Britain Breizh (br) - Bertayn (ga)
Location of Britain in Europe
( Details )	( Details )
Currency "Potius mori quam fdari (la) "Kentoc'h Mervel eget saotret Bezan (br) (Rather to die than to smear)
General
Country	France
Status	Historic region
Administration	Brittany Region Loire-Atlantique
Major Towns	Brest Lorient Nantes Quimper Rennes Saint-Brieuc Saint-Malo Saint-Nazaire Valves
ISO 3166-2	FR-E FR-44
Geography
Total area	34 023 km 2
- Brittany Region	27 208 km 2
- Loire-Atlantique	6815 km 2
Demography
Total population	4,367,086 inhabitants (2007).
- Brittany Region	3,120,288 inhab. (2007)
- Loire-Atlantique	1,246,798 inhab. (2007)
Density	127 inhabitants / km 2
Demonym	Breton (ne)
Miscellaneous
Hymn	My bro gozh zado (De facto)
Languages	French , Breton , Gallo
change

Brittany or Brittany is a historic peninsula of western France , situated between the English Channel to the north, the Celtic Sea and English Channel to the west and the Bay of Biscay to the south. At the end of the Roman Empire , it is experiencing an influx of population due to mass immigration of Britons island in a part of ancient Armorica Celtic. They create a kingdom in ^the ninth century , which later became a duchy . It becomes in 1532 a "province famous foreign "united with France under the same crown until his disappearance administrative 1790 and its division into five departments : Ctes-du-Nord , Finistre , Ille-et-Vilaine , Lower Loire and Brittany. Brittany has a strong identity, yet still subject to controversy .

Brittany is regarded by the Celtic League (Celtic organization) as one of the six Celtic countries , under the language of the ethnology and the history. Its inhabitants are the Britons , that we speak of the historic or current administrative region. His name Brittany , Breizh (without the article; pronounce , probably a Celtic name, perhaps one used by the Gauls to designate the inhabitants of the islands . This term is the origin of the word Welsh Prydain (Middle Welsh Prydein) which means the UK (Isle of Britain).

After the fall of the Roman Empire and gradually as the Britons settle on the mainland in Brittany , the name of their homeland is substituted for that of the ancient Armorica but replace totally. It definitely needed the late ^sixth century and perhaps even from the late ^fifth century . This is known as Britannia Minor and from Britannia to mean the territory under the control of the Britons.

"Breizh, the Breton name for Brittany, it comes from an old Brittia .

The term " Brittany "is often used to refer to Britain even if it originally meant a larger whole. It comes from the Gaulish aremorica would mean "close to the sea" . A third name Letauia (French "Ltavie) was used until the ^eleventh century and ^twelfth century. He comes from a Celtic root meaning "wide and flat," "extend", "deploy" and the word is found in Welsh Llydaw which means the UK mainland .

History

Prehistory

Brittany was inhabited by humans since the Lower Paleolithic , with a population Neanderthal that is indistinguishable from the rest of Western Europe and is probably small. Its only peculiarity is the existence of a particular facies, the columbanian focused on Carnac.

Early modern humans arrived in Britain to 35,000 and replace or absorb the Neanderthals. The Upper Paleolithic is marked by Industry transitions close Chtelperronian on the north coast and by more traditional industries, invoice Magdalenian , south of the Loire , no one can know whether the difference between the two is purely cultural or whether it reflects the persistence of a Neanderthal reduced. Brittany has only one decorated cave , The Derouin.

In Mesolithic of Britain is covered with forests and is populated by relatively large communities, divided into three regional groups. Mesolithic begins a recent tendency to settle, especially in sites Teviec and Hoedic , with perhaps a move to the livestock.

Farming arrived in Britain ⁱⁿ the fifth millennium BC, brought by migrants from the south and east. The Neolithic does not however reflect a population replacement. The hunter-gatherers local adopt new techniques that allow the emergence of complex societies, particularly around the Gulf of Morbihan.

This results in the appearance of megalithic architecture , first of cairns , then princely tombs and alignments. The department of Morbihan concentrates itself many megaliths whose Grand Menhir of Er Grah broken which is the largest monument transported and erected by Neolithic men. The most famous landmark is located at Carnac.

Although the influences of the Corded Ware culture is felt in the late Neolithic period , Britain has a certain cultural continuity until the beginning of the Bronze Age. The beaker , this seems very well integrated with local traditions.

Protohistory Celtic

During the early history Celtic , the territory is occupied by five major nations :

• the Coriosolites whose territory was in the east of the current department of Ctes-d'Armor , in the western Ille-et-Vilaine and north-east of Morbihan and who gave their name to the City Corseul ;
• the Namnetes resided in the present department of Loire-Atlantique , on the right bank of the Loire (the left bank is occupied by a nation ally, the Ambilatres ). They gave their name to the city of Nantes (in Naoned Breton modern);
• the Osismii were located in the current department of Finistre and the western part of the Cotes d'Armor and Morbihan ;
• the Redones resided in the east of the current department of Ille-et-Vilaine. They gave their name to the city of Rennes ;
• the Venetians were in the current Morbihan , related to the peoples of homonyms Veneto and Gwynedd , they gave their name to the city of Vannes in Brittany).

