118-497: Le Pen is a Breton surname (meaning 'the head', 'the chief' or 'the peninsula'). Notable people with the name include: Le Pen family , the political family of France under patriarch Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean-Marie Le Pen (born 1928), French politician, founder of the National Front party Marine Le Pen (born 1968), French politician, daughter of Jean-Marie and leader of
236-592: A Breton artistic revival but its ties with Nazism and the collaborationism of the Breton National Party during World War II weakened Breton nationalism in the post-war period. Brittany lost 240,000 men during the First World War . The Second World War was also catastrophic for the region. It was invaded by Nazi Germany in 1940 and freed after Operation Cobra in August 1944. However,
354-458: A Goidelic language, Manx . Northern Scotland mainly spoke Pritennic , which became Pictish , which may have been a Brythonic language. During the period of the Roman occupation of Southern Britain (AD 43 to c. 410 ), Common Brythonic borrowed a large stock of Latin words. Approximately 800 of these Latin loan-words have survived in the three modern Brythonic languages. Romano-British
472-456: A common ancestral language termed Brittonic , British , Common Brythonic , Old Brythonic or Proto-Brythonic , which is thought to have developed from Proto-Celtic or early Insular Celtic by the 6th century AD. Brythonic languages were probably spoken before the Roman invasion at least in the majority of Great Britain south of the rivers Forth and Clyde , though the Isle of Man later had
590-529: A different person. Brythonic (British Celtic) settlement increased during the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries to seek refuge from the Anglo-Saxon invaders. It is from this event that Brittany derives its name. Scholars such as Léon Fleuriot have suggested a two-wave model of migration from Britain which saw the emergence of an independent Breton people and established
708-651: A distinct cultural identity that reflects its history . Brittany has also been referred to as Little Britain (as opposed to Great Britain , with which it shares an etymology). It is bordered by the English Channel to the north, Normandy to the northeast, eastern Pays de la Loire to the southeast, the Bay of Biscay to the south, and the Celtic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its land area
826-542: A life of hunting and gathering, to become settled farmers. Agriculture was introduced during the 5th millennium BC by migrants from the south and east. However, the Neolithic Revolution in Brittany did not happen due to a radical change of population, but by slow immigration and exchange of skills. Neolithic Brittany is characterised by important megalithic production and sites such as Quelfénnec , it
944-669: A military presence in Bourges in central Gaul, but was betrayed by Arvandus , the Praetorian Prefect of Gaul, and subsequently ambushed by Euric's army. After a long battle, the Armorican survivors escaped to Avallon in Burgundy , after which they are lost to history. According to Breton king-lists, Riotham survived and reigned as Prince of Domnonia until his death sometime between 500 and 520, though this may have been
1062-519: A peninsular extension of mainland Europe until catastrophic flooding between then and 130,000 years ago resulted in the creation of the English Channel and Britain becoming an island during warm interglacial periods like the Last Interglacial/Eemian (130–115,000 years ago), though it remained connected to mainland Europe during glacial periods when sea levels were low. Archaic humans repeatedly occupied Britain before abandoning
1180-506: A population of about 61 million , making it the world's third-most-populous island after Honshu in Japan and Java in Indonesia , and the most populated island outside of Asia . The term "Great Britain" can also refer to the political territory of England , Scotland and Wales , which includes their offshore islands. This territory, together with Northern Ireland , constitutes
1298-499: A possible royal match in 1548, Lord Protector Somerset said that the English and Scots were, "like as twoo brethren of one Islande of great Britaynes again." In 1604, James VI and I styled himself "King of Great Brittaine, France and Ireland". Great Britain refers geographically to the island of Great Britain. Politically, it may refer to the whole of England , Scotland and Wales , including their smaller offshore islands. It
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#17327725310321416-750: A result of the Mad War , the Duke Francis II could not have his daughter Anne married without the king of France's consent. Nonetheless, she married the Holy Roman Emperor in 1490, leading to a crisis with France. Charles VIII of France besieged Rennes and had the marriage cancelled. He eventually married Anne of Brittany . After he died childless, the duchess had to marry his heir and cousin Louis XII . Anne unsuccessfully tried to preserve Breton independence, but she died in 1514, and
1534-777: A result of this eventful geological history, the island shows a rich variety of landscapes . The oldest rocks in Great Britain are the Lewisian gneisses , metamorphic rocks found in the far north west of the island and in the Hebrides (with a few small outcrops elsewhere), which date from at least 2,700 My ago. South of the gneisses are a complex mixture of rocks forming the North West Highlands and Grampian Highlands in Scotland. These are essentially
1652-699: A similar sense to fauna, and for similar reasons, the flora consists of fewer species compared to much larger continental Europe. The flora comprises 3,354 vascular plant species, of which 2,297 are native and 1,057 have been introduced. The island has a wide variety of trees , including native species of birch , beech , ash , hawthorn , elm , oak , yew , pine , cherry and apple . Other trees have been naturalised, introduced especially from other parts of Europe (particularly Norway) and North America. Introduced trees include several varieties of pine, chestnut , maple , spruce , sycamore and fir , as well as cherry plum and pear trees . The tallest species are
1770-693: A threat to the Republic. During the 19th century, the Breton language started to decline precipitously, mainly because of the Francization policy conducted under the Third Republic . On one hand, children were not allowed to speak Breton at school, and were punished by teachers if they did. Famously, signs in schools read: "It is forbidden to speak Breton and to spit on the floor" ("Il est interdit de parler Breton et de cracher par terre"). At
