Bretagne

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the French administrative region of Bretagne. For the historical duchy and province of Brittany, as well as the cultural area of Brittany, see Brittany. For the ships, see French ship Bretagne.

For other uses, see Bretagne (disambiguation).

Région Bretagne

Région flag

Region logo

Location

Map of France highlighting the Region of Brittany

Administration

Capital

Rennes

Regional President

Jean-Yves Le Drian
(PS) (since 2004)

Departments

Côtes-d'Armor
Ille-et-Vilaine
Morbihan
Finistère

Arrondissements

Cantons

201

Communes

1,268

Statistics

Land area¹

27,209 km²

Population

(Ranked 7th)

- January 1, 2007 est.

3,103,000

- March 8, 1999 census

2,906,197

- Density (2007)

114/km²

¹ French Land Register data, which exclude lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km² (0.386 sq. mi. or 247 acres) as well as the estuaries of rivers

Le Diben harbor - Plougasnou (Bretagne)

House in Brittany at the Atlantic Coast (north of Morlaix)

Bilingual road signs in Quimper (French on top)

Bretagne (French pronunciation (help·info); English: Brittany; Breton: Breizh; Gallo: Bertaèyn) is one of the 26 regions of France. It occupies a large peninsula in the northwest of the country, lying between the English Channel to the north and the Bay of Biscay to the south. Its capital city is Rennes.

1 Territory
2 Language
3 Politics
4 Transportation
5 Major communities
6 External links

[edit] Territory

The region of Bretagne is made up of 80% of the former duchy and province of Brittany. The remaining 20% of Brittany is the Loire-Atlantique department which lies inside the Pays-de-la-Loire region, with its capital Nantes, which was the historical capital of the duchy of Brittany.

Part of the reason that Brittany was split between two modern day regions was to avoid the rivalry between Rennes and Nantes. Although Nantes had been the main capital of the duchy of Brittany until the 16th century, Rennes had been the seat of the supreme court of justice of Brittany between 1560 and 1789. Rennes had also been the administrative capital of the Intendant of Brittany between 1689 and 1789. Intendances were the most important administrative units of the kingdom of France in the 17th and 18th centuries. As for the provincial states of Brittany, which originally met every two years in a different city of Brittany, they had only met in Rennes from 1728 to 1789 (with only the exceptions of 1730, 1758, and 1760). Despite that, the "Chambre des comptes" stayed in Nantes until 1789. Note that Vannes (Gwened in Breton) used to be the first administrative capital of the duchy from 1381 till the end of the 15th century, keeping the seat of the "Chambre des comptes" till 1491/99, and the one of the "Parlement" till 1553, and between 1675 and 1689.

Thus, when French regions were created, it was decided in 1941 (when the majority of France was under Nazi German occupation, and the remainder under the puppet Vichy regime) to create a region of Bretagne with Rennes as its capital, and another region created specifically for Nantes, which was called Pays-de-la-Loire (i.e. "lands of the Loire"). Pays-de-la-Loire is made up of a part of Brittany, but also several other historical provinces (Anjou, Maine, and so on).

Some people in Brittany complain about the current division of Brittany and would like to see Loire-Atlantique joining the region of Bretagne in order to reunify Brittany. However, reunification raises a couple of questions: first, what to do with the rump Pays-de-la-Loire region, and second, which city should be chosen as the capital of this reunified Bretagne region.

[edit] Language

Two regional languages are recognized by the region.

Breton, a Celtic language (akin to Cornish and Welsh), is spoken in the western part of Brittany (roughly, west of a boundary from St Brieuc to Vannes).

In the part of Brittany which never spoke Breton, Gallo, an Oïl language, is also in the process of being revived, as a cultural trait of that part of Brittany.

Modern French administration now allows for some Breton or Gallo to be used by the region and its communes, in road signs and names of towns and cities, along with the French version. The languages are also taught at school, and many folklore associations and clubs are trying to re-invigorate them.

[edit] Politics

The region is administered by the Regional Council.

Brittany was traditionally a conservative region, with the notable exception of Cotes-d'Armor, a longtime stronghold of the left. However, Brittany is slowly trending to the left, electing the first socialist in its history to the regional presidency, and voted for Ségolène Royal in the French presidential election, 2007 (except in Morbihan). Centrist candidate François Bayrou also polled relatively high in the region and Fougères elected a Mouvement Democrate deputy to the National Assembly. The region was one of the few regions to vote yes to the European constitution in the 2005 referendums.

[edit] Transportation

There are several airports in Brittany serving destinations in France and England. TGV train services link the region with cities such as Paris, Lyon, Marseilles, and Lille in other regions of France. In addition there are ferry services that take passengers, vehicles and freight to Ireland, England and the Channel Islands.