Which can add the Ambilatres , who resided in the south of the Loire Atlantique and the northern Vendee , but their location is uncertain and their existence is problematic .

These people had strong economic relations with the Celts of the island of Britain , particularly for the tin trade. They belonged to a "confederation Armorican" of Gallic tribes which, according to Julius Caesar , included " Coriosolites the Redones the Ambibarii the Caletes the Osismii the Lemovices and Unelli "( Commentary on the Gallic Wars , Book VII , 75 .).

Gallo-Roman

The territory of the future Britain, as the whole of Brittany , was conquered by the Romans during the Gallic Wars.

In the late ^fifth century , the Britons of Britain ( Great Britain today), have emigrated to Armorica with their customs and their language, their presence has previously been organized to defend the Roman Empire meet Germanic migrations. The argument that this migration would have been caused by the pressure of invading Anglo-Saxons originated from the Excidio of Gildas and is now questioned. Andre Chdeville and Hubert Guillotel note, for example, "It seems now certain that the pressure came from the west instead of east and it was carried by other Celtic peoples, language also distinct: the Scots of Ireland " .

They gave their name to this region, which has long been known as Little Britain or mainland Britain, as opposed to their home island.

Historical countries

Brittany is divided initially in nine countries (broio), divided into two areas, according to custom or not Breton. These are the Lower and Upper Brittany approximate divisions now no legal existence. Expressions persist nonetheless in common usage.

• Lower Brittany (Breizh Izel):
  • Leon ,
  • Trgor ,
  • Cornwall ,
  • Vannes.

• Haute Bretagne (Breizh Uhel):
  • Pays de Saint-Brieuc ,
  • Pays de Saint Malo ,
  • Pays de Dol ,
  • Rennes area ,
  • Pays Nantais.

These nine countries correspond to the dioceses , which themselves are subdivided into deaneries. Their creation was spread ^of the sixth ^to the tenth century. All these dioceses were attached to the archdiocese of Dol , then Tours.

Middle Age

At the High Middle Ages , Britain was divided into two, then three kingdoms - the Domnone , the Cornwall and Brorec (originally called Bro Waroch ) - who were united under the authority of the dukes and kings of Britain the ^ninth century.

Nomino , ruler of Britain from 845 to 851, was behind the birth of a unified Britain and independent, hence the name of the father of the Fatherland: "Tad ar Vro. Britain set itself up so that in the ninth ^century under Erispoe in the united kingdom . The Treaty of Angers in September 851 in defined limits. The Treaty of Angers shattered by Solomon who was going back to war against Charles the Bald dealing with the Vikings. Brittany then reaches its maximum extension and includes Avranchain, the Cotentin , the Channel Islands, part of Maine and of Anjou.

The kingdom is destabilized by occupation and incursions by Vikings in the early ^tenth century. Brittany loses his latest conquests in the Anjou , the County of Maine and Neustria. In 909, following the death of King of Brittany Alain I the Great , Fulk I of Anjou receives the county of Nantes (county who had definitely acquired the Country of Retz on the Poitou ). The latter is taken to the Vikings by the Duke of Brittany Alain II in 937 .

From the late thirteenth century, well before the meeting of the Duchy of Brittany in the Kingdom of France, the ducal administration abandoned the Latin in favor of French, bypassing Breton. Until the thirteenth century, legal and administrative acts are written in Latin, then French competition in the Latin acts of Chancery ^, .

Reconstituted by the Duke of Brittany Alain II, said Barbetorte and its successors, Brittany is a duchy which generally takes the limits of the Treaty of Angers. The Dukes, however, continue to exercise the royal prerogatives of their predecessors and maintain alliances with both the French royal family with the English royal family, through marriages most often with nobility respective princesses.

In the game of feudal ties, Britain becomes a major issue between the King of England (who claimed the throne of France) and the King of France. The relationship between the Duchy and its neighbors depended essentially personal relationships that maintaining their leaders. The policy of the Dukes of Brittany is then sometimes conducted independently, sometimes dominated by the King of England and sometimes by the king of France. The Dukes of Brittany , enjoying the challenges of royal power to face great feudal lords, maintained like other fiefs some political independence vis--vis the king of France, especially from the ^fourteenth - ^fifteenth with the advent of Dynasty Montfort. The policy of emancipation reached its climax during the reign of Francis II of Brittany with the expulsion of the royal administration, etc.. The numerous errors and political alliance against the king of France and the opposition of the Breton nobility cause his defeat in 1488.

