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The Ikurriņa, flag designed by the founders of the Basque Nationalist Party EAJ-PNV Luis and Sabino Arana, is regarded as the national symbol of Euskal Herria, or the Basque country.
The flag was designed in 1894 to represent the province of Biscay (Vizcaya in Spanish, Bizkaia in Basque) and was adopted as the flag of the whole autonomous Spanish community of the Basque Country in 1933. It is now also commonly used in the French Basque Country, Iparralde.
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The Ikurriņa has a white cross and a green saltire across a red background. The green St Andrew's cross might represent the Oak of Guernica, a symbol of the old laws of Bizkaia. The white cross represents Catholicism and was also found behind the Oak in the Heraldic arms of Bizkaia, and the red background represents the Basque people (originally, the Biscaynes). The red background and vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines show some similarity to the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Navarre. Some sources say that the design was inspired by that of the British union flag.
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