Lower Navarre

Lower Navarre (Basque: Nafarroa Beherea/Baxenabarre; Gascon/Bearnese: Navarra Baisha; French: Basse-Navarre [bɑs navaʁ]; Spanish: Baja Navarra) is a traditional region of the present-day French département of Pyrénées-Atlantiques. It corresponds to the northernmost region of the Kingdom of Navarre during the Middle Ages. After the Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre (1512–24), this merindad was restored to the rule of the native king, Henry II. Its capitals were Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and Saint-Palais. In the extreme north there was the little sovereign Principality of Bidache, with an area of 1,284 km (496 mi) and a decreasing population of 44,450 (in 1901), 25,356 (in 1990).

Although this denomination is not completely correct from the historical point of view, it is also known as Merindad de Ultrapuertos ("the regions beyond the mountain passes") by the southerners, and Deça-ports ("this side of the mountain passes") by the Gascon-speakers. Despite its lost administrative cohesion, the memory of its past heyday has left an imprint on its inhabitants, who keep identifying themselves as Lower Navarrese and therefore Navarrese. The Nafarroaren Eguna or Day of Navarre is a festival held in Baigorri every year to strengthen their bonds and celebrate their Basque identity as one of the seven constituent regions of the Basque Country.