Following the great feudal revolt against the royal power during the war insane , Francis II , Duke of Brittany, is undergoing major military defeats in 1488 ( Battle of Saint-Aubin du Cormier ). The sand treatment called " Treaty of the Orchard "is signed by Charles VIII , king of France , and Francis II , Duke of Brittany on 19 August 1488. It stipulates that the heir to the Duchy can not marry without the consent of the king of France. The American historian Eugen Weber points in these terms the consequences of the defeat of Saint-Aubin du Cormier: "After the forced union with France, the Breton towns were invaded by the French, who crushed or even replaced the local merchants , gallicized people they employed or touched in another way. The ports of Lorient and Brest as king, were garrison towns in foreign territory and the term colony was frequently used to describe .

The war continues for another three years following the non compliance with the terms of the treaty at first marriage of Anne de Bretagne , until in December 1491 , Charles VIII marries Anne de Bretagne. The King of France strengthens its authority over the UK.

Modern times

In 1532 the perpetual union between the duchy and the kingdom is sought at Vannes in Brittany by States and sanctioned by the royal edict signed in the wake Chassis-Mac% C3% A9 "title =" Le Plessis-Mac "> Plessis-Mac. Brittany custody, however, certain privileges (legislation and specific taxes) until the French Revolution. Indeed, it was during the famous night of 4 August 1789 that were abolished privileges, whether those communes, guilds, nobility, clergy and those applied locally in some provinces of the kingdom with Britain.

The period of the ^fifteenth to the ^eighteenth century is considered the best period of Brittany which is then placed at the heart of maritime trade routes most active between Spain , the UK and Holland , and particularly benefit from development of the first French colonial empire in America and India. The paintings of hemp and flax kernels, adds, Brittany or olonnes symbolize the growth of this period which allowed the funding of an impressive architectural heritage. The mint of Rennes is the first time in France. The Colbert , with the creation of manufacturing in other provinces of the kingdom, and conflicts with England keen to limit the fleets of Continental nations will result a recession that will culminate in the late ^nineteenth century.

Brittany was divided into counties (Cornwall, Leon, Brorec, Trguier Penthievre Porhot, Nantes, Rennes ...) then eight Baillies that will evolve into four presidiaux , themselves divided into senechaussees. She was also divided into nine dioceses (or Broio Eskopti in Breton).

At the French Revolution, the privileges of the provinces are hereby repealed to the night of 4 August 1789 (those of Brittany to the deputies of the region). Brittany ceases to exist as an administrative entity in the departmentalization and is divided in 1790 into five departments :

• Cotes-du-Nord (now Ctes-d'Armor in 1990 )
• Finistre ,
• Ille-et-Vilaine ,
• Lower Loire (now Loire-Atlantique in 1957 )
• Morbihan.

The administrative partition of Brittany

The Vichy government will see the birth of Brittany in two forms. A decree of 30 June 1941 establishes regional prefectures for the occupied area, one based in Rennes and is responsible for four departments of Brittany: that which is headquartered in Los Angeles which has jurisdiction over the Lower Loire. Another division, that of France in "provinces" as defined by the National Council in August 1941 establishes a province of Britain in five districts whose boundaries have aroused arbitration Marshal Petain himself, but that has hardly any actual existence .

The CELIB (Study Committee and liaison interests Breton), established under the leadership of journalist Joseph Martray , was established in 1950 and influences the creation of a recognition of the regions in a European context. Under the government of Edgar Faure in 1956 , the creation of "regional program" is reborn when the Brittany region. Based on technical, economic and political, but not historical, the redistricting created an administrative region called Brittany with only four departments, the Loire-Atlantique being attached to the region of Pays de la Loire. Regionalization law in 1972 had planned before the ¹ April 1973 , regional councils could enter the government proposals for boundary changes or region name. However unanimously general advice was needed. However, to maintain good centrality to the city of Nantes , the General Council of Loire-Atlantique in 1973 had requested that the regions of Loire-Atlantique and Brittany are unified. Taking the same reasoning to Rennes , the General Council of Ille-et-Vilaine had requested the inclusion of the Loire-Atlantique and Mayenne. The General Council of Vende had opted for the status quo, that of the Sarthe wanted his connection to the Central Region , one of the General Council of Maine-et-Loire called for the creation of a region Val de Loire, while departments of Cotes-du-Nord , the Finistere , demanded an area corresponding to the historic Britain . Since then, despite many vows, resolutions, motions ... always adopted unanimously or almost unanimously by both the General Council of Loire-Atlantique and Brittany Regional Council and requesting the reunification, or a re-examination of the regional limits that were adopted "Despite otherwise the General Council of Loire-Atlantique (1972) "and" renewed without further consultation (1982) "(General Council of Loire-Atlantique, June 22, 2001), or the start of a popular consultation on the subject The authorities have so far not agreed to this request coming from the elected . . However some other polls give divergent results and qualify this finding .

The events organized for this to Nantes are held across 5 departments. The Raffarin government has legalized the local referendums, that reunification has become technically possible. The terms of this union would involve completing a number of administrative and legislative requirements (such as the possible organization of a consultation with the affected communities by opening the choices made on the readjustment of the entire regional area, among other things). This reorganization depends on the decisions of the presidents of two regional councils and the President of the General Council of Loire-Atlantique. Moreover, such a connection of the Loire-Atlantic Region Bretagne "isolate" relatively department Vendee who would have no choice but to join the Poitou-Charentes.

They talk about historic Britain mean when you want the 5 counties of Brittany, not 4 of the Brittany region.

Politics

Brittany is administered elections since the 2004 regional by the PS , with its allies the Greens , the PCF , the UDB and the PRG.

The PS also controls four out of five councils (Ctes-d'Armor since 1976, since 1998 Finistre, Ille-et-Vilaine since 2004 and the Loire-Atlantique also since 2004), only the Morbihan is led by right, in this case by Joseph Kergueris , former UDF did not join the Modem to its creation.

- Finistre is divided between the right of Leon, Cornwall least the region of Douarnenez who vote left and part of Finistere trgoroise before the PSU with a CPF Box, now at PS.

- Morbihan is traditionally the right, with all its tendencies: centrists, Gaullists, ... except around Lorient Hennebont and region Gumn Scorff sur-Pontivy, which are either in the hands of the PS or the PCF.

- Ctes d'Armor department is the most left, with the red Trgor (old stronghold of the PCF ), the Country Briochin ... The line is rather concentrated on the margins and is Golo (bordering Ille et ugly), but still a minority.

- The Loire-Atlantique has long been dominated by the right (which succeeded the Chouannerie , very strong in that department), except in the industrialized valley of the Loire vote left since the French Revolution.

- Ille-et-Vilaine has long been on the right (especially Christian Democrat), but since the beginning of the XXI ^century, the Left (especially the SP ) has experienced very strong growth which led to direct General Council in 2004. The left is in the Rennes basin, up Combourg north Dourdain the east, Mordelles west and Guichen south, with a few pockets along the southwestern border of the Channel or northward Fougeres; right retaining its strongholds in the vitreous, Redon, Sector St. Malo or around the forest Paimpont. This department has placed in the 2007 presidential elections, Segolene Royal PS in head in both rounds of the election (28.13% of the votes cast in the first round and 52.39% in the second).

Formerly very conservative land traditionally marked by Catholicism, Brittany rolled left in regional elections of 2004. The left list led by Jean-Yves Le Drian won with over 58% of the votes against the president's list of outgoing region, Josselin de Rohan , an emblematic figure of the right Breton. This success was confirmed during the 2004 and 2008 the cantonal and national elections of 2007.

The majority of the electorate shows a sense pro-European non-negligible.

The voters approved the Maastricht Treaty by 59.10% of the vote (+ 8.06% compared to the average) and Brittany is one of the few regions to have ruled in favor of "yes" in referendum French on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe with a "yes" to 50.96% (+ 5.63% compared to the average, but - 8.14% compared to the 1992 referendum on the Maastricht Treaty ), voters in the Ctes d'Armor is the only vote in 2005 for "no" as the majority of voters in France, 53.28%.

Regionalism and Nationalism

The autonomism is mainly represented in Britain by the Breton Democratic Union (on the left marked with a sensitivity ecologist) who has 3 seats in the Regional Council and participates in the Regional Executive and which collects, by region and between elections 3 and 12% of the vote and, to a lesser extent, the Breton Party (centrist), an organization that counts among its ranks several elected officials. There are other smaller groups, often more radical, located at the extreme right or extreme left, but their influence is much more limited.

The issue of capital

Long Brittany had no capital defined. The first dukes and their court perpetually changing residence, ranging from one forest to hunt another, and finally little lived in urban areas, except for any strategic or political reasons. In this case, it was almost always in a town in the east or south of the duchy.

The State of Britain met in different cities. At the time ducal Dinan , Nantes (17 times), Plormel , Redon , Rennes , Vitre , Vannes (19 times), Guerande. The modern concept of capital is born with the creation of an effective administration, slow process that begins at the XIII ^century. The number of employees and the mass of its records make it less mobile than the old court. The Council, the Chancellery and the Accounting Chamber generally remained in the city. Under Montfort, the Council (the government Ducal) sometimes followed the Duke of town to another, Nantes, Vannes, Redon, Rennes, Fougeres , Dol , Dinan, Guerande.

The time she was archbishopric (until 1199 ), Dol was "the metropolis of Britain." She kept this fact primacy over other bishops and Brittany Bishop of Dol States presided in the absence of the Duke and later the governor or commander. Fraud was linked to his diocese in 1790, the Bishop of Rennes obtained under Napoleon III to raise its ancient dignity of archbishop.

Rennes was the coronation city and its inhabitants called the "capital city" for it. Tort Conan the reigns, and lack of control Nantes Alain III there is an embryo of Chancery. There are still 14 acts Ducal written in Rennes in the late ^eleventh century to 1166 testify to the active presence of the Dukes in the city, against 16 remaining acts on those which were made in Nantes during the same period. The child Geoffroy II visits the Cathedral of Rennes in 1169 , but in Nantes received the homage of his vassals. He holds the seat of Count Geoffroy in Rennes in 1185. In 1196 , the Duchess Constance meets the nobility assembled at Rennes to recognize his son Arthur ^I.. The Dreux and Montfort lived there and rarely had ruined castle at the point we had to demolish the early ^fifteenth century.

Saint-Brieuc already led the protest in 1235 by the "General Claims of the Britons" as vassals of Mauclerc assembled spontaneously sent him mercilessly.

Yet the failures of the counts of Penthievre to the throne in 1212 , 1364 and 1420 cotrent probably Guingamp and Lamballe administrative capital of the rank they could hope to share with Nantes, which would have altered the balance point policy in favor of northern Britain.

At Abbey Prayers to create the Accounting Chamber under the Duke Jean le Roux , its records are filed Muzillac while the Duke lives in Castle Suscinio or that of the Isle. The capital is then exploded Peninsula Rhuys on bass Vilaine.

Plormel , more central than Rennes and Nantes, and forests full of game, are often preferred by John II and John III , who have their burial.

Crossroads of routes to the cities most frequented by Dukes, Redon lives States meet within its walls and received the graves of Prostlon (daughter of King Solomon ), from Alain Fergant of Francis I and according to some traditions, Nomino.

In 1203 , the barons and prelates assembled in Brittany Vannes to assign power to the Duchess Alix and her father Guy de Thouars. While Charles de Blois sails from Guingamp Nantes, Jean de Montfort holds valves during most of the war of succession, and loyalty to this town to the cause of John IV to his being made by the administrative capital of Duke. She is keeping the Board until 1460 and the Chamber of Auditors until the end of the duchy. Parliament is set to the ^fourteenth century. He became sedentary and sovereign 1485. He served until 1553 and from 1675 to 1689 (in punitive measure against Rennes after the revolt of the stamped paper ). John V , as Peter II , lies mostly in and around Vannes (Placentia, La Garenne, Suscinio ...) but also in Nantes, Dinan, Auray , Hede , Redon and Rennes. Arthur II and Jeanne de France and duchesses Ysabeau of Scotland choose to be buried.

The strategic position and prosperity of Nantes had been chosen by many dukes as Alain Barbetorte who liberated the city in 937 and decided to make his capital. The castle Bouffay became the ducal residence Dynasty Cornish and Alain ferjeant to meet his vassals in 1008. Guy de Thouars took care of the new castle to live more comfortable. It was at Nantes that Jean de Montfort rushed to be cheering Duke 1341. The last prince, Arthur III , Francis II and Anne reign there too, rather than valves. The Accounting Chamber is transferred in 1492 - 1,499 to stay there until the Revolution. The University was created there in the years 1460. Alain Barbetorte John IV, Peter II, III and Arthur Francis II and Anne are buried in order that his heart was placed in a reliquary and placed in the tomb of his father Francis II, the Carmelites. Constance duchesses, Alix and other British princes were buried in the nearby vicinity (The Abbeys Villeneuve, Scoutz).

In 1532 the British parliament was to meet alternately in the two cities but the prejudices of the court of France (starting with Catherine de Medici ) before attachment of Nantes to former privileges of their city and Britain made him prefer Rennes who is assigned the seat of Parliament (from 1560 to 1675 and from 1689 to 1790 ), the Faculty of Law, the residence of the commander in chief and that of the steward. Echoing the traditional policy, the regional prefecture assigned by the Republic. Nantes getting Prefecture region of Pays de la Loire , built around the city by neighboring departments.

Meanwhile in 1790 Pontivy was chosen to meet two " federations "in preference to Morlaix and St. Brieuc , because of the political orientations of its delegates and the central location of this city. Napoleon ^I consider doing Pontivy renamed Napoleonville a centralized administrative capital in all aspects .

In conclusion, the Breton tradition throughout its history has been to distribute the organs of power between different cities instead of concentrating them into one. The executive and the judiciary were exercised from the triangle Vannes-Nantes-Rennes, at the whim of the rulers and the feudal mode. The legislature was convened in almost every town in Brittany, despite the constraints, because the Duke had to obtain the consent of his vassals on aspects of its policy, including financial.

Today, Britain is hampered by the lack of a regional metropolis of European importance. To remedy this, the futuristic dream of synergy Brittany Nantes-Rennes. Brittany has a network, however, unique in France, twenty-five cities called medium (10 000-20 000).

The feeling of belonging

Only a few surveys can get a sense of belonging of the Britons. According to a survey conducted in 2008 , this is how broke down the sense of the Britons:

• Feel as Breton than French: 50%
• Feel more Breton than French: 22.5%
• Feel more French than Breton: 15.4%
• Not feel French and Breton: 9.3%
• Breton and not feel French: 1.5%
• Other: 0.8%
• Do not know: 0.5%

The feeling of the Britons on the status of Britain

According to this survey this is what the Bretons believed the political powers to be given to Britain:

• Brittany should have more power: 51.9%
• Status quo: 31.1%
• should become independent: 4.6%
• should have less power: 1.6%
• should have no power at all: 1.4%
• Do not know: 9.4%

Geography

Brittany is the French region that enjoys the greatest length of coastline. Of Cancale in Pornic , the coast takes place over 1100 km, but it will double its length if one includes the many islands. A distinction is traditionally the coastal regions (the armor , or better, the Arvor ), and the interior regions (the Argoad ).

