BASQUE PROVINCES (Provincias Vascongadas), a di vi'ion of north-eastern Spain in the angle of the Bay of Biscay, comprising the three provinces of Alava, Vizcaya or Biscay and Guipuzcoa. (Pop. 1931, 891,71o; area, 2,739 square miles.) The boundary of the Basque provinces extends south-westwards from the French frontier at the Bidassoa, along the Pyrenean foothills and the Sierra de Aralar, and across the western part of the Sierra de Andia to the Ebro at Logrono, whence it follows the river to Paentelarra beyond Miranda and then goes northward to the sea on the fringe of the highlands leaving the basin of the Nervion in Viz caya. The area thus included forms a triangle with its base at the coast, each side measuring approximately Tom. in a straight line. In every way the two mari time provinces of Vizcaya and Guipuzcoa stand out in contrast to the inland Alava. Guipuzcoa, in particular, remains most inten sively Basque, though the growth of San Sebastian and the in creased use of the coastal route from France tend to weaken their cultural continuity. In Vizcaya, too, industry produces the same effect. (See under the separate provinces ; also BASQUE LAN