Bonifacio Echegaray Corta’s Introduction to the History of the Basque Country: Geography, Names of the Basque Country, and Prehistory (1936). Study and Edition

Abstract

We present the edition of the manuscript on the Introduction to the History of the Basque Country that Bonifacio Echegaray Corta wrote, commissioned by the Basque Studies Society-Eusko-Ikaskuntza, between 1932 and 1936. This manuscript is divided into three main parts: Geography, Names of the Basque Country, and Prehistory. Thanks to his prestige as a jurist and historian, Echegaray was chosen to produce a History of the Basque Country as a whole for use in schools and universities within the framework of a Statute of Autonomy presumed to be attainable soon. However, the antirepublican coup d’état and the consequent civil war prevented its complete realization. Our study of the manuscript tries to contextualize the work of
Echegaray and its value.