1888-401: A very extended period of time. Changing latitude and sea levels have been important factors in the nature of sedimentary sequences, whilst successive continental collisions have affected its geological structure with major faulting and folding being a legacy of each orogeny (mountain-building period), often associated with volcanic activity and the metamorphism of existing rock sequences. As
2006-539: Is 34,023 km (13,136 sq mi) . Brittany is the site of some of the world's oldest standing architecture, home to the Cairn of Barnenez , the Tumulus Saint-Michel and others, which date to the early 5th millennium BC. Today, the historical province of Brittany is split among five French departments: Finistère in the west, Côtes-d'Armor in the north, Ille-et-Vilaine in the northeast, Morbihan in
2124-677: Is G. On the Internet, .uk is the country code top-level domain for the United Kingdom. A .gb top-level domain was used to a limited extent, but is now deprecated; although existing registrations still exist (mainly by government organizations and email providers), the domain name registrar will not take new registrations. In the Olympics, Team GB is used by the British Olympic Association to represent
2242-743: Is also more than 1000 species of bryophyte including algae and mosses across the island. The currently known species include 767 mosses, 298 liverworts and 4 hornworts . There are many species of fungi including lichen -forming species, and the mycobiota is less poorly known than in many other parts of the world. The most recent checklist of Basidiomycota (bracket fungi, jelly fungi, mushrooms and toadstools, puffballs, rusts and smuts), published in 2005, accepts over 3600 species. The most recent checklist of Ascomycota (cup fungi and their allies, including most lichen-forming fungi), published in 1985, accepts another 5100 species. These two lists did not include conidial fungi (fungi mostly with affinities in
2360-408: Is different from Wikidata All set index articles Brittany Brittany ( / ˈ b r ɪ t ən i / BRIT -ən-ee ; French: Bretagne , pronounced [bʁətaɲ] ; Breton : Breizh , pronounced [bʁɛjs, bʁɛx] ; Gallo : Bertaèyn or Bertègn , pronounced [bəʁtaɛɲ] ) is a peninsula , historical country and cultural area in
2478-576: Is not technically correct to use the term to refer to the whole of the United Kingdom which includes Northern Ireland , though the Oxford English Dictionary states "...the term is also used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom." Similarly, Britain can refer to either all islands in Great Britain, the largest island, or the political grouping of countries. There is no clear distinction, even in government documents:
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#17327725310322596-583: Is sometimes designated as the "core area" of megalithic culture. The oldest monuments, cairns , were followed by princely tombs and stone rows . The Morbihan département , on the southern coast, comprises a large share of these structures, including the Carnac stones and the Broken Menhir of Er Grah in the Locmariaquer megaliths , the largest single stone erected by Neolithic people. During
2714-511: Is subject to continuing urbanisation , which have contributed towards the overall loss of species. A DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) study from 2006 suggested that 100 species have become extinct in the UK during the 20th century, about 100 times the background extinction rate . However, some species, such as the brown rat , red fox , and introduced grey squirrel , are well adapted to urban areas. Rodents make up 40% of
2832-898: Is the capital city of Scotland , and is the seat of the Scottish Government as well as the highest courts in Scotland . The Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Cardiff is the capital city of Wales , and is the seat of the Welsh Government . In the Late Bronze Age, Britain was part of a culture called the Atlantic Bronze Age , held together by maritime trading, which also included Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal. In contrast to
2950-598: Is the largest denomination in Wales . There are other non-conformist minorities, such as Baptists , Quakers , the United Reformed Church (a union of Congregationalists and English Presbyterians ), Unitarians . The first patron saint of Great Britain was Saint Alban . He was the first Christian martyr dating from the Romano-British period, condemned to death for his faith and sacrificed to
3068-529: Is the largest species, with roe deer and fallow deer also prominent; the latter was introduced by the Normans . Sika deer and two more species of smaller deer, muntjac and Chinese water deer , have been introduced, muntjac becoming widespread in England and parts of Wales while Chinese water deer are restricted mainly to East Anglia. Habitat loss has affected many species. Extinct large mammals include
3186-791: Is the name for the Latinised form of the language used by Roman authors. British English is spoken in the present day across the island, and developed from the Old English brought to the island by Anglo-Saxon settlers from the mid 5th century. Some 1.5 million people speak Scots —which was indigenous language of Scotland and has become closer to English over centuries. An estimated 700,000 people speak Welsh , an official language in Wales . In parts of north west Scotland, Scottish Gaelic remains widely spoken. There are various regional dialects of English, and numerous languages spoken by some immigrant populations. Christianity has been
3304-627: Is the traditional homeland of the Breton people and is one of the six Celtic nations , retaining a distinct cultural identity that reflects its history . A nationalist movement seeks greater autonomy within the French Republic, or independence from it. The reunification of Brittany is supported by half of the inhabitants of Brittany and of Loire-Atlantique, and is considered a prerequisite to further autonomy. The word Brittany , along with its French , Breton and Gallo equivalents Bretagne , Breizh and Bertaèyn , derive from
3422-553: Is why the Breton language is more closely related to recorded Cornish. The history behind such an establishment is unclear, but medieval Breton, Angevin and Welsh sources connect it to a figure known as Conan Meriadoc . Welsh literary sources assert that Conan came to Armorica on the orders of the Roman usurper Magnus Maximus , who sent some of his British troops to Gaul to enforce his claims and settled them in Armorica. This account
