Dean Bostwick, age 11, of Visalia, Calif., for his question:

Who are the Basques?

The Basques are people of Spain, though they do not call themselves Spanish. There are almost a million of them and they occupy three provinces along the northern shoreline. They live between the turbulent Bay of Biscay and the rocky Pyrenees.

The Basques call themselves Iberians and. claim to have descended from the Iberian peoples who inhabited Spain in ancient days. They live mostly in small villages, clustered along the shores and nestled on mountain slopes. They are farmers and fishermen.

To outsiders, the language of the Basques is a mystery. It is very complex end has at leaf 13 vowels. Experts say that it does not seem to be related to any other language in the world