Although small, the terrain is very strong everywhere in rocky areas, in warmer areas of silty east and south.

Climate

The climate is extremely mild, especially along the coast, with temperature differences between summer and winter of about 15 C. However, these temperature differences vary depending on proximity to the coast. Wind northwest (nor'wester French, GWALARN in Breton) dominates the north. Despite the prejudices, the climate Breton is not "rotten." The days of precipitation are somewhat more common than the French average but overlapping, variable from one region to another, just average compared to the national level. Mountains Arre despite low relief, is to distinguish since precipitation increases substantially. On the coast south of Lorient in Pornic, the annual sunshine exceeds 2000 hours per year .

Landscape

The vegetation is abundant. Britain was once a country of woods and the reform of plots in the 1960s (the consolidation ) has eliminated much of the hedges bordering the fields, to modernize agriculture but causing leaching of the surface layer of the field. This consolidation was done at a lower scale than in many wheat fields in France (Beauce, Champagne ...).

Demography

Environment

Avifauna

The UK has an exceptionally rich bird life. Four large sites can observe bird colonies. Available from May to September, the reserve Falgurec in the Gulf of Morbihan , is a protected area for migratory birds, nesting or endemic. In the fall, geese and spatulas to make a stop on the way to Africa. From March to September, wading birds come to breed before departing for Senegal. Egrets, herons, cormorants live there year round. Murres and penguins gather on them, on the cliffs of the bird sanctuary of Cap Sizun , near the Pointe du Raz (open from May to November). Fragile and hit repeatedly by oil spills, the reserve of the Seven Islands, off the coast of Perros-Guirec is now closed to the public. But a video transmission system allows to observe the six thousand gannets, oystercatchers and other fulmars from the resort of Grande Island.

Transportation

As shipping routes have prevailed over the backhaul, the position of Britain, passage and forced to stop mid-Atlantic coast of Europe earned him a degree of prosperity. But she has suffered from its geographical isolation mainly during the ^twentieth century. Indeed, being positioned on a transport node is an essential factor in infrastructure development.

The introduction during the 1970 Breton Road Plan (GRP) , driven by the De Gaulle , would greatly open up the region with 10 045 million francs of investment over 25 years . More than 1 000 km of track with 2 lanes of traffic in each direction have been completed or are underway, multiplying by four the traffic Breton, these channels are free of toll ^, .

Main areas:

• Nantes - St Nazaire ( RN171 )
• Brest - Morlaix - Saint-Brieuc - Rennes ( N12 )
• Saint-Malo - Rennes - Nantes ( RN137 )
• Brest - Quimper - Lorient - Vannes - La Roche-Bernard ( RN165 )
• Plormel - Vannes ( RN166 )
• Chteaulin - Loudac - Montauban ( RN164 )
• Rennes - Vitre (Le Mans) ( RN157 )
• Rennes - Ferns (Caen) ( Highway Estuaries - A84 )

The rail network is organized in a star around Rennes, linked to Paris by high speed line Atlantic and soon the high speed line Brittany Pays de la Loire , or by the classical Paris - Chartres - Le Mans - Laval - Rennes.

The main routes are:

• Nantes - Saint Nazaire
• Rennes - St Malo via Dol
• Rennes - Brest via St Brieuc
• Rennes - Redon - Quimper
• Rennes - Redon - Nantes
• Rennes - Chateaubriant

Secondary lines connect:

• Saint-Nazaire - The Croisic via La Baule-Escoublac
• Dol - Lamballe via Dinan
• Dol - Folligny - St Lo - Lison - Caen
• St Brieuc - Loudeac (restoration)
• Guingamp - Paimpol
• Guingamp - Carhaix
• Plouaret - Lannion
• Morlaix - Roscoff
• Brest - Landerneau (Line B of Britain's busiest in 2007)
• Brest - Quimper (via Landerneau)
• Auray - Quiberon
• Auray - Pontivy (cargo only in 2007)

Main article: Britain TER

Economic production

The fishing and related industries, shipbuilding and military ( Brest , Lorient ), aeronautical engineering ( St-Nazaire and Nantes ), tourism (especially coastal and summer) were already the main economic sectors of the Breton first part of the ^twentieth century. The economy of contemporary Britain turned in the sixties to agriculture (primeurs. ..) and livestock (swine, poultry, beef) intensive, to agribusiness, automotives ( Citroen ), the summer tourism on the coastline, large retailers ( E. Leclerc , Intermarch ) and some advanced technology centers in Brest , Rennes and Lannion.

Britain is the leader for the French production of pigs and poultry (around 50%) of cauliflower (about 60%), with artichokes (about 85%) of ships (100%).

It is the first to produce milk.