3540-650: The American War of Independence . These included many sailors such as Armand de Kersaint and soldiers such as Charles Armand Tuffin, marquis de la Rouërie . The Duchy was legally abolished with the French Revolution that began in 1789 - and in 1790 the province of Brittany was divided into five departments : Côtes-du-Nord (later Côtes-d'Armor ), Finistère , Ille-et-Vilaine , Loire-Inférieure (later Loire-Atlantique ) and Morbihan . Brittany essentially lost all its special privileges that existed under
3658-473: The British Olympic team . The Olympic Federation of Ireland represents the whole island of Ireland , and Northern Irish sportspeople may choose to compete for either team, most choosing to represent Ireland. Politically, Great Britain refers to the whole of England , Scotland and Wales in combination, but not Northern Ireland ; it includes islands, such as the Isle of Wight , Anglesey ,
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3776-824: The Celtic languages to the island. During the Iron Age , Britain was inhabited by various different Celtic tribes . The Romans conquered most of the island (up to Hadrian's Wall in northern England) and this became the Ancient Roman province of Britannia . In the course of the 500 years after the Roman Empire fell, the Britons of the south and east of the island were assimilated or displaced by invading Germanic tribes ( Angles , Saxons , and Jutes , often referred to collectively as Anglo-Saxons ). At about
3894-957: The Douglas firs ; two specimens have been recorded measuring 65 metres or 212 feet. The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire is the oldest tree in Europe. There are at least 1,500 different species of wildflower . Some 107 species are particularly rare or vulnerable and are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 . It is illegal to uproot any wildflowers without the landowner's permission. A vote in 2002 nominated various wildflowers to represent specific counties. These include red poppies , bluebells , daisies , daffodils , rosemary , gorse , iris , ivy , mint , orchids , brambles , thistles , buttercups , primrose , thyme , tulips , violets , cowslip , heather and many more. There
4012-589: The Garonne estuary. This term probably comes from a Gallic word, aremorica , which means "close to the sea". Another name, Letauia (in English " Litavis "), was used until the 12th century. It possibly means "wide and flat" or "to expand" and it gave the Welsh name for Brittany: Llydaw . After the fall of the Western Roman Empire , many Cornish Britons settled in western Armorica to escape
4130-522: The Gregorian mission . It was the main religion for around a thousand years. There are over 5 million adherents today, 4.5 million Catholics in England and Wales and 750,000 in Scotland , although fewer than a million Catholics regularly attend mass . The Church of Scotland , a form of Protestantism with a Presbyterian system of ecclesiastical polity , is the third most numerous on
4248-477: The Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia . Judaism figured slightly more than Buddhism at the 2011 census, having 263,000 adherents (excluding Scotland's about 6000). Jews have inhabited Britain since 1070. However, those resident and open about their religion were expelled from England in 1290, replicated in some other Catholic countries of the era. Jews were permitted to re-establish settlement as of 1656, in
4366-574: The Isles of Scilly , the Hebrides and the island groups of Orkney and Shetland , that are part of England, Wales, or Scotland. It does not include the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands . The political union which joined the kingdoms of England and Scotland occurred in 1707 when the Acts of Union ratified the 1706 Treaty of Union and merged the parliaments of the two nations, forming
4484-717: The Kingdom of Great Britain , which covered the entire island. Before this, a personal union had existed between these two countries since the 1603 Union of the Crowns under James VI of Scotland and I of England . The oldest evidence for archaic humans in Britain are the Happisburgh footprints and associated stone tools found in Norfolk , dating to around 950–850,000 years ago. Prior to 450,000 years ago, Britain formed
4602-655: The Latin Britannia , which means "land of the Britons ". This word had been used by the Romans since the 1st century to refer to Great Britain, and more specifically the Roman province of Britain . This word derives from a Greek word, Πρεττανική (Prettanikḗ) or Βρεττανίαι (Brettaníai), used by Pytheas , an explorer from Massalia who visited the British Isles around 320 BC. The Greek word itself comes from
4720-553: The National Rally party Marion Maréchal-Le Pen (born 1989), French politician, granddaughter of Jean-Marie and niece of Marine Maurice Jules-Marie Le Pen (1889–1919) French airplane designer, designer of the Levy-Le Pen Ulrich Le Pen (born 1974), French football player See also [ edit ] Pen (disambiguation) [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with
4838-585: The Privy Council of England was drafting the proclamation of the new king, Charles I, a Scottish peer, Thomas Erskine, 1st Earl of Kellie , succeeded in insisting that it use the phrase "King of Great Britain", which James had preferred, rather than King of Scotland and England (or vice versa). While that title was also used by some of James's successors, England and Scotland each remained legally separate countries, each with its own parliament, until 1707, when each parliament passed an Act of Union to ratify
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4956-458: The Treaty of Union that had been agreed the previous year. This created a single kingdom with one parliament with effect from 1 May 1707. The Treaty of Union specified the name of the new all-island state as "Great Britain", while describing it as "One Kingdom" and "the United Kingdom". To most historians, therefore, the all-island state that existed between 1707 and 1800 is either "Great Britain" or
5074-511: The United Kingdom . The archipelago has been referred to by a single name for over 2000 years: the term ' British Isles ' derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe this island group. By 50 BC, Greek geographers were using equivalents of Prettanikē as a collective name for the British Isles. However, with the Roman conquest of Britain , the Latin term Britannia
