Hendaye

Hendaye ( French, Basque Hendaia ) is a French town on the border with Spain, near the Spanish border town of Irun with 15,976 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2011 ) in the department of Pyrénées- Atlantiques in the Aquitaine region. The city is the capital (French: chef- lieu) of the canton of the same name. It belongs to the community association Communauté de communes du Sud Pays Basque.

Geography

The city is situated on the Atlantic ( Bay of Biscay ) right on the Spanish border, which is formed here by the river Bidasoa, and belongs to the French Basque country.

Hendaye has a railway station on the route Bordeaux - Irun, this is also a border station between France and Spain. Because different track widths in Spain ( broad gauge ) and France ( standard gauge ), each train passengers have to change trains here or in the Spanish border town of Irun.

History

During the Spanish- Prussian War, the city was taken in September 1636 by the Spaniards. On the Pheasant Island in the border river Bidasoa was ( always referred to as Marie -Thérèse d'Autriche in France) signed the marriage contract in 1659 between Louis XIV and the Spanish King of the Treaty of the Pyrenees and later between Louis XIV and Maria Theresa of Spain. The island is administered in half-yearly changing rhythm of Hendaye and from the Spanish town of Irun.

Conference of Hendaye

In the attention of the international public Hendaye came on 23 October 1940, when the German dictator Adolf Hitler met with the Spanish head of state General Francisco Franco. Officially, it was at this meeting only to an exchange of views; but in fact, Hitler Franco wanted to persuade them to enter on the side of the Axis powers during the war.

Spain should as soon as possible occupy Gibraltar ( "Company Felix "). Instead occupied Spain only Tangier and urged French colonial territories to round out the own colonial empire ( Oran, Morocco, parts of Mauritania to the north of the 20th parallel) - under the condition that Germany Vichy France at the expense of British colonies ( Western Nigeria ) to a compensation reaches. After the conquest of the Italian colonies by the British and the British victory over the German Afrika Korps, the planned conquest of British colonies was, however, failed as a balancing weight. The German Empire went out of consideration for Vichy France on distance to the Spanish demands, as it assessed the support for Vichy weightier than Spain. Spain doubts about a German victory in turn were now come; thus remained in a benevolent neutrality.

Demographics

Culture and sights

• Abbadie Castle, residence of the French explorer Antoine Thomson d' Abbadie in neo-Gothic style

Tourism

• Hendaye is the most north - western terminus of the trail GR10 along the Pyrenees

Twinning

Hendaye maintains twinned with the Scottish town of Peebles and the city of Viana do Castelo in Portugal.