Navarre
"Navarra" redirects here. For other uses, see Navarre (disambiguation).
Navarre
(Spanish Navarra, Basque Nafarroa) is an autonomous community in Spain. Its official Spanish-language name is Comunidad Foral de Navarra' (for an explanation of foral
, see fuero'').
Navarre is bordered on the west by the autonomous community of the
Basque Country (formed by the provinces of
Vizcaya,
Guipúzcoa and
Álava, although Navarra only has a border with the latter two), on the south by the autonomous community of
La Rioja, on the east by the autonomous community of
Aragon (formed by the provinces of
Zaragoza/Saragossa,
Teruel and
Huesca, although Navarra only has a border with Zaragoza and Huesca), and on the north by the country
France.
The community is governed as an autonomous region, with its own parliament (Parlamento de Navarra) and government (Gobierno de Navarra). As in other autonomous regions in Spain, health, employment, education and social services, together with housing, urban development, environment protection policies are under the responsibility of its own institutions. Unlike other regions (and like the
Basque Country), it has almost full responsibility for collecting taxes, which must follow the overall guidelines established by the Spanish government but may have some minor differences.
There are 272 municipalities in Navarre. See
List of municipalities in Navarre. One-third of the population lives in the capital,
Pamplona (Basque
Iruña).
Navarre is a mixture of the Basque influence from the
Pyrenees and the
Mediterranean influences coming from the
Ebro. The Ebro valley is amenable to
wheat,
vegetables,
wine, and even
olive trees, as in Aragon and La Rioja. It was a part of the
Roman Empire, and in the Middle Ages it became the
taifa kingdom of
Tudela. During the
Reconquista, the Northerners extended southwards. In the
Middle Ages, Pamplona was a crossroads for Basques,
Gascons from beyond the Pyrenees and
Romance speakers.
The
Basque language has been losing ground for centuries.
Upper Navarrese is the
dialect of the
Basque language spoken in the region. Often feelings of "Basqueness" are linked to use of the language. For example, a person from a place where Basque was lost decades ago might say that they are not Basque, but that their grandfather was. Feelings of Basqueness often are carried onto politics with
Basque nationalism being stronger in the North, either within Navarrese branches of Basque parties like
Batasuna,
Aralar,
Eusko Alkartasuna or
EAJ-PNV or as homegrown movements like
Batzarre. Among the parties that downplay links to the Basque Country, there are regional branches of Spanish parties such as the
PSOE, as well as regional parties such as
UPN (Unión del Pueblo Navarro) and
Convergencia de Demócratas Navarros.
For a fuller account of the history of Navarre, see
Kingdom of Navarre.
Navarre leads Europe in its use of
renewable energy technology, and is planning to reach 100% renewable energy generation by
2010. By
2004 61% of the region's energy was generated by renewable sources, consisting of 43.6% from 28
wind farms, 12% from over 100 small-scale
water turbines and 5.3% from 2
biomass and 2
biogas plants. In addition, the region had what was then Spain's largest
photovoltaic power plant at Montes de Cierzo de
Tudela (1.2 MWp capacity), plus several hundred smaller photovoltaic installations.
Developments since 2004 have included further photovoltaic plants at
Larrión (0.25 MWp) [
1] and Spain's biggest at
Castejón (2.44 MWp) [
2].
*
Kingdom of Navarre*
Kings of Navarre*
Renewable energy in the European Union*
Northern Spanish region leads way on renewable energy*
Navarra: Electricity from renewable energy sources
