southern basque country is the basque region of spain.
southern basque country is the basque region of spain.
what part of spain is the basque region?
southern basque country
Na
Na
the industry in the french basque region never reached the importance it did in the spanish provinces. few towns participated and only a small number of whales were probably taken. from the number of extant documents and written references aguilar (1986) surmised that french basque whaling peaked in the second half of the 13th century, and subsequently declined. although whaling as a commercial activity had ended by 1567, some right whales were taken as late as 1688. for the spanish basque region (biscay and gipuzkoa) the peak was reached in the second half of the 16th century, but as early as the end of the same century it was in decline. subsequently, an increase in whaling activity appears to have occurred in cantabria, asturias, and galicia in the first half of the 17th century. here the basques hired seasonal "land factories" (whaling stations), particularly in galicia – the galicians themselves were never whalers, they only built these installations so they could rent them out on an annual basis to the basques. the peak was short-lived. by the second half of the 17th century whaling in these areas was in general decline. the war of the spanish succession (1701–14) sounded the death knell for whaling in the bay of biscay, with the trade ceasing altogether in cantabria (1720), asturias (1722), and galicia (1720). it only continued in the spanish basque region, where it barely survived.
history of basque whaling