NAVARRE', a province, and formerly a kingdom of Spain, is bounded on the n. by France, on the s. and e. by Aragon, and on the w. by the Biscays: nail is situated in 42° 20' to 43' 15' n. lat., and 0° 50' to 2° 30' w. long. Area abort 4;000 sq. miles. Pop. '70, 318.687. The country is mountainous, being bounded and traversed by the Pyrenees, spurs of which occupy almost the whole of the province in its northern and eastern parts. The highest peaks are Altovisear, Adi. Aleorrunz, and Rufm. Navarre is watered by the Bidassoa, the Anezo, and by the Ebro, together its tributaries, the Ega and Aragon, ou the level of•v Meth cern. wine, find ml of good quality are • produced. Some of the valleys which intersect the mountain-ranges, as those of Honeesvalles, Lescon, Bastan, and lloncal, have t. fruitful soil, and yield goal crops; but in the mountain districts, husbandry is impracticable, and the inhabitants nearly all follow the chase, as much from necessity as inclination; and while a large number of the Navarrese are soldiers, a still larger proportion are smugglers—the proximity of the province to France, and the dangerous character of the almost inaccessible mountain passes which alone connect the two countries, holding out many inducements and facili ties in the way of smuggling. The mountain forests still harbor bears, wolves, wild cats, goats, deer, and an abundance of game of every other kind. Iron and salt are the chief mineral products of the district, but these are obtained in sufficient quantities to he exported. The people of Navarre are a hardy, brave, and hospitable race, loyal to tl: sovereign, attentive observers of the forms of their religion, and, except in the mattes of smuggling, honest and moral; but they are passionate and distrustful, prone to anger, and keen in avenging an insult, real or imaginary. Although not industrious, the people follow a few branches of industry, and manufacture glass, leather, soap, chots oleic, etc.. of good quality.
The Navarrese, with few exceptions, are members of the church of Borne, to whose tenets they cling with superstitious devotion. They have always intermarried chiefly among their own compatriots, and are a nearly jinni Basque race. In the mountainous districts, Basque is still spoken, but in the plains, the modern Castilian Rum of Spanish is rapidly supplanting the ancient language of the country. The chief town is Pamp loan (q. v.).
The territory known from an early period of Spanish history under the name of ravarre, was occupied in ancient times by the Vascones, who were subdued by the Goths in the 5th century. After having become gradually amalgamated with their conquerors, the people continued to enjoy a species of turbulent independence under military leaders until the 8th c., when they were almost annihilated by the hordes of Arabs who were rapidly spreading their dominion to all parts of the peninsula. The Gothic Vascones of Navarre, who had been converted to Christianity, offered a gallant resistance to their infidel invaders, and although repeatedly beaten, they were not wholly subdued. The remnant which escaped the sword of their Moslem enemies took refuge in the fastnesses of the mountains, and choosing a knight of their number, Garcia Ximenes, as their leader or king, they sallied forth, and by their gallant resistance, compelled the Arabs to leave them in the enjoyment of an independence greater than that of the neighboring states. On the extinction of the race of Ximenes, in the mid
dle of the 9th c., the Navarrese elected as their king Inigo Sanchez, count of Bigorre, in whose family the succession remained till the marriage of Philip the fair with queen Joanna I. of Navarre; and the accession of the former to the throne of France in 1265, rendered Navarre an appanage of the crown of France. It continued a part of that kingdom during the'suceessive reigns of Louis X., Philip V., and Charles the fair, but on the death of this last in 1328, France fell to the family of Valois, and the daughter of Louis X., the rightful heir, succeeded to Navarre as Joanna II. The events of the kingdom present no features of interest during the next hundred years. The marriage of Blanche, daughter of Charles III. of Navarre, with John H. of Aragon, in 1442, did not produce an annexation of Navarre to Aragon, as John suffered his wife to rule her own kingdom as she pleased, and even after tier death and his subsequent re-marriage, lie resigned the government entirely to his son by Blanche. This son, known its Charles, prince of Viano, having attempted to remain neutral in his father's quarrels with Castile, John expelled him and his elder sister Blanche, who sided with him, from Navarre, and conferred the kingdom on Leonora countess de Foix, his younger daughter, by Blanche, whose misrule completed the disorganization which these family quarrels had commenced. Her son, Francis, called Phoebus, from his beauty, succeeded in 1419, and his sister- Catharine in 1483. Ferdinand and Isabella sought to marry the young queen to their son and heir, the prince of Asturias, but her mother, a French princess, married her to Jean d'Albret. Ferdinand, however, was not willing to let the prize escape hint, and on some slight pretext be seized Navarre in 1512. After this act of spoliation, there remained of ancient Navarre beyond a small territory on the northern side of the Pyrenees, which was subsequently united to the crown of France by Henri IV. of Bourbon, king of Navarre, whose mother, Jeanne d'Albret, was grand daughter of queen Catharine; and hence the history of Navarre ends n ith his accession to the French throne in 1589. The Navarrese were, however, permitted to retain of their ancient privileges, after their incorporation with the other domains of the Spanish crown, until the reign of queen Isabella II., when the active aid which they furnished to the pretender, Don Carlos, in the rebellion of 1834-39, led to the abrogation of their fueros, or national assemblies, and to the amalgamation of their nationality with that of the kingdom at large. In the later Carlist struggle of 1872-76, Navarre was again a principal seat of the war, the inhabitants being stimulated in their assistance of the repre sentative of the claims and title of Don Carlos by his promise of restoring their fueros.