On 27 February 1990, the name was changed to Côtes-d'Armor; the name is aportmanteau of theFrench wordcôtes means "coasts" andar mor is "the sea" inBreton. The name also recalls that of theRoman province ofArmorica ("the coastal region").
Côtes-d'Armor is part of the current administrative region ofBrittany and is bounded by the departments ofIlle-et-Vilaine to the east,Morbihan to the south, andFinistère to the west, and by theEnglish Channel to the north.
The region is an undulatingplateau including three well-marked ranges of hills in the south. Agranitoid chain, the Monts du Méné, starting in the south-east of the department runs in a north-westerly direction, forming thewatershed between the rivers running respectively to theEnglish Channel and theAtlantic Ocean. Towards its western extremity this chain bifurcates to form theMontagnes Noires in the south-west and theMonts d'Arrée in the west of the department. Off the coast, which is steep, rocky and much indented, are theJentilez,Bréhat and other small islands. The principal bays are those ofSaint-Malo andSaint-Brieuc.[5]
Côtes-d'Armor's long tradition ofanti-clericalism, especially in the interior aroundGuingamp (a formerCommunist stronghold), has often led to the department's being seen as an area of left-wing exceptionalism in a region that historically was otherwise strongly Catholic and right-wing. The current president of the departmental council, Christian Coail, is a member of theSocialist Party.
The western part of the department is part of the traditionallyBreton-speaking "Lower Brittany" (Breizh-Izel in Breton). The boundary runs fromPlouha toMûr-de-Bretagne. The Breton language has become an intense issue in many parts of Brittany, and many Breton-speakers advocate for bilingual schools.Gallo is also spoken in the east and is offered as a language in the schools and on the baccalaureat exams.
