Ainhoa

Ainhoa (Basque: Ainhoa) is a French commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Aquitaine region of southwestern France.

The inhabitants are known as Ainhoar.

The Basque Country (Basque: Euskal Herria) is the name given to the home of the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast. It is the oldest documented Basque name for the area they inhabit, dating to the 16th century and thus predates the emergence of Basque nationalism by at least two centuries.

It comprises the Autonomous Communities of the Basque Country and Navarre in Spain and the Northern Basque Country in France.

Even though they are not necessarily synonyms, the concept of a single culturally Basque area spanning various regions and countries has been closely associated with the politics of Basque nationalism. The region is home to the Basque people (Basque: Euskaldunak), their language (Basque: Euskara), culture and traditions. The area is neither linguistically nor culturally homogeneous, and certain areas have a majority of people who do not consider themselves Basque, such as the south of Navarre where in 1996 the census reported that 71% of inhabitants did not identify themselves as Basque - although a lot fewer people in the same area (53%) opposed measures to support the Basque language.

The French Basque Country or Northern Basque Country (French: Pays basque français, Spanish: País Vasco francés, Basque: Iparralde, i.e. "the North Side") situated within the western part of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques constitutes the north-eastern part of the Basque Country.

With 2,869 km², it is delimited in the north by the department of Landes, in the west by the Bay of Biscay, in the south by the southern Basque Country and in the east by Béarn (although in the Bearnese village of Esquiule Basque is spoken), which is the eastern part of the department. Bayonne and Biarritz (conglomeration BAB) are its chief towns. It is a popular tourist destination and is somewhat distinct from neighbouring parts of either France or the southern Basque Country, since it was not industrialized as Biscay or Gipuzkoa and remained agricultural and a beach destination.

Basques describe the northern Basque Country as the union of three "French provinces" in the northeast of the traditional Basque Country: