The motto Zazpiak Bat – or the equation 4+3=1 – is a common way to express the unity of the seven historical Basque provinces. The Basque coat-of-arms is called zazpiak bat, but the phrase means more than just the coat-of-arms. It expresses the common cultural and historical legacy of Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, Araba, Nafarroa, Zuberoa, Lapurdi, and Nafarroa Beherea. It has become a unifying motto that can be seen and heard across the globe.

• The phrase “Zazpiak Bat” as a way to describe the seven Basque provinces and their unity was first coined in the 1700s but became popular in the 1900s. In 1891, Felipe Casal wrote the poem Ama Euskarari in which he had the line “Zazpiak beti bat” – the seven are always one/united – that first wrote it in the modern form. However, the phrase goes back even further. In 1836, the Zuberoan Agosti Xaho dedicated his Basque grammar to “Zazpi Uskal Herrietako Uskalduner.”
• The phrase started getting attention when Anton Abadia, an explorer, used it to close a banquet in his honor at the Lore Jokoak in 1892, a cultural festival he helped foster. The motto had adorned the streets of Donibane Lohitzune where the banquet was held. In fact, Jean Jaurgain had designed a poster for the festival that first combined the phrase “Zazpiak Bat” with a coat-of-arms featuring the seven provinces.
• After that, it quickly spread, even reaching the Americas. By 1900, a songbook published by Jean Mendiague in Buenos Aires was entitled Zazpiak bat, Eskualdun kantuak. Even before that, in California, a Basque newspaper was using the phrase. Later on, several Euskal Etxeak of the Americas, with Rosario, Argentina perhaps being the first, used the phrase Zazpiak Bat as their name.
• The phrase took hold in Hegoalde as well, particularly after the Second Carlist War. Poems expressing a desire for unity used images such as a mother with seven children or an oak with seven branches to represent the unity of the seven provinces – the zazpiak bat.
• However, the sentiment behind this motto goes back even further. In 1765, the Real Sociedad Bascongada de Amigos del País coined the phrase “Irurac bat,” meaning the three are one, to refer to Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, and Araba. Later, the phrase “Laurak bat” was created to include Nafarroa, or all of the Basque provinces in Hegoalde.

A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.

Primary sources: Urkizu Sarasua, Patricio; Urkizu Sarasua, Patricio. Zazpiak Bat. Auñamendi Encyclopedia. Available at: https://aunamendi.eusko-ikaskuntza.eus/en/zazpiak-bat/ar-146820/; Zazpiak Bat, Wikipedia; Zazpiak Bat, Wikipedia; Basque Literary History, edited by Mari Jose Olaziregi, translated by Amaia Gabantxo, published by Center for Basque Studies