5192-433: The brown bear , grey wolf and wild boar ; the latter has had a limited reintroduction in recent times. There is a wealth of birdlife , with 628 species recorded, of which 258 breed on the island or remain during winter. Because of its mild winters for its latitude, Great Britain hosts important numbers of many wintering species, particularly waders , ducks , geese and swans . Other well known bird species include
5310-520: The golden eagle , grey heron , common kingfisher , common wood pigeon , house sparrow , European robin , grey partridge , and various species of crow , finch , gull , auk , grouse , owl and falcon . There are six species of reptile on the island; three snakes and three lizards including the legless slowworm . One snake, the adder , is venomous but rarely deadly. Amphibians present are frogs , toads and newts . There are also several introduced species of reptile and amphibian. In
5428-548: The mammal species . These include squirrels , mice , voles , rats and the recently reintroduced European beaver . There is also an abundance of European rabbit , European hare , shrews , European mole and several species of bat . Carnivorous mammals include the red fox , Eurasian badger , Eurasian otter , weasel , stoat and elusive Scottish wildcat . Various species of seal , whale and dolphin are found on or around British shores and coastlines. The largest land-based wild animals today are deer . The red deer
5546-525: The pagan gods . In more recent times, some have suggested the adoption of St Aidan as another patron saint of Britain. From Ireland, he worked at Iona amongst the Dál Riata and then Lindisfarne where he restored Christianity to Northumbria . The three constituent countries of the United Kingdom have patron saints: Saint George and Saint Andrew are represented in the flags of England and Scotland respectively. These two flags combined to form
5664-552: The protohistorical period , Brittany was inhabited by five Celtic tribes: Those people had strong economic ties to the Insular Celts , especially for the tin trade . Several tribes also belonged to an "Armorican confederation " which, according to Julius Caesar , gathered the Curiosolitae , the Redones , the Osismii , the Unelli , the Caletes , the Lemovices and the Ambibarii. The Unelli, Caletes, and Lemovices were respectively located in Cotentin (Lower-Normandy), pays de Caux (Upper-Normandy), and Limousin (Aquitaine);
5782-472: The surname Le Pen . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Le_Pen&oldid=1244265573 " Categories : Surnames Surnames of Breton origin Breton-language surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description
5900-487: The " Kingdom of Great Britain ". Great Britain lies on the European continental shelf, part of the Eurasian Plate and off the north-west coast of continental Europe , separated from this European mainland by the North Sea and by the English Channel , which narrows to 34 km (18 nmi; 21 mi) at the Straits of Dover . It stretches over about ten degrees of latitude on its longer, north–south axis and covers 209,331 km (80,823 sq mi), excluding
6018-418: The 15th to the 18th century, Brittany reached an economic golden age. The region was located on the seaways near Spain, England and the Netherlands and it greatly benefited from the creation of a French colonial empire . Local seaports like Brest and Saint-Brieuc quickly expanded, and Lorient , first spelled "L'Orient", was founded in the 17th century. Saint-Malo then was known for its corsairs , Brest
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#17327725310326136-453: The 4th century BC. The term used by Pytheas may derive from a Celtic word meaning "the painted ones" or "the tattooed folk" in reference to body decorations . According to Strabo, Pytheas referred to Britain as Bretannikē , which is treated a feminine noun. Marcian of Heraclea , in his Periplus maris exteri , described the island group as αἱ Πρεττανικαὶ νῆσοι (the Prettanic Isles). The Greco-Egyptian scientist Ptolemy referred to
6254-431: The 9th century. The unification of Brittany was carried out by Nominoe , king between 845 and 851 and considered as the Breton Pater Patriae . Among the immigrant Britons, there were some clergymen who helped the evangelisation of the region, which was still pagan, particularly in rural areas. His son Erispoe secured the independence of the new kingdom of Brittany and won the Battle of Jengland against Charles
6372-439: The Angles. Germanic speakers referred to Britons as Welsh . This term came to be applied exclusively to the inhabitants of what is now Wales, but it also survives in names such as Wallace and in the second syllable of Cornwall . Cymry , a name the Britons used to describe themselves, is similarly restricted in modern Welsh to people from Wales, but also survives in English in the place name of Cumbria . The Britons living in
6490-438: The Ascomycota but known only in their asexual state) or any of the other main fungal groups (Chytridiomycota, Glomeromycota and Zygomycota). The number of fungal species known very probably exceeds 10,000. There is widespread agreement among mycologists that many others are yet to be discovered. London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom as a whole, and is the seat of the United Kingdom's government . Edinburgh
6608-411: 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 . Brittany was heavily attacked by the Vikings at the beginning of the 10th century. The kingdom lost its eastern territories, including Normandy and Anjou , and the county of Nantes was given to Fulk I of Anjou in 909. Nantes
6726-422: The Breton speaking area. Great Britain Great Britain (commonly shortened to Britain ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe , consisting of the countries England , Scotland and Wales . With an area of 209,331 km (80,823 sq mi), it is the largest of the British Isles , the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in
6844-434: The Church is the monarch of the United Kingdom, as the Supreme Governor . It has the status of established church in England. There are just over 26 million adherents to Anglicanism in Britain today, although only around one million regularly attend services. The second largest Christian practice is the Latin Church of the Catholic Church , which traces its history to the 6th century with Augustine of Canterbury and
