This article is about the French administrative region of Brittany. For the historical province of Brittany, as well as the cultural area of Brittany, seeBrittany. For the historical duchy, seeDuchy of Brittany. For other uses, seeBrittany (disambiguation).
"Bro Gozh ma Zadoù" is the anthem of Brittany, sharing its melody and thematic similarity with the Welsh national anthem, "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau". As an administrative region of France, Brittany has aRegional Council, most recently elected in2021. The current administrative region is sometimes referred to as "administrative Brittany," in contrast to "historic Brittany" or "cultural Brittany," which also includesLoire-Atlantique (and the historical capital ofNantes) and whose potentialreunification with the administrative region has been a subject of debate for decades.
The capital of the administrative region isRennes, althoughNantes is considered the capital of historic Brittany and is located inLoire-Atlantique. Thereunification of Brittany is supported by a majority of Loire-Atlantique and is considered a prerequisite to further autonomy of Brittany as a whole.[3][4]
Part of the reason Brittany was split between two present-day regions was to avoid the rivalry between Rennes and Nantes. Although Nantes was the principal capital of the Duchy of Brittany until the sixteenth century, Rennes had been the seat of the Duchy's supreme court of justice between 1560 and 1789. Rennes had also been the administrative capital of theIntendant of Brittany between 1689 and 1789, and Intendances were the most important administrative units of thekingdom of France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. As for the provincial States of Brittany, a legislative body which had originally met every two years in a different city of Brittany, that had met in Rennes only between 1728 and 1789, although not in the years 1730, 1758, and 1760. Despite that, theChambre des comptes had remained in Nantes until 1789. However, from 1381 until the end of the 15th centuryVannes (Gwened in Breton) had served as the administrative capital of the Duchy, remaining the seat of itsChambre des comptes until the 1490s, and also the seat of itsParlement until 1553 and then again between 1675 and 1689.[citation needed]
Although there were previous plans to create regions out of the departments, like the Clémentel plan (1919) or the Vichy regionalisation programme (1941), these plans had no effect or else were abolished in 1945. The currentFrench regions date from 1956 and were created by gathering departments together.[5] In Brittany, this led to the creation of the new region of Brittany, which included only four out of the five historical Breton departments. The termrégion was officially created by the Law of Decentralisation (2 March 1982), which also gave regions their legal status. The first direct elections for regional representatives took place on 16 March 1986.[6]
Brittany, located in the west-north-west corner of France, is one of the historic provinces of France. The most Atlantic of France's regions, Brittany is noted for its Celtic heritage, which sets it apart from the rest of France. It enjoys a mild climate somewhat warmer though not necessarily drier than the climate of the Cornish peninsula in south-west Britain.
The name "Brittany" derives from theBritons, anInsular Celtic (Brythonic) people who inhabited most ofGreat Britain during theRoman andSub-Roman periods. During themigration period of theEarly Middle Ages the Britons were displaced from most of what is now England by theAnglo-Saxon invasions, leading many to settle in westernArmorica, present-day Brittany. As a result the modernBretons have strong historical, cultural and linguistic ties with those areas of Great Britain which remained Brythonic into the modern era:Wales andCornwall.
Initially divided into several smallpetty kingdoms, Brittany as a united political entity emerged in the 9th century as theKingdom of Brittany. In the early 10th century the kingdom was devastated byNorse raids and occupation and from the mid-10th century became avassal state ofFrance as theDuchy of Brittany. The level of control exerted by the French kings varied over time; at various points Brittany was either subject to, aligned with or heavily influenced by theEnglish Kings; at others it wasde facto independent.
Following theFrench Revolution the French provinces were dissolved and replaced withdepartments; what had been Brittany became the Côtes-du-Nord (22) (renamed Côtes-d'Armor in 1990) in the north, Finistère (29) in the far west, Morbihan (56) in the south, Ille et Vilaine (35) in the east and Loire-Inférieure (44) (renamed Loire-Atlantique in 1957) in the southeast.
