"The foral Community's capacity for integration and agreement has managed to keep its rich diversity alive, managing, compared to other territories in Spain, to conserve its old institutions and its peculiarities for a longer period of time". This was stated by Francisco Javier Navarro, professor at the University of Navarra, on the occasion of the presentation of the book Nueva historia de Navarra, a work that recounts the history of the region from prehistoric times to the year 2008.

During the ceremony, Francisco Javier Navarro, coordinator of the book, was accompanied by the professors of the School of Philosophy and Letters and co-authors of the book Mª Amor Beguiristain and Agustín González Enciso.

The latter, in charge of recounting the period between 1610 and 1814, assured that "Navarre has always remained a plural and rich reality, the result of its frontier character. It has been influenced by and benefited from the influences of its immediate neighbors, because it has always known how to open up to other nearby cultures and present a permeable frontier". In this sense, he added that "its limits have never been insurmountable walls, but sensitive fibers that have allowed communication".

For her part, María Amor Beguiristain, author of the chapter on Prehistory, explained that "the work is novel because of its content, as it synthesizes the work of recent research ". She also stressed that Navarre "is a small territory, but it contains all subject of landscapes and resources, which has facilitated its survival and identity".

The twelve co-authors of this 650-page text are, in addition to the three mentioned above, Valentín Vázquez de Prada (prologue); Juan José Sayas Abengochea; Ángel Martín Duque; María Raquel García Arancón; Alfredo Floristán Imízcoz; Joaquín Salcedo Izu; Mercedes Vázquez de Prada; José Andrés-Gallego; and Pedro Pegenaute Garde, all of them university professors. The book also includes an epilogue signed by José Luis Comellas.

Gateway from the Iberian Peninsula to Europe

Professors Mª Amor Beguiristain, Francisco Javier Navarro and Agustín González Enciso during the presentation of the book.

Photo: Manuel Castells

Among the elements that characterize the Foral Community, for Francisco Javier Navarro, is the fact that it is on many occasions "the gateway from the Iberian Peninsula to Europe. Through the Western Pyrenees and especially through Roncesvalles, all the novelties that took place in Europe have entered: cultural and artistic movements, new technical knowledge, innovations in the economic and commercial field, etc. that have flourished in Navarre, long before in other parts of Spain".

This afternoon the file General of Navarra will host a public presentation of the book that will run to position of the President of the Government, Miguel Sanz, and in which will also participate the Vice President of Institutional Communication of the University of Navarra, Juan Manuel Mora.

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