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Spoken by the Basques in north central Spain and southwestern France (Pyrénées-Atlantiques).
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One of the oldest historically documented languages.
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It has no known relatives.
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The only
remnant of the languages spoken in southwestern Europe before the region was
romanized.
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Main dialects are Guipúzcoan, Biscayan, and Navarrese in Spain and
Labourdin and Navarrais in France.
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The Basque name for the language is Euskara.
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In Spain the
Basque-speaking region comprises the province of Guipúzcoa, parts of Vizcaya
and Navarra, and a corner of Álava, and in France the western region of the
département of Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
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The number of
speakers, who are largely bilingual, might be estimated at 700,000.
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