When the modern regions were established, Loire-Inférieure (44), which includes the historic capital Nantes, became part ofPays de la Loire, while the other four departments became part of the Brittany region. The capital city of the modern Brittany region is Rennes, located in the central eastern part of the region; most of the major lines of communication between Brittany and Paris pass through Rennes, which is a large industrial and university city. Other important cities in the region areBrest, one of the two most important French naval ports,Saint-Malo, an imposing walled city on the north coast, andVannes, the capital of theMorbihan, with an attractive old town centre.Quimper, the capital of theFinistère, andSaint-Brieuc, the capital of theCôtes-d'Armor, are less important.[citation needed]Lorient, in the Morbihan, was once a major shipping port trading with – as its name suggests – the Orient; but its shipping and shipbuilding industries have largely declined, and like other ports on the south coast of Brittany, is better known today for its yachting and yacht-building industry. It is also the venue for Brittany's annualInterceltiques music and culture festival.
Despite its limited size, Brittany is quite a diverse region; the north and west coasts, open to the force of the North Atlantic, are rugged and rocky, with sandy coves and beaches. The south coast, facing onto the Bay of Biscay, is flatter, much milder, and has a number of large sandy beaches. There are also many inlets on the south coast, such as La Trinité sur Mer, which in the past have been ports and commercial harbours, but today are more popular with yachtsmen and a dwindling fishing industry.[citation needed] The sea here is warmer in summer. The backbone of Brittany is a granite ridge stretching from east to west, peaking in the Monts d'Arrée. But most of inland Brittany is farming country, a region known for its milk and butter and its early crops.[citation needed]
As a holiday region, it is Brittany's coasts that attract the greatest number of visitors; the inland regions have attracted many second-home owners from other parts of France, and from Britain.[citation needed]In cultural terms, Brittany has its own language and Celtic cultural tradition that set it apart from the rest of France. TheBreton language, though not much used in everyday life, and not understood by most of the modern population, has made a comeback in recent years, and is taught in many schools. Celtic traditions are reflected in Breton folk music, its Celtic festivals, and its prehistoric monuments.
The name of Brittany derives fromsettlers fromGreat Britain, who fled the island in the wake of theAnglo-Saxon invasions of England between the fifth and seventh centuries. Unlike the rest of France and Brittany,Lower Brittany (roughly, west of a boundary fromSaint Brieuc toVannes) has maintained a distinctlyCeltic language,Breton, which is related toCornish andWelsh. It was the dominant language in Lower, or western, Brittany until the mid-20th century. It has been grantedregional language status and revival efforts are underway.[citation needed] InUpper, or eastern, Brittany, the traditional language isGallo, anOïl language, which has also received regional recognition and is in the process of being revived.
Breton is used on Regional Council of Brittany logo
The 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, alongside the officialFrench language version. The two regional languages are also taught in some schools, and many folklore associations and clubs are trying to revive them.
Brittany has historically been a stronghold of theRoman Catholic Church, and its rates ofchurch attendance have tended to be considerably higher than the national average. However, in recent years the influence of the church has declined.
The region was a traditionally conservative andChristian democratic region, with the notable exception of the department ofCôtes-d'Armor, a longtime stronghold of the political left. However, the whole of Brittany has recently been moving towards the left, in 2004 electingJean-Yves Le Drian as its firstSocialist regional president, and in the2007 presidential election voting for SocialistSégolène Royal. The centrist candidateFrançois Bayrou also polled relatively highly in the region andFougères elected aMoDem deputy to the National Assembly (he has since joined the pro-UMPNew Centre). TheFrench Communist Party's support is largely concentrated in the south-west of theCôtes-d'Armor and north-west ofMorbihan. TheGreens and other environmentalist parties have traditionally been strong in the region, especially in urban areas such asRennes orQuimper. The region was one of the few which voted "Yes" to the European constitution in the2005 referendum, and Brittany continues, along withAlsace, to be a strongly pro-European region.
TheGross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 99.5 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 4.2% of French economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 26,700 euros or 89% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 100% of the EU average.[8]
The following table is the list of communes in Brittany with a population over 15,000 inhabitants.Rennes is situated in the east of Brittany, being the capital of the region, the capital of theIlle-et-Vilainedepartment, as well as the most populousmetropolitan area in Brittany with 700,000 inhabitants (2013).
TheAtlantic Ocean and theEnglish Channel provide Brittany with anoceanic climate. Prevailing northwest winds reduce variations of temperature in the region. The climate is drier in southern sections.[10] The extreme northwest has up to 10 days with temperatures above 25 °C, while southeastern Brittany can have up to 50.[11]
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