6962-637: The Duchy. Three years later, the area became a centre of royalist and Catholic resistance to the Revolution during the Chouannerie . During the 19th century, Brittany remained in economic recession, and many Bretons emigrated to other French regions, particularly to Paris. This trend remained strong until the beginning of the 20th century. Nonetheless, the region was also modernising, with new roads and railways being built, and some places being industrialised. Nantes specialised in shipbuilding and food processing (sugar, exotic fruits and vegetables, fish...), Fougères in glass and shoe production, and metallurgy
7080-404: The Dukes were usually independent, but they often contracted alliances with England or France depending on who was threatening them at that point. Their support for each nation became very important during the 14th century because the English kings had started to claim the French throne. The Breton War of Succession , a local episode of the Hundred Years' War , saw the House of Blois , backed by
7198-409: The French side during the deciding stages of the war (including the battles of Patay , Formigny and Castillon and the Treaty of Arras ). Brittany importantly lost the Mad War against France in 1488, mostly because of its internal divisions that were exacerbated by the corruption at the court of Francis II, Duke of Brittany . Indeed, some rebel Breton lords were fighting on the French side. As
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#17327725310327316-478: The French, fighting with the House of Montfort , backed by the English. The Montforts won in 1364 and enjoyed a period of total independence until the end of the Hundred Years' War, because France was weakened and stopped sending royal envoys to the Court of Brittany. English diplomatic failures led to the Breton cavalry commanders Arthur, Comte de Richemont (later to become Arthur III, Duke of Brittany ) and his nephew Peter II, Duke of Brittany playing key roles on
7434-410: The Huns' front lines during the main battle and thwarted Attila's night assault on the Roman camp with a hail of arrows "like rain". After the battle was won, Aetius sent the Alans to Armorica and Galicia. The late 5th century Brittonic leader Riothamus received correspondence from the eminent Roman jurist Sidonius Apollinaris and was called "King of the Britons" by Jordanes . Some suggest that he
7552-455: The London area sinking at double this partly due to the continuing compaction of the recent clay deposits. Animal diversity is modest, as a result of factors including the island's small land area, the relatively recent age of the habitats developed since the last glacial period and the island's physical separation from continental Europe , and the effects of seasonal variability. Great Britain also experienced early industrialisation and
7670-446: The Roman gods. Only a small number of statues depicting Roman gods were found in Brittany, and most of the time they combine Celtic elements. During the 3rd century AD, the region was attacked several times by Franks , Alamanni and pirates. At the same time, the local economy collapsed and many farming estates were abandoned. To face the invasions, many towns and cities were fortified, like Nantes , Rennes and Vannes . This area
7788-468: 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. Breton-speaking people may pronounce the word Breizh in two different ways, according to their region of origin. Breton can be divided into two main dialects: the KLT ( Kerne -Leon- Tregor ) and the dialect of Vannes . KLT speakers pronounce it [brɛjs] and would write it Breiz , while
7906-405: The UK government yearbooks have used both Britain and United Kingdom . GB and GBR are used instead of UK in some international codes to refer to the United Kingdom, including the Universal Postal Union , international sports teams, NATO , and the International Organization for Standardization country codes ISO 3166-2 and ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 , whilst the aircraft registration prefix
8024-420: The Vannetais speakers pronounce it [brɛχ] and would write it Breih . The official spelling is a compromise between both variants, with a z and an h together. In 1941, efforts to unify the dialects led to the creation of the so-called Breton zh , a standard which has never been widely accepted. On its side, Gallo has never had a widely accepted writing system and several ones coexist. For instance,
8142-431: The area during cooler periods. Modern humans arrived in Britain about 40,000 years ago, as evidenced by remains found in Kents Cavern in Devon, following the disappearance of Neanderthals . Prior to 9,000 years ago Britain retained a land connection to the continent, with an area of mostly low marshland ( Doggerland ) joining it to what are now Denmark and the Netherlands . During the Mesolithic period, Britain
8260-401: The areas around Saint-Nazaire and Lorient only surrendered on 10 and 11 May 1945, several days after the German capitulation. The two port towns had been virtually destroyed by Allied air raids, like Brest and Saint-Malo , and other towns, such as Nantes and Rennes , had also suffered. In 1956, Brittany was legally reconstituted as the Region of Brittany , although the region excluded
8378-402: The areas now known as Wales, Cumbria and Cornwall were not assimilated by the Germanic tribes, a fact reflected in the survival of Celtic languages in these areas into more recent times. At the time of the Germanic invasion of southern Britain , many Britons emigrated to the area now known as Brittany , where Breton , a Celtic language closely related to Welsh and Cornish and descended from
8496-712: The basis of the Great Britain royal flag of 1604. Saint David is the patron saint of Wales. There are many other British saints. Some of the best known are Cuthbert , Columba , Patrick , Margaret , Edward the Confessor , Mungo , Thomas More , Petroc , Bede , and Thomas Becket . Numerous other religions are practised. The 2011 census recorded that Islam had around 2.7 million adherents (excluding Scotland with about 76,000). More than 1.4 million people (excluding Scotland's about 38,000) believe in Hinduism , Sikhism , or Buddhism —religions that developed in
8614-650: The bed of the North Sea was dry and acted as a land bridge, now known as Doggerland , to the Continent. It is generally thought that as sea levels gradually rose after the end of the last glacial period of the current ice age, Doggerland reflooded cutting off what was the British peninsula from the European mainland by around 6500 BC. Great Britain has been subject to a variety of plate tectonic processes over
