This article is about the French administrative région of Bretagne. For the historical duchy and province of Brittany, as well as the cultural area of Brittany, see Brittany.

Bretagne (; English: Brittany; Breton: Breizh; Gallo: Bertaèyn) is one of the 26 régions of France. It occupies a large peninsula in the northwest of the country, lying between the English Channel to the north and the Bay of Biscay to the south. Its capital city is Rennes.

The région of Bretagne is made up of 80% of the former duchy and province of Brittany. The remaining 20% of Brittany is the Loire-Atlantique département which lies inside the Pays-de-la-Loire région, with its capital Nantes, which was the historical capital of the duchy of Brittany.

Part of the reason why Brittany was split between two modern day régions was to avoid the rivalry between Rennes and Nantes. Although Nantes had been the capital of the duchy of Brittany until the 16th century, Rennes had been the seat of the parlement (supreme court of justice) of Brittany between 1551 and 1789. Rennes had also been the administrative capital of the intendance of Brittany between 1689 and 1789. Intendances were the most important administrative units of the kingdom of France in the 17th and 18th centuries. As for the provincial states of Brittany, which originally met every two years in a different city of Brittany, they had only met in Rennes from 1728 to 1789 (with only the exceptions of 1730, 1758, and 1760).

Thus, when French régions were created in the second half of the 20th century, it was decided to create a région of Bretagne with Rennes as its capital, and another région created specifically for Nantes, which was called Pays-de-la-Loire (i.e. "lands of the Loire"). Pays-de-la-Loire is made up of a part of Brittany, but also several other historical provinces (Anjou, Maine, and so on).

Some people in Brittany complain about the current division of Brittany and would like to see Loire-Atlantique joining the région of Bretagne in order to reunify Brittany. However, this would create several problems: what to do with the rump Pays-de-la-Loire région? and which city to choose as the capital of this reunified Bretagne région?

See also

• List of postal codes in Brittany

External links

• Regional Council of Bretagne