‘The Kingdom of Navarre, originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a Basque-based kingdom that occupied lands on either side of the western Pyrenees, alongside the Atlantic Ocean between present-day Spain and France.

The medieval state took form around the city of Pamplona during the first centuries of the Iberian Reconquista. The kingdom has its origins in the conflict in the buffer region between the Frankish king Charlemagne and the Umayyad Emirate that controlled most of the Iberian Peninsula. The city of Pamplona was located amid a predominantly Basque-speaking area. In an event traditionally dated to 824, Íñigo Arista was elected or declared ruler of the area around Pamplona in opposition to Frankish expansion into the region, originally as vassal to the Córdoba Emirate. This polity evolved into the Kingdom of Pamplona. In the first quarter of the 10th century the Kingdom was able to assert itself.’

If one notices the said introduction means that Navarre was a Basque country, and its origin lies with the Umayyad empire, and was a vassal state to Cordoba Islamic Spain. And this takes us to the start of the relation between Basque and Lahore. The founders of Navarre included Ignace de Loyola and Francois Xavier. The third mission of converting Asia to Christianity started from Navarre and the grand nephew of Francois Xavier, that is Jerome Xavier, who stayed in Lahore from  1595 to 1598, and like his predecessors two missions, they too miserably failed to convert Emperor Akbar. Akbar was a full of fun and fond of political gimmicks and he enjoyed giving the impression of being convinced for conversion. But at the last moment he would decline same much to the chagrin of the missionaries. He did allow construction of the first church in Lahore. But he died a Muslim, and recited the Kalma before his death, as recorded by his own son, Nurudddin Jahangeer in his diary Tuzuk.

But here our emphasis is different. We notice some cultural connections between Basque county and Lahore. Recovered heads of figurines from Lahore show costumes which are very much Islamic in nature and direct resemblance to the Basque costumes found in history. Compare yourself and there is amazing similarities in same. Basque female costumes for any European country are truly amazing like our own costumes. Probably the origin for Basque and Lahore in form of costumes is same and need to be researched in total. If one looks at the 16th century Basque costumes, they look like the Burqas of our elderly women of yesterday.