A mystery wrapped in an enigma inside a riddle, the labyrinthine ethnic, political and social complexities of the Basque Country continue to confound outside observers. Encompassing a sizeable stretch of northern Spain and southern France (though even its precise geographical boundaries are a topic of endless debate) the region (or, if you prefer, the nation) only tends to command external attention when the separatist movement ETA springs into action, as it has done periodically over the last five decades.

There is, of course, far more to the region than its fierce political passions, but it hasn’t been adequately chronicled until now. Irish Times journalist Paddy Woodworth’s bullet-stopping The Basque Country: A Cultural History is a spectacular achievement by any standards. Definitive in scope and lyrical in style, Woodworth’s tome is fit to set alongside any of the finest travel writing of recent decades, shedding light not only on the linguistic and political peculiarities of the Basque country, but also on its cuisine and wines, its sporting life, its music, its sexual politics.
Woodworth was initially daunted by the scale of the task he’d set himself: “It takes one half a lifetime to gain a proper understanding of the place, and even then, you’re always learning. Without doubt, it’s more difficult to get an overall fix on than most societies are, because there are so many aspects to it. As with the Irish, one Basque’s view of the place may be utterly contradictory to another’s. So you need to take into account as many different points of view as you can.”
Many parallels have been drawn between the Basque and Irish situations, and one can trace a phenomenon whereby, as Woodworth puts it, “There were echoes of what we saw here, whereby people who were in the Official Republican movement switched over to an anti-nationalist, almost pro-unionist position – this has also happened in the Basque country.”
Is it fair to say many Basques are completely ambiguous and confused about their preferred solution?
“Many Basque nationalists profess to desire some change from the status quo, but they haven’t clearly formulated what exactly they want. This is particularly true of the main nationalist party, the PNV, which has turned ambiguity into art form. They always want something more than Madrid is prepared to offer, but they never define exactly how far they want to go. In so far as I’d risk trying to say what makes the conflict so intractable, I believe they cherish self-determination which is not necessarily the same thing as independence. If you imagine the Spanish state as a palace, the curiosity is that the Basques occupy many of the most comfortable rooms in the palace. It’s a very prosperous area, economically, culturally, in every way. But Basque nationalists have the feeling that nobody has ever consulted them about their wishes.”
Woodworth is reluctant to speculate, but ventures a guess as to what these wishes might be: “My suspicion is that if they were ever asked that question, a majority of Basque nationalists might prefer to maintain the connection with Spain in some form, as long as they were granted an out clause, and recognition of their cultural uniqueness. They are genuinely terrified of what they call ‘cultural genocide’.”
Woodworth is also, to my knowledge, the first non-Basque commentator to draw attention to a distinct difference of flavour between “French” Basques and “Spanish” Basques.
“French Basque country was forcibly incorporated into the French nation at the time of the Revolution, whereas the Spanish Basque country wasn’t fully incorporated into Spain until the 1870s, and Franco's repression had the effect of making their nationalism much more intense. Also, France participated in the First World War. Many of them see no contradiction; they’re Basque, and they’re French patriots. They tend to regard their southern neighbours as a little uncouth, and more than a little emotional and unstable in their politics.”

The Basque Country: A Cultural History. is published by Signal Books. Paddy Woodworth is also the author of Dirty War, Clean Hands: ETA, The GAL And Spanish Democracy