Culture

Religion

Long before the Celts , Neolithic people erected the menhirs , the cairns and mounds , which we still have the dolmens and covered walkways. They had a funerary purpose and worship found. The function of standing stones still hypothetical, but now they are given use of a territorial marker scheme associated with religious functions. Religion Druid spread with the arrival of the Celts, especially in Gaul and the British Isles. The domination of the peninsula by the Romans brought to Gaul as elsewhere, but with less emphasis, the construction of new places of worship, some of which remained observable in elevation (Temple of Mars Corseul ) and statues of the Roman pantheon ( Douarnenez , Corseul ), although the invention of several statues of Celtic type indicates the permanence of previous religions. At the end of the Gallo-Roman people of Brittany, came from the island of Britain (now Great Britain ) have emphasized the establishment of a new religion: Christianity , which has gradually supplanted the old beliefs. However, paganism has rubbed for centuries the dominant religion, more or less peacefully. Even today, many local legends and traditions evoke Druidic practices.

Despite the low uptake Protestant in Britain ( Blain , Vitre ...) but after the great disorders of the League , fathers The Nobletz , Maunoir and Huby became the emblematic figures of the Counter-Reformation in Britain. They were also behind the use of painted images of large format - taolenno or "tables of mission" - to illustrate their sermons during countless missions continued until 1957 in Brittany, the Leon forming the backbone of their success.

Christians in Britain are overwhelmingly Catholic. The patron saint of Brittany is Saint Anne (nicknamed "Mamm gozh Vretoned ar ', that is to say, the grandmother of the Britons), as apocryphal texts and The Golden Legend of Jacques de Voragine pose as the mother of the Virgin Mary and thus the grandmother of Jesus , with many people in traditional costume. The largest is dedicated to St. Anne (see Celtic goddess Ana) at Sainte-Anne d'Auray in Morbihan.

It must include a pilgrimage attested since the Middle Ages, the Tro Breizh (tour of Brittany), where pilgrims visit the tomb of successively each of the seven founding saints of Brittany:

• Pol Aurelian (Santa Paola), at St. Pol de Leon (Leon)
• Tugdual or Tual (Sant Tudwal) at Trguier (Treger)
• Brieuc (Sant Brieg) at Saint-Brieuc ,
• Malo (Sant Malou) at Saint-Malo ,
• Samson (Sant Samzun), at Dol ,
• Paterno (Sant Padern) at Vannes (Morbihan)
• Corey (Sant Kaourintin), at Quimper (Kemper).

These places have become thereafter, the seats of bishoprics of Brittany, which must be added the diocese of Nantes (Naoned) and Rennes (Roazhon) to form the 9 dioceses history of Britain (which were mostly abolished in 1790 )

Historically, the Tro Breizh was done at once (approximately 600 km). Today it takes several years. In 2002 , the Tro Breizh was held in Wales , symbolically making the trip to the Welsh saint of Paola, Saint Brieuc and St. Samson. This is a rare circular pilgrimage in the world.

As elsewhere, but to a lesser extent, religious practice has declined sharply over the last thirty years, vocations have become rare and churches have emptied, except Sundays and holidays. Brittany is a region strongly attached to religion through numerous pilgrimages and Breton traditions that the Church contributes locally to perpetuate.

Languages

Brittany is composed of two areas historically Language :

• the Lower Brittany Breizh Izel or west (including Brittany , the Morbihan , west of Ctes-d'Armor , and south, the peninsula of Gurande, particularly with the enclave of Bourg-de- Batz in Loire-Atlantique) where people speak a native language Brythonic (related to Welsh and Cornish ) known under the term Breton or brezhoneg;
• the Haute-Bretagne Breizh Uhel or east ( Ille-et-Vilaine , Ctes-d'Armor is, Loire-Atlantique ) where people speak dialects of oil : the Gallo , also the Poitevin in the country Retz and a bit of Breton in the region of Rennes.

The French is spoken by the elites in Britain since the late Middle Ages , it was also adopted by the administration of the dukes of Brittany since the thirteenth century ^, . During the Ancien Regime, the language has gradually spread in Upper Brittany , where he enjoys his relationship with Gallo as well as in major cities of Lower Brittany.

Like many regional languages , Breton and Gallo have lost a great number of speakers. But Breton woke up after the Second World War with a major blow in the 1970s , Gallo and advocates are beginning to be heard in the 1990s.

Although the number of speakers of the Breton mother tongue diminishes, it is the third Celtic language spoken in the world after the Welsh and Irish. The weighted numbers provided by the survey of family history study conducted by INSEE in 1999 are 257 000 Breton (or "brittophones) over 18 years in the 5 counties of Brittany (and estimated at 290 000 over the entire hexagon ). Are added including staffing of bilingual schools which amount to 11 750 students in September 2007 , or students taking courses in Brittany in public elementary school (over 7600 in 2002/2003) or secondary (over 8000 in 2002 / 2003 ). Fancy Broudic, from a survey of TMO 1997 , noted: "We first observed that the percentage of 15-19 year olds is very small (0.5%). The category of 20-39 years accounts for only 5%. In total, below 40 years, there is more than 13 000 people who can speak Breton. "

Recently, Breton even appears in public life in the guise of bilingual signs dotting the roads. The Office of the Breton language (Ofis ar Brezhoneg) allowed the publication of a map of Britain in 2003 , with place names in Breton. However, some defenders of Breton think that the preservation of the language is endangered by the refusal of France to ratify the European Charter for Minority Languages. But others believe that, Breton and Gallo which it was using in the Breton countryside disappearing inexorably with the culture of the last, their renaissance in cultural associations that have little to do with the old world agricultural giving them, in their use oral or written, unfortunately artificial one side, close to that of Esperanto or Latin , in the modern world.

