Biscay has been inhabited since the Middle
Paleolithic, as attested by the
archaeological remains and
cave paintings found in its many caves. The
Roman presence had little impact in the region, and the
Basque language and traditions have survived to this day. According to Anton Erkoreka, the
Vikings had a commercial base there from which they were expelled by 825.
Mundaka is likely a Viking name, and the
ria of
Mundaka is the easiest route to the river
Ebro and at the end of it, the
Mediterranean Sea and trade. The first time Biscay is mentioned with that name (in
Latin in the forms
Bizkai and
Bizcai) is in the
Chronicle of Alfonso III in the late 9th century, which tells of the regions repopulated under orders of
Alfonso I, and how some territories "owned by their own", among them Biscay, were not affected by these repopulations. Biscay is mentioned again in the 10th-century
Códice de Roda, which narrates the wedding between Velazquita, daughter of
Sancho I of Pamplona, to
Munio Velaz, Count of
Álava, in Biscay. It is recorded in 1070 in a donation act to the
monastery of Bickaga, located on the ria of Mundaka. It is considered then, that Biscay was by this period controlled by the
Kingdom of Navarre. It then became autonomous and finally a part of the
Crown of Castile, as the
Lordship of Biscay. In the
modern age, the province became a major commercial and industrial area. Its prime
harbour of Bilbao soon became the main Castilian gateway to Europe. Later, in the 19th and 20th centuries, the abundance of prime quality iron ore and the lack of
feudal castes favored rapid industrialization.
Paleolithic Middle Paleolithic The first evidence of human dwellings (
Neanderthal people) in Biscay happens in this period of prehistory.
Mousterian artifacts have been found in three sites in Biscay: Benta Laperra (Karrantza); Kurtzia (Getxo); and Murua (Durangoaldea).
Late Paleolithic Chatelperronian culture (normally associated with Neanderthals as well) can be found in
Santimamiñe cave (Kortezubi). The most important settlements by anatomically modern humans (
H. sapiens) can be considered the following: •
Aurignacian culture: Benta Laperra, Kurztia, and Lumentxa (Lekeitio) •
Gravettian culture: Santimamiñe, Bolinkoba (Durangoaldea) and Atxurra (Markina) •
Solutrean culture: Santimamiñe and Bolinkoba •
Magdalenian culture: Santimamiñe and Lumentxa
Paleolithic art is also present. The Benta Laperra cave has the oldest paintings, maybe from the Aurignacian or Solutrean period. Bison and bear are the animals depicted, together with abstract signs. The murals of Arenaza (Galdames) and Santimamiñe were created in later periods (Magdalenian). In Arenaza, female deer are the dominant motif; Santimamiñe features bison, horses, goats, and deer.
Epi-Paleolithic This period (also called
Mesolithic sometimes) is dominated in Biscay by the
Azilian culture. Tools become smaller and more refined and, while hunting remains, fishing and seafood gathering become more important; there is evidence of consumption of wild fruits as well.
Santimamiñe is one of the most important sites of this period. Others are
Arenaza,
Atxeta (not far from Santimamiñe),
Lumentxa and nearby
Urtiaga, and Santa Catalina, together with
Bolinkoba and neighbour
Silibranka.
Neolithic While the first evidences of
Neolithic contact in the Basque Country can be dated to the 4th millennium BCE, it was not until the beginning of the 3rd that the area accepted, gradually and without radical changes, the advances of agricultural cultivation and domestication of sheep. Biscay was not particularly affected by this change and only three sites can be mentioned for this period: Arenaza; Santimamiñe; and Kobeaga (Ea). The advances adopted seem limited initially to sheep, domestic goats, and very scarce
pottery. Together with Neolithic technologies,
Megalithism also arrived. It was the most common form of burial (simple
dolmen) until .
Chalcolithic and Bronze Age While open-air settlement started to become common as the population grew, they still used caves and natural shelters in Biscay in the
Chalcolithic and
Bronze Age. Hunting game became a less important source of protein, as the people relied on sheep, goats and some
bovine cattle. Metallic tools became more common but stone-made ones were also used. Pottery types showed great continuity (not decorated) until the
bell beaker made its appearance. The sites of this period now cover all the territory of Biscay, many being open air settlements, but the most important caves of the Paleolithic are still in use as well.
Iron Age Few sites have been identified for this period. Caves are abandoned for the most part but they still reveal some remains. The main caves of prehistory (Arenaza, Santimamiñe, Lumentxa) were still inhabited.
Roman period Roman geographers identified two tribes in the territory now known as Biscay: the
Caristii and
Autrigones. The
Caristii dwelt in nuclear Biscay, east of the firth of Bilbao, extending also into Northern
Araba and some areas of
Gipuzkoa, up to the river Deba. The
Autrigones dwelt in the westernmost part of Biscay and Araba, extending also into the provinces of
Cantabria,
Burgos and
La Rioja. Based in toponymy, historical and archaeological evidence, it is thought that these tribes spoke the
Basque language. The borders of the
Biscayan dialect of Basque seem to be those of the Caristian territory, with an exception of the areas that have lost the old language. No resistance to Roman occupation is indicated in any part of the Basque area (excepting
Aquitaine) before the late feudalizing period. Roman sources mention several towns in the area, including Flaviobriga and Portus Amanus, although they have not been located. The site of
Forua, near
Gernika, has yielded archaeological evidence of Roman presence. In the late Roman period, together with the rest of the Basque Country, Biscay seems to have revolted against Roman domination and the growing society organized by
feudalism.