8732-623: The breaching of the Weald-Artois Anticline , a ridge that held back a large proglacial lake , now submerged under the North Sea. Around 10,000 years ago, during the Devensian glaciation with its lower sea level , Great Britain was not an island, but an upland region of continental north-western Europe, lying partially underneath the Eurasian ice sheet. The sea level was about 120 metres (390 ft) lower than today, and
8850-465: The capitals of the local civitates . They all had a grid plan and a forum , and sometimes a temple, a basilica , thermae or an aqueduct , like Carhaix . The Romans also built three major roads through the region. However, most of the population remained rural. The free peasants lived in small huts, whereas the landowners and their employees lived in proper villae rusticae . The Gallic deities continued to be worshiped, and were often assimilated to
8968-582: The common Brythonic ethnonym reconstructed as *Pritanī , itself from Proto-Celtic *kʷritanoi (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷer- 'to cut, make'). In Roman times, Armorica included what is now Brittany. This was an indefinite region that extended along the English Channel coast from the Seine estuary, then along the Atlantic coast to the Loire estuary and, according to several sources, maybe to
9086-659: The continental region which approximates to modern Brittany and had been settled in the fifth and sixth centuries by Celtic Briton migrants from Great Britain. The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Cecily , daughter of Edward IV of England , and James , son of James III of Scotland , which described it as "this Nobill Isle, callit Gret Britanee". The Scottish philosopher and historian, John Major (Mair), published his 'History of Great Britain, both England and Scotland' ( Historia majoris Britanniae, tam Angliae quam Scotiae ) in 1521. While promoting
9204-408: The details remain confused, these colonies consisted of related and intermarried dynasties which repeatedly unified (as by the 7th-century Saint Judicaël ) before splintering again according to Celtic inheritance practices. 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
9322-494: The dominance of the Brythonic Breton language in Armorica. Their petty kingdoms are now known by the names of the counties that succeeded them— Domnonée ( Devon ), Cornouaille ( Cornwall ), Léon ( Caerleon ); but these names in Breton and Latin are in most cases identical to their British homelands. (In Breton and French, however, Gwened or Vannetais continued the name of the indigenous Veneti .) Although
9440-535: The ducal capital of Nantes and the surrounding area . Nevertheless, Brittany retained its cultural distinctiveness, and a new cultural revival emerged during the 1960s and 1970s. Bilingual schools were opened, singers started to write songs in Breton, and ecological catastrophes such as the Amoco Cadiz oil spill or the Erika oil spill and water pollution from intensive pig farming favoured new movements to protect
9558-730: The generally accepted view that Celtic originated in the context of the Hallstatt culture , since 2009, John T. Koch and others have proposed that the origins of the Celtic languages are to be sought in Bronze Age Western Europe, especially the Iberian Peninsula. Koch et al.'s proposal has failed to find wide acceptance among experts on the Celtic languages. All the modern Brythonic languages (Breton, Cornish, Welsh) are generally considered to derive from
9676-560: The island with around 2.1 million members. Introduced in Scotland by clergyman John Knox , it has the status of national church in Scotland. The monarch of the United Kingdom is represented by a Lord High Commissioner . Methodism is the fourth largest and grew out of Anglicanism through John Wesley . It gained popularity in the old mill towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire , also amongst tin miners in Cornwall . The Presbyterian Church of Wales , which follows Calvinistic Methodism ,
9794-456: The language of the emigrants, is still spoken. In the 9th century, a series of Danish assaults on northern English kingdoms led to them coming under Danish control (an area known as the Danelaw ). In the 10th century, however, all the English kingdoms were unified under one ruler as the kingdom of England when the last constituent kingdom, Northumbria, submitted to Edgar in 959. In 1066, England
9912-418: The larger island as great Britain (μεγάλη Βρεττανία megale Brettania ) and to Ireland as little Britain (μικρὰ Βρεττανία mikra Brettania ) in his work Almagest (147–148 AD). In his later work, Geography ( c. 150 AD ), he gave the islands the names Alwion , Iwernia , and Mona (the Isle of Man ), suggesting these may have been the names of the individual islands not known to him at
10030-541: The largest religion by number of adherents since the Early Middle Ages : it was introduced under the ancient Romans, developing as Celtic Christianity . According to tradition, Christianity arrived in the 1st or 2nd century . The most popular form is Anglicanism (known as Episcopalism in Scotland). Dating from the 16th-century Reformation , it regards itself as both Catholic and Reformed . The Head of
10148-509: The latter to restrain its trade, and the Breton economy went into recession during the 18th century. Two significant revolts occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries: the Revolt of the papier timbré (1675) and the Pontcallec conspiracy (1719). Both arose from attempts to resist centralisation and assert Breton constitutional exceptions to tax. Many Bretons crossed the Atlantic to support
10266-1059: The location of the Ambibarii is unknown. The Caletes are sometimes also considered Belgians, and Lemovices is probably a mistake for Lexovii (Lower-Normandy). During the Gallic Wars , the Veneti were defeated in the Battle of Morbihan off the coast of Brittany. At the conclusion of the Gallic Wars, the region became part of the Roman Republic in 51 BC. It was included in the province of Gallia Lugdunensis in 13 BC. Gallic towns and villages were redeveloped according to Roman standards, and several cities were created. These cities are Condate ( Rennes ), Vorgium ( Carhaix ), Darioritum ( Vannes ) and Condevincum or Condevicnum ( Nantes ). Together with Fanum Martis ( Corseul ), they were
