The Spanishisation of the Basque province of Araba, century by century. By 1973, there were only around 400 Basque speakers left in the entire province (excluding the town of Aramaio, where Basque was never completely destroyed). Today, there are more than 70,000 (23,5% of the population).

First picture: the Spanishification of the province, century by century.

Second picture: the current state of affairs. Aside from the 23.5% of the population of Araba who can speak Basque, there are also 20% who understand Basque (but who can’t speak it).

Third and fourth picture: a book from the Araban author Pablo Mendibil (1788-1832), who was born in the town of Dulantzi (in the north east of the province) and lived in exile in London. He describes the punishments he received at school for speaking Basque.

Fifth picture: 17th century Spanish Inquistors needed translators in order to speak with accused “witches” in Araba, because they only spoke Basque.

Last picture: A book by the Basque author Agustin Kardaberaz (1703-1770), where he recounts how an Araban soldier complained to him:

>When I was travelling through Araba, a friend from there, a brave Captain in the King’s Guard, told me: “Father, in the Basque Country, how can Christian doctrine be taught as it should be, and children be raised well, if every effort is made to destroy Basque, and our children are forbidden to speak Basque through fear and lashes?
And our children, later, they will become clergy or breadwinners for the household. And when they are parents or priests, how will they teach the Christian doctrine in their very homes or in the *ergoiens* (this is how the Arabans call their small towns), and how will they take confessions from their congregants?

Given that their congregants would confess in Basque – and often be monolingual in Basque – priests would not be able to do their job well if they could not speak Basque. This is also true in Navarre, when most of Navarre was still Basque speaking, before the near eradication of the Basque language from the south and the middle of Navarre.