Lower Navarre

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Lower Navarre Nafarroa Beherea
Province
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Lower Navarre within the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departement.
Country	France
CA	Pays Basque
Capital	Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (Donibane Garazi)
Area
• Total	1,325 km2 (511.59 sq mi)
Population  (2011)
• Total	30,290
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)

Lower Navarre (Basque: Nafarroa Beherea/Baxenabarre; Gascon/Bearnese: Navarra Baisha; French: Basse-Navarre [bɑs navaʁ]; Spanish: Baja Navarra) is a traditional region of the present-day French département of Pyrénées-Atlantiques. It corresponds to the northernmost merindad of the Kingdom of Navarre during the Middle Ages. After the Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre (1512–24), this merindad was restored to the rule of the native king, Henry II. Its capitals were Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and Saint-Palais. In the extreme north there was the little sovereign Principality of Bidache, with an area of 1,284 km² (496 sq mi) and a decreasing population of 44,450 (in 1901), 25,356 (in 1990).

Although this denomination is not completely correct from the historical point of view, it is also known as Merindad de Ultrapuertos ("the regions beyond the mountain passes") by the southerners, and Deça-ports ("this side of the mountain passes") by the Gascon-speakers. Despite its lost administrative cohesion, the memory of its past heyday has left an imprint on its inhabitants, who keep identifying themselves as Lower Navarrese and therefore Navarrese. The Nafarroaren Eguna or Day of Navarre is a festival held in Baigorri every year to strengthen their bonds and celebrate their Basque identity. The territory is also claimed by Basque nationalists to be one of the seven constituent regions making up the Basque Country.