10384-496: The much smaller surrounding islands. The North Channel , Irish Sea , St George's Channel and Celtic Sea separate the island from the island of Ireland to its west. The island is since 1993 joined, via one structure, with continental Europe: the Channel Tunnel , the longest undersea rail tunnel in the world. The island is marked by low, rolling countryside in the east and south, while hills and mountains predominate in
10502-527: The name of 'Britanniæ.'" The name Britain descends from the Latin name for Britain, Britannia or Brittānia , the land of the Britons. Old French Bretaigne (whence also Modern French Bretagne ) and Middle English Bretayne , Breteyne . The French form replaced the Old English Breoton, Breoten, Bryten, Breten (also Breoton-lond, Breten-lond ). Britannia
10620-579: The name of the region in that language can be written Bertaèyn in ELG script, or Bertègn in MOGA , and a couple of other scripts also exist. Brittany has been inhabited by humans since the Lower Palaeolithic . This population was scarce and very similar to the other Neanderthals found in the whole of Western Europe. Their only original feature was a distinct culture, called "Colombanian". One of
10738-602: The natural heritage. Brittany as a political entity disappeared in 1790, when it was divided into five départements . The Breton départements more or less correspond to the nine Catholic dioceses that appeared at the beginning of the Middle Ages. They were often called "pays" or "bro" ("country" in French and Breton ) and they also served as fiscal and military districts. Brittany is also divided between Lower Brittany ("Basse Bretagne" and "Breizh Izel"), corresponding to
10856-457: The north-west of modern France , covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul . It became an independent kingdom and then a duchy before being united with the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province governed as a separate nation under the crown. Brittany is the traditional homeland of the Breton people and is one of the six Celtic nations , retaining
10974-720: The oldest hearths in the world has been found in Plouhinec, Finistère . Homo sapiens settled in Brittany around 35,000 years ago. They replaced or absorbed the Neanderthals and developed local industries , similar to the Châtelperronian or to the Magdalenian . After the last glacial period , the warmer climate allowed the area to become heavily wooded. At that time, Brittany was populated by relatively large communities who started to change their lifestyles from
11092-472: The remains of folded sedimentary rocks that were deposited between 1,000 My and 670 My ago over the gneiss on what was then the floor of the Iapetus Ocean . In the current era the north of the island is rising as a result of the weight of Devensian ice being lifted. Counterbalanced, the south and east is sinking, generally estimated at 1 mm ( 1 ⁄ 25 inch) per year, with
11210-525: The same source as the Goidelic term Cruithne used to refer to the early Brythonic -speaking inhabitants of Ireland. The latter were later called Picts or Caledonians by the Romans . Greek historians Diodorus of Sicily and Strabo preserved variants of Prettanike from the work of Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia , who travelled from his home in Hellenistic southern Gaul to Britain in
11328-636: The same time, Gaelic tribes from Ireland invaded the north-west, absorbing both the Picts and Britons of northern Britain, eventually forming the Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century. The south-east of Scotland was colonised by the Angles and formed, until 1018, a part of the Kingdom of Northumbria . Ultimately, the population of south-east Britain came to be referred to as the English people , so-named after
11446-559: The same time, the Celtic Revival led to the foundation of the Breton Regionalist Union (URB) and later to independence movements linked to Irish, Welsh, and Scottish and Cornish independence parties in the UK, and to pan-Celticism . However, the audience of these movements remained very low and their ideas did not reach a large public until the 20th century. The Seiz Breur movement, created in 1923, permitted
11564-721: The same year as Alan II) and thus Brittany ceased to be a kingdom and became a duchy. Several Breton lords helped William the Conqueror to invade England and the Bretons formed over a third of the landing force in 1066. They received large estates there (e.g. William's double-second cousin Alan Rufus and the latter's brother Brian of Brittany ). The Bretons helped to liberate the Cornish, replacing Anglo-Saxon land owners. Some of these lords were powerful rivals. Medieval Brittany
11682-526: The south and Loire-Atlantique in the southeast. Loire-Atlantique now belongs to the Pays de la Loire region while the other four departments make up the Brittany region . At the 2010 census, the population of historic Brittany was estimated to be 4,475,295. In 2017, the largest metropolitan areas were Nantes (934,165 inhabitants), Rennes (733,320 inhabitants), and Brest (321,364 inhabitants). Brittany
11800-527: The time of writing Almagest . The name Albion appears to have fallen out of use sometime after the Roman conquest of Britain , after which Britain became the more commonplace name for the island. After the Anglo-Saxon period, Britain was used as a historical term only. Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae ( c. 1136 ) refers to the island of Great Britain as Britannia major ("Greater Britain"), to distinguish it from Britannia minor ("Lesser Britain"),
11918-548: The union between the two crowns was formally carried out by Francis I in 1532. He granted several privileges to Brittany, such as exemption from the gabelle , a tax on salt that was very unpopular in France. Under the Ancien Régime , Brittany and France were governed as separate countries but under the same crown, so Breton aristocrats in the French royal court were classed as Princes étrangers (foreign princes). From
12036-452: The western and northern regions. It is surrounded by over 1,000 smaller islands and islets . The greatest distance between two points is 968.0 km ( 601 + 1 ⁄ 2 mi) (between Land's End , Cornwall and John o' Groats , Caithness ), 838 miles (1,349 km) by road. The English Channel is thought to have been created between 450,000 and 180,000 years ago by two catastrophic glacial lake outburst floods caused by
