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Nord Pas-de-Calais Picardie Normandy Ile-de-France Champagne-Ardenne Lorraine Alsace Brittany Pays de la Loire Centre Bourgogne Franche-Comté Poitou-Charentes Limousin Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Aquitaine Midi-Pyrénées Languedoc-Roussillon Provence, Côte d'Azur Corsica Réunion Guadeloupe Martinique Guyane |
 Brittany (Bretagne in french, Breizh in Breton; Bertaèyn in Gallo) is a
former independent kingdom and duchy, then province of France. It is
also, more generally, the name of the cultural area whose limits
correspond to the old province and independent duchy.
The historical province of Brittany was split between two modern-day régions of France. 80% of Brittany has become the région of Bretagne, while the remaining 20% of Brittany (Loire-Atlantique département with its préfecture Nantes, one of the former capitals of the duchy of Brittany) has been grouped with other historical provinces (Anjou, Maine, and so on) to create the région of Pays-de-la-Loire (that is "lands of the Loire"). Brittany occupies a large peninsula in the northwest of France, lying between the English Channel to the north and the Bay of Biscay to the south. Its land area is 34,034 km² (13,137 sq. mi). In 2004 the population of Brittany is estimated at 4,198,500 inhabitants. 72% of these live in the Bretagne région, while 28% of these live in the Pays-de-la-Loire région. At the 1999 census, the largest metropolitan areas were Nantes (711,120 inhabitants), Rennes (521,188 inhabitants), and Brest (303,484 inhabitants). |
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