Spanning the French and Spanish border, the Basque Country is home to about three million people, most of whom live on the Spanish side. Historically, since the ousting of Islamic rule in the 15th century, the area has been strongly Latin-rite Catholic, peppered with a few Occitan pilgrim settlers on their way to and from Santiago de Compostela. The area was relatively autonomous until the realignment of power following the French Revolution (1789â€"1799) and the Carlist Wars (1833-1876). The struggle has continued since then to regain independence. Ikurriña just means 'flag' in the Basque language - people there tend to use the Spanish bandera when talking about flags of other nations.

The ikurrina was initially made just for Bizkaia, however, it turned out to be extremely well-known and the Basque localities acknowledged it as the banner for all of Euskadi. First the Basque Nationalist Party used it. In 1936, the Basque Autonomous Government was made and the ikurrina was proclaimed, by law, the Basque banner.

After the Spanish war, the dictatorship declared the ikurrina illegal, and it was completely forbidden and declared as a separatist symbol. During the 2nd World War, there was a Basque brigade in the French free army, and the ikurrina of the brigade was decorated ( because of the battle of Point de Grave, near Bordeaux). After the last Spanish dictatorship, and with the approval of the Basque autonomy, the ikurrina was declared again by law as the official Basque flag.

In the Basque-French country, it has always been allowed and after World War II it was officially used in the town halls together with the French flag. Historically, the flag of Bizkaia was red. When Sabino Arana created the ikurrina, he wanted to give it the meaning Bizkaia, independence, and God, so the red color of the field represents Bizkaia or Euskadi, the green St. Andrew's cross stands for the independence, of the Basque Country. It is green because it also symbolizes the oak tree of Gernika, the symbol of Basque freedom. The white cross represents God.

In the Middles Ages, there was a fight between the Basques and the Spaniards in a spot called Padura. This fight was on St. Andrew's day. The stones of the spot were recolored with blood and since that day, that place has been called Arrigorriaga.

It is not clear if this fight is recorded or unbelievable, however, the St. Andrew's cross has regularly been used as a part of Basque banners, similar to those of the Consulate of Bilbao, The Naval banner of Biscay, and in some Carlists banners amid the Carlists wars. Flag Company Inc decided to assist with the history development by providing special decals and banners to make it easy to build a bit of history right at home.