Of the Basque Country and it's history and culture we must mention the main motors of the Industrial Revolution in Spain. This all happened in the 19th century. It caused a great population increase during the 20th century. However when we speak of Euskadi we mustn't forget that this land, began to write it's own history before Christ.

The history of Euskadi is lnked with the Cantabrian Coast, between Asturias and the border of France. Some years before Christ, the Romans tried to sack the place, but not without difficulty to the populations of the region. Specifically, deputy substitute for Caesar Crassus was in charge of the sacking.

But it wasn't until the year 602 a.d. when the Ducat of Vaconia was created. years later after this denomination, the Basque people defeated the French troops that tried to conquer Euskadi, beginning a history that, to the contrary of what had occurred on the Iberian Peninsula, had marked the resistance to all invaders. Chronologically, the French troops in the 7th century were the first, but a century later, the Charlemagne troops came, then the Arabs, and Norsemen...

In the 7th century, the first Basque cities began to rise, and the disputes between the Kingdom of Navarra and Castilla raged. Bizkaia converted itself into an independent region. In the 19th century, the more contemporary episodes of the Basque Country took place, the most important being, the Carlist Wars. These were wars that brought numerous Basque people into exodus to South America. They were turbulent times, and through the Carlist wars and a century later, came the creation with the help of Sabino Arana, of the Nationalist Basque Party.

In the 20th century, this has been marked by the nationalist ambition in this region. In 1936, the first Euskali government was formed. Years before that, they had celebrated the first day of Basque Patriarchy, or Aberri Eguna, in Bilbao.

In the history of Euskadi, there is one date marked by fire, a date that never should of existd, but in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, Hitler, by petition of Franco, bombed Gernika, with thousands of civilians left dead in the town. After the Civil War, almost a quarter of a million Basque people had gone into exile in France and in South America.

In 1959, another sad date, was the year in which ETA was born. This is a liberation group during the years of Franco, a terrorist group during democracy. During the transition, there was another date, the 1st of July, 1976, when in Vitoria, the saddest bloody massacre happened since the end of the dictatorship. In 1980, the status of Autonomy for the Basque Government was established.

Since then until our days today, there have been many changes in Euskadi. Bilbao has converted itself into a cosmopolitan city, just like San Sebastian, it converted the International Film Festival of San Sebastian and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao into two of the maximum cultural accomplishments of the Basque Country.