Brittany Michelin Regional Map: No. 512 (Michelin Regional Maps)

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Gouren, a style of folk wrestling, is the most popular Breton sport. The Boule bretonne is related to pétanque. The Palets, common in Upper Brittany and in other French regions, is also related to pétanque, but players use iron disks instead of balls and they have to throw them on a wooden board. The Osismii, who lived in the western part of Brittany. Their territory comprised the Finistère département and the western extremity of Côtes-d'Armor and Morbihan. His son Erispoe secured the independence of the new kingdom of Brittany and won the Battle of Jengland against Charles the Bald. The Bretons won another war in 867, and the kingdom reached then its maximum extent: It received parts of Normandy, Maine and Anjou and the Channel Islands. When the region of Brittany was created, several local politicians opposed the exclusion of Loire-Atlantique, and the question still remains. Napoleon reorganised the French education system in 1808. He created new universities and invented two secondary education institutions: the "collèges" and the "lycées" which were opened in numerous towns to educate boys and form a new elite. A new University of Rennes was progressively recreated during the 19th century.

The Gallo community is estimated at between 28,300 [74] and 200,000 [73] speakers. The language is taught on a non-compulsory basis in some schools, high-schools and universities, particularly in Ille-et-Vilaine. [73] Religion [ edit ] Sculpted " calvaries" can be found in many villages in Lower Brittany. Brittany has several historical capital cities. When it was an independent duchy, the Estates of Brittany, which can be compared to a parliament, met in various towns: Dinan, Ploërmel, Redon, Rennes, Vitré, Guérande, and, most of all, Vannes, where they met 19 times, and Nantes, 17 times. The Court and the government were also very mobile, and each dynasty favoured its own castles and estates. The dukes mostly lived in Nantes, Vannes, Redon, Rennes, Fougères, Dol-de-Bretagne, Dinan and Guérande. All these towns except Vannes are located in Upper Brittany, thus not in the Breton speaking area.Brittany's wildlife is typical of France with several distinctions. On one hand, the region, due to its long coastline, has a rich oceanic fauna, and some birds cannot be seen in other French regions. On the other hand, the species found in the inland are usually common for France, and because Brittany is a peninsula, the number of species is lower in its western extremity than in the eastern part. Brittany has the same education system as the rest of France. As in other French regions, formal education before the 19th century was the preserve of the elite. Before 1460, Brittany did not have a university, and Breton students had to go to Angers, Poitiers or Caen. The University of Nantes was founded under the duke Francis II, who wanted to affirm the Breton independence from France. All the traditional disciplines were taught here: arts, theology, law and medicine. During the 17th century, it had around 1,500 students. It declined during the 18th century, mostly because Nantes was flourishing with the Atlantic slave trade and paid no attention to its cultural institutions. Nathalie Molines and Jean-Laurent Monnier (1993). Le " Colombanien ": un faciès régional du Paléolithique inférieur sur le littoral armoricano-atlantique. Vol.90. Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française. p.284. South of the cathedral, in the former Bishop's Palace, is the Musée Départemental Breton (Breton Museum) with a collection of archaeological objects, folk costumes, ceramics, and artworks, which reveal Brittany's rich cultural heritage. There is also a collection of landscape paintings that depict Brittany's Finistère region. The Pays de Dol, around Dol-de-Bretagne, corresponding to the northern part of the Ille-et-Vilaine département.

Several drafts for French regions had been proposed since the 1920s, and the definitive regions were drawn in 1956. The new Brittany had four départements, and Loire-Atlantique formed the Pays de la Loire region together with parts of Anjou, Maine and Poitou. In 1972, the regions received their present competencies, with an elected regional council. Since then, the region of Brittany has had its own council and administrative bodies. Regardless of the truth of this story, Brythonic (British Celtic) settlement probably increased during the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries. [ citation needed] The Brythonic community around the 6th century. The sea was a communication medium rather than a barrier. A French map of the traditional regions of Brittany in Ancien Régime France. The earlier state of Domnonia or Domnonée that united Brittany comprised the counties along the north coast Immigration of the Britons [ edit ] Geology [ edit ] The Pointe du Raz, one of the westernmost extents of both Brittany and Metropolitan France

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During the 20th century, tertiary education was developed with the creation of the École centrale de Nantes in 1919, the University of Nantes in 1961, the ESC Bretagne Brest in 1962, the University of Western Brittany in 1971, the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Bretagne in 1977 and the University of Southern Brittany in 1995. The Catholic University of the West, based in Angers, also opened classes in several Breton towns. In 1969, the University of Rennes was divided between the University of Rennes 1 and the University of Rennes 2 – Upper Brittany. After the Second World War, the Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr, the foremost French military academy, settled in Coëtquidan. Toward the end of the 4th century, the Britons of Domnonée (modern Devon and Cornwall) on the South-Western peninsula of Great Britain began to emigrate to Armorica, [25] [26] which is why the Breton language is more closely related to recorded Cornish.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, many Cornish Britons settled in western Armorica to escape the Saxons and the region started to be called Britannia, although this name only replaced Armorica in the sixth century or perhaps by the end of the fifth. [16] Bretagne Environnement, ed. (2005). "Les mammifères". Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. a b Venceslas Kruta (2000). Les Celtes, Histoire et Dictionnaire. Robert Laffont. p.427. ISBN 2-7028-6261-6.The coat of arms of Brittany, ermine plain, was adopted by John III in 1316. Ermine had been used in Brittany long before, and there is no clue to its origin. It was probably chosen by the dukes because of its similarity with the French fleur-de-lis. The ermine, or stoat, as an animal became the badge of John IV at the end of the 14th century. It appeared later on numerous locations, including churches and castles. According to popular traditions, Anne of Brittany was hunting with her court when she saw a white ermine who preferred to die than to cross a dirty marsh. This episode would have inspired the duchess' motto: "Potius mori quam foedari" ("rather death than dishonour"). [88] The motto has later been reused by Breton regiments, local World War II Resistants and cultural movements. Gecodia.fr (ed.). "La démographie de la Bretagne depuis 1851". Archived from the original on 12 April 2013 . Retrieved 1 March 2013. In the meantime, several laws were promoted to open schools, notably for girls. In 1882, Jules Ferry succeeded in passing a law which made primary education in France free, non-clerical (laïque) and mandatory. Thus, free schools were opened in almost every villages of Brittany. a b Priscilla Franken. Vocatis (ed.). "La Bretagne a un taux de chômage faible, mais qui ne profite pas assez aux seniors". Archived from the original on 12 April 2013 . Retrieved 1 March 2013. At the beginning of the medieval era, Brittany was divided among three kingdoms, Domnonea, Cornouaille and Broërec. These realms eventually merged into a single state during the 9th century. [28] [29] The unification of Brittany was carried out by Nominoe, king between 845 and 851 and considered as the Breton Pater Patriae. [30] Among the immigrant Britons, there were some clergymen who helped the evangelisation of the region, which was still pagan, particularly in rural areas. [ citation needed]