastián Euroregion. It is a popular tourist destination and is somewhat distinct from neighbouring parts of either France or the southern Basque Country, since it was not industrialized as Biscay or Gipuzkoa and remained agricultural and a beach destination.
context_section_description: The three Northern Basque provinces still enjoyed considerable autonomy until the French Revolution suppressed it radically, as it did elsewhere in France, eventually creating the department of Basses-Pyrénées, half Basque and half Gascon (Béarn, a former sovereign territory). Louis XVI of France summoned the Estates General of the Kingdom of France to discuss problems of state. This assembly united the three estates: nobles, clerics, and the common people (the third estate). Third estate representatives of the Basques provinces attending the Estates-General of 1789 and the following national assemblies in Paris rejected the imposition of an alien political-administrative design, regarding the events with a blend of disbelief and indignation. The brothers Garat, representatives of Labourd, defended against a hostile audience the specificity of their province and that of the Basques, putting forward instead the establishment of a Basque department. However, eventually the brothers Garat from Labourd voted for the new design out of hopes to get a say in future political decisions. In 1790 the Lower Pyrenees department project arrived, uniting the ancient Basque countries with Béarn. The reorganization favored the Bayonne bishopric that included the entire department (up to the Lescar and Oloron coasts that disappeared, and part of the Dax).
  The three Basque provinces were then shaken by traumatic events after the intervention of the French Convention army during the War of the Pyrenees (1793–95). Besides prohibiting the native Basque language for public use ("fanaticism speaks Basque"), an indiscriminate mass-deportation of civilians followed resulting in the expulsion from their homes of thousands and a death toll of approx. 1,600 in Labourd.
  The Basques started to be forcibly recruited for the French army, with large numbers of youths in turn deciding to run away or defect among allegations of mistreatment, so starting a trend of exile and emigration to the Americas that was to last for more than a century.
  The mutual hostility and lack of trust between the new regime and the European monarchies led to the creation of the General European Coalition against revolutionary France. At first, French Basque Country stayed at the margins of the conflict, since Spain stayed neutral, but in 1793, France declared war on Spain. The political situation after the mass-deportation of civilians improved when General Moncey led the French to a counterattack in June 1794, expelling the Spanish, and even entering Gipuzkoa. Pinet and Cavaignac went to Spain to manage conquered territory, courting the possibility of annexing it to France. After the fall of Robespierre, General Moncey forced the removal of Pinet and Cavaignac, who had managed to have a falling out with the Gipuzkoans. Due to this, they threw themselves into a desperate guerilla war, an antecedent to that of 1808. On July 22, the Treaty of Basilea was signed and the conflict ended, giving rise to a period of relative peace and prosperity.
  It became a matter of concern discussed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Dominique Garat. As of 1814, traditional cross-Pyrenean trade fell conspicuously, starting a period of economic stagnation. Eventually, trade across the Pyrénées border was cut off after the First Carlist War, with large numbers further departing to the Americas in search for a better life. In Soule, the emigration trend was mitigated by the establishment circa 1864 of a flourishing espadrille industry in Mauleon that attracted workers from Roncal and Aragon too. Others took to smuggling, a rising source of revenue.
caption: Biarritz converted into a seaside resort
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