Teodoro Benigno Ignacio de Arana y Beláustegui (1858-1945) was a Spanish Carlist politician. His career climaxed during last decades of the Restoration period: in 1903 he was elected to Congreso de los Diputados, the lower chamber of the Cortes, and in 1905, 1916 and 1918 he was voted into the Senate. In two separate spells of 1915-1919 and 1923-1932 Arana served as leader of the Biscay branch of Carlism. He was also known as a vehement advocate of separate legal establishments for the Basque provinces, as the author of a related pamphlet and as a promoter of Basque culture. He was the first person in Spain to send a telegram in Basque.

Basque is the only surviving Paleo-European language spoken in Europe, predating the arrival of speakers of the Indo-European languages that dominate the continent today. Basque is spoken by the Basques and other residents of the Basque Country, a region that straddles the westernmost Pyrenees in adjacent parts of northern Spain and southwestern France. Basque is classified as a language isolate, with no relationship to any other language having been established. The Basques are indigenous to and primarily inhabit the Basque Country. The Basque language is spoken by 806,000 Basques in all territories. Of these, 93.7% (756,000) are in the Spanish area of the Basque Country and the remaining 6.3% (50,000) are in the French portion.