Talk this way!: Brittany

Discover Brittany, one of the most charming region of France.

Brittany (French: Bretagne [bʁətaɲ]; Breton: Breizh, pronounced [brɛjs]; Gallo: Bertaèyn) is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. It is characterized as one of the six Celtic nations.

Brittany occupies a large peninsula in the north west of France, lying between the English Channel to the north and the Bay of Biscay to the south. The historical province of Brittany is divided into five departments
: Finistère in the west, Côtes-d'Armor in the north, Ille-et-Vilaine in the north east, the Loire-Atlantique in the south east and Morbihan in the south on the Bay of Biscay.

In 1956, French Regions were created by gathering Departements between them.[5] The Region of Brittany comprises, since then, four of the five Breton départements (80% of historical Brittany), while the remaining area of the old Brittany, the Loire-Atlantique département, around Nantes, forms part of the Pays de la Loire region. This territorial organisation is regularly contested.

Brittany is home to many megalithic monuments which are scattered across the peninsula.
Brittany is also known for its calvary sculptures, elaborately carved crucifixion scenes found at crossroads in villages and small towns, especially in Western Brittany.

Besides its numerous intact manors and châteaux, Brittany also has several old fortified towns. The walled city of Saint-Malo (Sant-Maloù), a popular tourist attraction, is also an important port linking Brittany with England and the Channel Islands. It was the birthplace of the historian Louis Duchesne, the acclaimed author Chateaubriand, the corsair Surcouf and the explorer Jacques Cartier. The town of Roscoff (Rosko) is served by ferry links with England and Ireland

The coast at Brittany is unusual due to its colouring. The Côte de Granit Rose (pink granite coast) is located in the Côtes d'Armor department of Brittany. It stretches for more than 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Plestin-les-Greves to Louannec and is one of the outstanding coastlines of Europe. This special pink rock is very rare and can be found in only three other places in the world, Ontario, Canada, Corsica and China.

French, the only official language of the French Republic, is today spoken throughout Brittany. The two regional languages are supported by the regional authorities within the constitutional limits: Breton, strongest in the west but to be seen all over Brittany, is a Celtic language most closely related to Cornish and Welsh. Gallo, which is spoken in the east, is one of the romance Langues d'oïl.
Since the 13th century, long before the union of Brittany and France, the main administrative language of the Duchy of Brittany was French, and previously it was Latin. Breton (in the West) and Gallo (in the East) remained the two languages of the rural population of Brittany, but since the Middle Ages the bourgeoisie, the nobility, and the higher clergy spoke French. Government policies in the 19th and 20th centuries, which forbade the speaking of Breton in schools, along with the demands of education, pushed many non-French speakers into adopting the French language. Nevertheless, until the 1960s Breton was spoken and understood by most of the inhabitants of western Brittany.

In the Middle Ages, Gallo gradually expanded into formerly Breton-speaking areas. Now restricted to a much reduced territory in the east of Brittany, Gallo finds itself under pressure from the dominant Francophone culture. It is also felt by some to be threatened by the Breton language revival, which is gaining ground in territories that were not previously part of the main Breton-speaking area.

Diwan ("seed") schools, where classes are taught in Breton by the immersion method, play an important part in the revival of the Breton language. These schools are privately funded, as they receive no French central government support. The issue of whether they should be funded by the State has long been, and remains, controversial. Some bilingual classes are also provided in ordinary schools.[citation needed]

Bilingual (Breton and French) road signs may be seen in some areas, especially in the traditional Breton-speaking area of Lower Brittany.

Be Breizh: Breizh is the Breton word for Brittany and given that the Bretons are particularly proud of their roots, you will see the word – or simply the letters BZH – in evidence throughout the region. Along with the black and white Breton flag (the Gwenn Ha Du) and the triskell, you will see these symbols of Breton identity on cars, t-shirts and shop fronts.