Middle Ages In the Early
Middle Ages, the history of Biscay cannot be separated from that of the Basque Country as a whole. The area was
de facto independent although
Visigoths and
Franks attempted to assert their domination from time to time. Encounters between the Visigoths and Basques usually led to defeat for the latter. The Visigoths established an outlying post at the later city of
Vitoria to counter incursions and the migration of Basques from the coastal regions to the north. In 905, Leonese chronicles define for the first time the
Kingdom of Pamplona as including all the western
Basque provinces, as well as the
Rioja region. The territories that would later constitute Biscay were included in that state. In the conflicts that the newly sovereign
Kingdom of Castile and Pamplona/Navarre had in the 11th and 12th century, the Castilians were supported by many landowners from La Rioja, who sought to consolidate their holdings under Castilian feudal law. These pro-Castilian lords were led by the house of
Haro, who were eventually granted the rule of newly created Biscay, initially made up of the valleys of
Uribe,
Busturia,
Markina,
Zornotza, and
Arratia, as well as several towns and the city of
Urduina. It is unclear when this happened, but tradition says that Iñigo López was the first
Lord of Biscay in 1043. The title to the lordship was inherited by Iñigo López's descendants until, by inheritance, in 1370, it passed to
John I of Castile. It became one of the titles of the king of Castile. Since then it remained connected to the crown, first to that of Castile and then, from
Charles I, to that of
Spain, as ruler of the Crown of Castile. It was conditioned on the lord swearing to defend and maintain the
fuero (Biscayan laws, derived from Navarrese and Basque customary rights), which affirmed that the possessors of the sovereignty of the lordship were the Biscayans and that, at least in theory, they could refute the lord. The lords and later the kings, came to swear the
Statutes to the oak of Gernika, where the assembly of the Lordship sits.
Modern times In the
modern ages commerce took on great importance, specially for the
Port of Bilbao, to which the kings granted privileges in 1511 for trade with the ports of the
Spanish Empire. Bilbao was already the main Castilian harbour, from where
wool was shipped to
Flanders, and other goods were imported. In 1628, the separate territory of
Durango was incorporated to Biscay. In the same century the so-called
chartered municipalities west of Biscay were also incorporated in different dates, becoming another subdivision of Biscay:
Encartaciones (Enkarterriak). The coastal towns had a sizable fleet of their own, mostly dedicated to fishing and trade. Along with other Basque towns of
Gipuzkoa and
Labourd, they were largely responsible for the commercially extinction of
North Atlantic right whales in the
Bay of Biscay and of the first unstable settlement by Europeans in
Newfoundland. They signed separate treaties with other powers, particularly England. After the
Napoleonic Wars, Biscay, along with the other Basque provinces, were threatened to have their self-rule cut by the now Liberal
Spanish Cortes. Together with opposing factions that supported different parties for the throne, this desire to maintain foral rights contributed to the successive
Carlist Wars. The Biscayan government and other Basque provinces supported
Carlos V, who represented an autocratic monarch who would preserve tradition. Many of the towns though, notably Bilbao, were aligned with the Liberal government of
Madrid. In the end, with victory by anti-Carlists, the wars resulted in
successive cuts of the wide autonomy held by Biscay and the other provinces. In the 1850s extensive prime quality iron resources were discovered in Biscay. This brought much foreign investment mainly from England and France. Development of these resources led to greater industrialization, which made Biscay one of Spain's richest provinces. Together with the
industrialisation, important bourgeois families, such as Ybarra, Chávarri and
Lezama-Leguizamón, developed from the new sources of wealth. The great industrial (
Iberdrola,
Altos Hornos de Vizcaya) and financial (
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria- BBVA) groups were created.
20th century During the
Second Spanish Republic, the
Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) governed the province. When the
Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, Biscay supported the Republican side against
Francisco Franco's army and ideology. Soon after, the Republic acknowledged a statute of autonomy for the Basque Country. Due to fascist control of large parts of it, the first short-lived Basque Autonomous Community had power only over Biscay and a few nearby villages. As the fascist army advanced westward from Navarre, defenses were planned and erected around Bilbao, called the Iron Belt. But the engineer in charge,
José Goicoechea, defected to the Nationalists, causing the unfinished defenses to be of little value. In 1937, German airplanes under Franco's control
destroyed the historic city of Gernika, after having bombed Durango with less severity a few weeks before. Some months later, Bilbao fell to the fascists. The Basque army (
Eusko Gudarostea) retreated to Santoña, beyond the limits of Biscay. There they surrendered to the Italian forces (
Santoña Agreement), but the Italians yielded to Franco. Other Republican forces considered the surrender a betrayal by the Basques. Under the dictatorship of Franco, Biscay and Gipuzkoa (exclusively) were declared "traitor provinces" because of their opposition and stripped of any sort of self-rule. Only after Franco's death in 1975 was
democracy restored in Spain. The 1978 constitution accepted the particular Basque laws (
fueros) and in 1979 the Statute of Guernica was approved whereupon Biscay,
Araba and
Gipuzkoa formed the Autonomous Community of the
Basque Country with its own parliament. During this recent democratic period, Basque Nationalist Party candidates have consistently won elections in Biscay. Recently the foral law was amended to extend it to the towns and the city of Urduina, which had previously always used the general Spanish
Civil law. == Geography ==