Аркангю: Баск өңірінің географиясы мен мәдениеті

the Thoroughbred racehorse

Arcangues (aʁkɑ̃g; ) is a commune in the Pyrénées Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle Aquitaine region of southwestern France in what was formerly the Basque province of Labourd.

Arcangues belongs to the urban area of Bayonne and is located some 10 km south by south west of Bayonne, 8 km south east of Biarritz, and 6 km north west of Ustaritz.

The A63 autoroute passes through the northern tip of the commune with the nearest exit being Exit to the west of the commune but the slightly farther Exit to the east connects directly to the D3 road which passes south through the commune and the village to Saint Pée sur Nivelle. There is also the D755 which branches off the D3 in the north of the commune and continues south through the west of the commune to join the D255 on the commune's south western border. The D933 road from Anglet to Ustaritz also passes through the eastern tip of the commune with a roundabout linking to country roads in the commune.

The commune of Arcangues is traversed by the river Uhabia, the Urdainzko erreka, and the Harrietako erreka. The latter two discharge into the Nive, a tributary of the Adour.

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Arcanguais or Arcanguaises in French, and as Arrangoiztar in Basque.

The town is part of the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) zone designation of Ossau iraty. ETPM (Multiple Public Works Company) is an independent French company based in Arcangues whose main activity is the execution of works for electrical and telecommunication networks.

The shutters of a Basque house, made with solid wood slats, are painted the same colour as the other wooden parts of the facades or framing. They are generally in a dark red called "basque red". There has also been, since the 19th century, a very dark blue a kind of Prussian blue and a "deep" dark green also as well as sometimes a very light gray. At Arcangues the Marquis, Pierre d'Arcangues, introduced a lighter blue, which has retained the name Blue of Arcangues. It was in Arcangues that the first Seaska Ikastola was created in 1969.

According to the Map of the Seven Basque Provinces by Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte (1863), the Basque dialect spoken in Arcangues is Northern High Navarrese. However, the classification has changed. With new methodological criteria, the Basque dialectology has grown considerably in recent years and, according to the latest work by the philologist Koldo Zuazo, the Basque dialect used in Arcangues is Navarro labourdin with an east west sub dialect. It is an intermediate sub dialect combining the Navarro labourdin sub dialect of the east and the west. Until then not to be educated or to be illiterate was not a problem in the Basque Country. The inhabitants had their oral culture and that was enough to satisfy their needs. This lifestyle change radically in the 20th century and French replaced Basque in the general population since literacy was more useful in the dominant language. Then, in the late 1960s, a standard Basque was taught. It in no way replaced the local dialect but had the objective to integrate all formal sectors such as radio, television, print, Internet, research, teaching, literature, administration, etc. In informal areas, however, the dialect is still used, especially in areas where there are native Basque speakers. Despite all these changes it seems that, in the medium term, the navarro labourdin dialect may disappear with its speakers and be replaced by a unified language: batua.

Part of the territory of the commune belongs to the regional natural reserve of Errota Handia managed by the Academy of Natural Areas of Aquitaine who also manage the Chouroumillas (Xurrumilatx) Pond: a wetland located in the north west of the commune.