12154-456: The western half, where Breton is traditionally spoken, and Upper Brittany ("Haute Bretagne" and "Breizh Uhel"), corresponding to the eastern half, where Gallo is traditionally spoken. The historical Breton dioceses were: During the French Revolution , four dioceses were suppressed and the five remaining ones were modified to have the same administrative borders as the départements . Brittany has several historical capital cities. When it
12272-510: The word are quotations of the periplus by later authors, such as those within Strabo's Geographica , Pliny's Natural History and Diodorus of Sicily's Bibliotheca historica . Pliny the Elder (AD 23–79) in his Natural History records of Great Britain: "Its former name was Albion; but at a later period, all the islands, of which we shall just now briefly make mention, were included under
12390-525: The world . It is dominated by a maritime climate with narrow temperature differences between seasons. The island of Ireland , with an area 40 per cent that of Great Britain, is to the west – these islands, along with over 1,000 smaller surrounding islands and named substantial rocks , comprise the British Isles archipelago . Connected to mainland Europe until 9,000 years ago by a landbridge now known as Doggerland , Great Britain has been inhabited by modern humans for around 30,000 years. In 2011, it had
12508-481: Was conquered by the Normans , who introduced a Norman -speaking administration that was eventually assimilated. Wales came under Anglo-Norman control in 1282, and was officially annexed to England in the 16th century. On 20 October 1604 King James , who had succeeded separately to the two thrones of England and Scotland, proclaimed himself "King of Great Brittaine, France , and Ireland". When James died in 1625 and
12626-635: Was a Breton, though others believe that he was from Britain, pointing to the passage that he arrived in the land of the Biturges "by way of Ocean", which would hardly have been efficient or required for a Breton. Both historians describe Riothamus's losing battle against King Euric of the Visigoths at Déols around the year 470. In response to a plea from the Roman Emperor Anthemius , Riothamus had led twelve thousand men to establish
12744-519: Was a major base for the French Navy and Nantes flourished with the Atlantic slave trade . On its side, the inland provided hemp ropes and canvas and linen sheets. However, Colbertism , which encouraged the creation of many factories, did not favour the Breton industry because most of the royal factories were opened in other provinces. Moreover, several conflicts between France and England led
12862-570: Was also affected by the Bagaudae (also spelled bacaudae) during this period, which were groups of peasant insurgents. The Bagaudae achieved some temporary and scattered successes under the leadership of peasants as well as former members of local ruling elites. 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 , which
12980-735: 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 and Guérande are located in Upper Brittany , thus not in
13098-508: Was by Aristotle (384–322 BC), or possibly by Pseudo-Aristotle , in his text On the Universe , Vol. III. To quote his works, "There are two very large islands in it, called the British Isles, Albion and Ierne ". The first known written use of the word Britain was an ancient Greek transliteration of the original Proto-Celtic term in a work on the travels and discoveries of Pytheas that has not survived. The earliest existing records of
13216-466: Was far from being a united nation. The French king maintained envoys in Brittany, alliances contracted by local lords often overlapped and there was no specific Breton unity. For example, Brittany replaced Latin with French as its official language in the 13th century, 300 years before France did so, and the Breton language did not have formal status. The foreign policy of the Duchy changed many times;
13334-510: Was inhabited by hunter gatherers. Neolithic farmers , of Anatolian origin, arrived in Britain around 4000 BC, replacing the pre-existing hunter gatherers. Around 2000 BC, the Bronze Age Bell Beaker Culture arrived in Britain, which genetic evidence suggests was associated with another episode of nearly complete population replacement. Later significant migration to southern Britain around 1000 BC may have brought
13452-551: Was practised in small towns such as Châteaubriant and Lochrist , known for its labour movements . The region remained deeply Catholic, and during the Second Empire , the conservative values were strongly reasserted. When the Republic was re-established in 1871, there were rumours that Breton troops were mistrusted and mistreated at Camp Conlie during the Franco-Prussian War because of fears that they were
13570-496: Was seized by the Vikings in 914. At this time Brittany was also called Lydwiccum. Nantes was eventually liberated by Alan II of Brittany in 937 with the support of his godbrother King Æthelstan of England. Alan II totally expelled the Vikings from Brittany and recreated a strong Breton state. For aiding in removing the problem, Alan paid homage to Louis IV of France (who was Æthelstan's nephew and had returned from England in
13688-650: Was supported by the Counts of Anjou, who claimed descent from a Roman soldier expelled from Lower Brittany by Conan on Magnus's orders. The army recruited for Flavius Aetius to combat Attila the Hun at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains included Romans, Visigoths, Franks, Alans and Armoricans, amongst others. The Alans were placed front and centre, opposite the Huns. The Armoricans supplied archers who attacked
13806-556: Was used by the Romans from the 1st century BC for the British Isles taken together. It is derived from the travel writings of Pytheas around 320 BC, which described various islands in the North Atlantic as far north as Thule (probably Norway ). The peoples of these islands of Prettanike were called the Πρεττανοί, Priteni or Pretani . Priteni is the source of the Welsh language term Prydain , Britain , which has
13924-492: Was used for the island of Great Britain, and later Roman-occupied Britain south of Caledonia . The earliest known name for Great Britain is Albion ( Greek : Ἀλβιών ) or insula Albionum , from either the Latin albus meaning "white" (possibly referring to the white cliffs of Dover , the first view of Britain from the continent) or the "island of the Albiones ". The oldest mention of terms related to Great Britain
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