Literature and Oral Tradition

Its Celtic past, Britain has maintained a strong tradition of oral transmission. So many stories and legends have survived. Various collectors have donated a sum of singing, Gwerzio , original captions. Death is often present, with a character peculiar to the imaginary Breton, the Ankou , whose role is to carry in his wagon creaking (or a boat in coastal regions) the soul of the recently deceased.

The stories are also populated by small to be mischievous, sometimes malevolent, always endowed with magical powers, known as korriganed ( goblins ) or poulpiquets, or the morgans island of Ouessant.

Another recurring theme, that of the sunken cities (sometimes buried) with that of Ys most famous work, which depicts Gradlon , King of Cornwall and her daughter Dahud. The myth relates the conflict between the old religion of the Celts and the introduction of Christianity .

The most famous collectors is the Theodore Hersart Villemarqu that the ^nineteenth century has produced the famous Barzaz Breiz which is a frequent source of inspiration for artists Breton today with the popularity of songs like Alarc'h Year (The Swan ) Silvestrig, Maro Pontkalleg (death Pontcallec ), etc.. Among collectors, one must also mention Luzel Franois-Marie , the first to apply a scientific method for the collection of songs and stories and his disciple, the writer and literature professor Anatole Le Braz , author of "The Legend of Death" which recounts the beliefs of Britons of his time.

See also:

• List of Breton writers
• Writers Association of the Britons
• Matter of Britain
• Breton literature

Music

The music is today the most visible aspect of the culture of Brittany, through the work and creativity of musicians claiming Breton culture, diversity of festivals and the number of noz festo. Breton traditional dance is also deeply rooted in the cultural landscape and Breton today, beyond the popular practice in fest-noz, we see play at a high level now that Celtic circles shows offer more and more professional very popular with the public.

Important component of Breton music, the bagado who annually participate in a championship (with the exception of one of the best known of the Lann-Bihou , which is training the Navy ) and gives rise to classification. Inspired by the pipe bands, Scottish, they are relatively new since the first was born in 1947 in Carhaix.

The tradition of dance music sung ( kan ha Diskan , counterpoint-song) or played in a couple (duet bagpipe ( bagpipe Breton) / bomb ) is still very present in Upper and Lower Britain, the dancers find themselves in a fest noz (night festival) or a fest-deiz (Feast Day).

Breton music has become more diverse and enriched during the second half of the ^twentieth century , updating traditional themes with sounds of today. His radical modernization began in the mid- 1960s , first with Alan Stivell , who popularized worldwide, followed by other artists ( Gilles Servat , Dan Ar Braz , Prigent , Nolwenn Korbell , Dom DufF ...)

Costumes

Brittany has preserved the memory of a great variety of costumes , signs of identification with "country" or vineyards. "Kant bro, giz kant" hundred countries, a hundred ways, "says a famous proverb. These costumes are no longer worn only during public festivals ( pardons , contests, dances and songs, performances). One of the most remarkable features is the variety and majesty of feminine headgear, a kind of graceful cups decorated with lace designed to hold and hide the hair.

Gastronomy

Among regional specialties include the kouign amann (butter cake), the Far Breton (suppl farz in Breton), the Kig-ha-farz (literally "meat and far), the farz buan , the pancakes , the wafers , the Kouign the harstum (based jam), the puck (biscuit), and cotriade. The proximity of the coast and the mild climate make Brittany an area rich in seafood (crabs, crustaceans, shellfish) and fish. There is also the beurre blanc.

Beverages

Brittany is a region cider important. The Britons are fond of a sort of kir kir Breton called simply, a mixture of crme de cassis and cider. It's also a wine former, now mostly focused on the Nantes region (the vineyard is the most famous vineyards of Muscadet ). It also produces a mead called mead or chouchenn (pronounced "Chouchne). Finally, in recent years the production of beer is booming locally, with a score of producers who offer traditional and original beer: ale, beer, buckwheat, malt whiskey, sea water

The Brasserie Lancelot, under the company name Phare Ouest, manufactures the " Breizh Cola "distributed outside Britain.

Toponymy

In Part Breton- of Britain, the vast majority of place names is the original Brythonic , apart from a few exceptions that come from the Gallic ( Ushant , Valves , named after the Gallic tribe of the Veneti), French ( Lorient ) or Latin ( Carhaix ).

The names Brittany is very rich but sometimes more or less distorted or Anglicized. The names Brittany are most often composed of two elements: one descriptive element used to describe an object, the second element identifies the object in question.