Ainhoa (; ) is énéa commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwestern France.
The inhabitants of the commune are known as Ainhoars.
Geography
Location
The commune of Ainhoa is in the traditional Basque province of Labourd.
Ainhoa is some 20 km due south of Bayonne and is directly on the Spanish border which forms the southern border of the commune. The commune is mountainous and forested in the south-east portion but with farmland in the northwest of the commune. There is one border crossing to Spain on the southern border at the village of Dantxana.
Ainhoa and Sare, together with the two Spanish communes of Zugarramurdi and Urdazubi, form a cross-border territory, called Xareta. Straddling the border with Spain, it is a passage for the Way of St. James (Baztan way) from Bayonne to Pamplona.
The commune's border with Spain is in the Dancharia area and accesses the area of Dantxarinea d'Urdazubi.
Access
The commune is connected to Espelette in the north-east by Highway D20 which passes through the village and continues south to the Spanish border. Highway D305 branches west off the D20 and continues west to join Highway D4 before Cherchebruit. A network of small country roads covers all parts of the commune.
Hydrography
Located in the watershed of the Adour, the Nivelle river runs along the southern border and forms the border between France and Spain. Numerous streams arise in the commune and flow down to the Nivelle including the Opalazioko erreka, the Lapitxuri and its tributaries, the Larreko erreka, the Erdiko erreka, the Farendeiko erreka, the Haitzagerriko erreka, and the Barretako erreka. Paul Raymond mentions the Haïçaguerry, a tributary of the Nivelle, which descended to Gorospila on the Spanish border, and which crossed the territory of Ainhoue (the old spelling of Ainhoa).
Localities and hamlets
Agerrea
Akatenea
Arbonakoborda
Armaia
Armaiaetxeberria
Arotxenborda
Barnetxekoborda
Capera
Chapelle d'Arantze
Col de Gorospil
Dantxaria
Dolharekoborda
Esponda
Ezpondakoborda
Fulianborda
Gaskoinenborda
Haizagerri
Haltienborda
Hariztoienborda
Harotxarenborda
Janmarienborda
Joaniorenborda
Kanpainia
Kontxoenea
Mazondoa
Mendiondoa
Mentaberria
Murruenea
Narkoinborda
Okilaua
Olhatxoa
Ordokikoborda
Ordosgoitikoborda
Patzikoenborda
Peorteikoborda
Perlaenborda
Tanburinborda
Ukutea
Urrutieneko Errota
Xara Handia
Xarak
Toponymy
The commune name in basque is the same - Ainhoa.
Brigitte Jobbé-Duval suggested that the name could come from the Basque aino which means "goat".
The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune.
Sources: Orpustan: Jean-Baptiste Orpustan, New Basque Toponymy Raymond: Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. Map: The Map of the Government-General of Guyenne and Gascony and the neighbouring region Cassini: Cassini Map from 1750 Ldh/EHESS/Cassini: Lhande: Pierre Lhande, Basque-French Dictionary
Origins: Saint-Claire: Titles of the Abbey of Sainte-Claire of Bayonne Collations: Collations of the Diocese of Bayonne
History
The ancient redoubt of Urrizti reflects the ancient past of the area.
From the 13th to 17th Centuries
Paul Raymond noted on page 4 of his 1863 dictionary that the parish of Ainhoa was in the gift of the Abbot of Urdax (Spain). The Curacy of Ainhoa was created by the Priory of the Premonstratensian of Urdazubi in the 13th century.
On 27 April 1238 the new king Theobald I of Navarre purchased the toll rights formerly instituted by Viscount Juan Pérez de Baztan, Ainhoa being then at the borders between the Duchy of Aquitaine since 1151, run by the Angevin Kings of England and the Navarrese kingdom.