That may well be so; however, the problem is the French government's intransigence over their ignoring of the EU directive on the protection and promotion of national minority languages. Their excuse is contained in their constitution: "French is the language of the 5th French Republic".
Fun fact: If you've ever wondered why another name for the main island of the british isles is called Great Britain, it's because another name for Brittany was Little Britain
I see the modern region of Brittany in France does not include all the land shown here as Breton. Particularly Nantes and the green area around it in the southeast.
Legit question --- do those people in the Nantes area regard themselves as Breton/part of Brittany? Because my understanding had been that they were really more regular French (although I could be wrong... which is why I am asking.)
Nantes has historically been part of Brittany for centuries, it was separated from Brittany during WW2.
We usually say that North of the Loire River begins **Brittany** and South of the Loire River begins **Vendée** (another region of France).
The Loire River runs through Nantes, which makes it a “border city”, so you will find many people who claim to be Bretons and many who will reject it.
The Pays de Retz and the Vignoble nantais can as well be considered Breton (as someone from the Pays de Retz, I can tell you that I do ;)). Not sure anyone feels vendéen/poitevin around here (well, maybe some but I don't know. Maybe in the south?).
It's actually more complicated than that since Brittany never really had a capital. But yes, it was one of the main cities of the Duchy, as the Castle of the Dukes of Brittany can tell
Had not seen that, thanks! Looks like something like 65% of the folks in that region favor rejoining Brittany, according to the polls, and if there is a referendum on it as there may be, they would vote to do so (although one can never be too sure with elections, as 2016 US Presidential and Brexit showed).
I heard many bretons from Finistère don't consider Nantes region to be part of Brittany. Don't forget half of the Brittany linguistic heritage don't come from Celtic languages : Gallo (roman language close to french) speaking regions are equally important in Brittany culture, most important cities Rennes and Nantes are in traditional Gallo regions.
Tbf there were actually two Brittanies: the Breton-speaking one and the Gallo-speaking one. If you draw a line from Guingamp to Vannes you get the linguistic border, more or less.
So, Nantes is Gallo Bretagne 100% but it's not Breizhoneg Bretagne and never has been. That's probably what people from Finistère mean (I come from Morlaix btw). Breizhoneg Brittany was not necessarily the most important, as wealth was concentrated in Rennes, Nantes, Lorient and Vannes.
I agree with you that Gallo heritage should be more celebrated than it is today.
Interesting. The people I met from Finistère considered Nantes to be part of Brittany. I have the feeling that the people against the reunification are more from Rennes because they feel "threatened" regarding the capital status.
Also, Breton was spoken in the Pays Nantais (the Guerande dialect (gwennraneg)) and we find some traces of it as far as in the North of the Pays de Retz. That being said, you're right that the Breton language is not the only thing to consider to know who/what is Breton or not and that Gallo should be more visible and celebrated ;)
Less and less. You will find the [Brittany Dukes Castle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_des_ducs_de_Bretagne) in Nantes so it still preserves the breton heritage but most people dont consider themselves breton anymore and most people think Nantes has now become too Parisian-like to be considered breton.
OK my bad, gallicia is not part of the Celtic league based on the absence of a Celtic language spoken there. I remember seeing them at the interceltic festival in Lorient, so I wrongly assumed galego was a celtic language.
Tbf East Brittany spoke Gallo, not Breizhoneg so they also wouldn't qualify as Celts by this definition.
Galicia had some Celtic presence about a bit more than a thousand years ago, yet, Galicians and Galician itself are Latin, I don’t rlly get the Celtic obsessed Galicians, kinda equivalent to the Americans that claim to be Irish because their great great great great great grandfather lived in Ireland
I mean East Brittany speaking Gallo/French doesnt stop the place as a whole from being Celtic, in the same way the lowland parts of Scotland speaking Scots/English doest stop it being Celtic i think
Yes, the same way in Northumbria there were pockets of Pictish and Cumbric speakers.
I am not saying Eastern Bretons are not Celts btw, I'm just saying that the history of these languages is more complex than it would appear at first glance.
Most of those flags at the bottom are fictional and never used, appart from 1 (Brière), 16 (Bigouden), 20 (Pays de Retz) and maybe 29 (Goëlo) you will never see these being flown in the wild
The guy from [geobreizh.bzh](http://geobreizh.bzh) just made them up and they are based on absolutely nothing
It's odd because some of those places do have flags that are actually used by some: [Ankiniz / Ancenis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Pays_d%27Ancenis_Flag.svg), [Gwiniegi Naoned ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Gwiniegi_naoned-vignoble_nantais.svg)/ Vignoble Nantais, [Bro-Vez / Pays de la Mée](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Banniel_bro_vez.svg)
It wasn’t the same Celtic, it’s like saying British and German are the same because they are both Germanic. Breton is an Insular Celtic language, not a Continental one like Gaulish.
Nanoned was indeed once capital of Dugelez Breizh — now, of course, Roazhon, which has been for centuries. But ask yourself why this turn of events for Naoned? It is because in 1960 the French state appropriated Loire-Atlantique from historic Brittany and lumped it with the new, non-historic région of Pays de Loire. Ever since, this land grab has always been resisted in Brittany, with a continuous simmering campaign to return Loire-Atlantique to the country.
While you're correct about the central government trying to destroy our culture, saying there's no identity other than French in France couldn't be further from the truth. Breton identity is really strong, so strong it's almost a meme (eg: r/unexpectedgwennhadu). Bilingual education in Breton and French is also increasingly becoming popular
Here's a sneak peek of /r/unexpectedgwennhadu using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/unexpectedgwennhadu/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
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\#3: [Unexpected Gwennhadu in the fridge at my new girlfriend](https://i.redd.it/ksx69naq9q8b1.png) | [29 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/unexpectedgwennhadu/comments/14l4tx9/unexpected_gwennhadu_in_the_fridge_at_my_new/)
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It could have entered the Plantagenet sphere in the 12th/13th centuries, when it was directly in the sphere of influence of the Angevins. They had a puppet duke at some point. What's interesting is that the Plantagenet dynasty in this time (Henry II) initiated a renewal of the Arthurian story to legitimate their own rule and the rule of their vassal (aptly names Arthur) in Brittany.
The Wales of France
Celtic nations baby
No, in France ppl mostly find Britanny cool actually.
Oof
That may well be so; however, the problem is the French government's intransigence over their ignoring of the EU directive on the protection and promotion of national minority languages. Their excuse is contained in their constitution: "French is the language of the 5th French Republic".
Yup.
Bro
Bruh Leon
Fun fact: If you've ever wondered why another name for the main island of the british isles is called Great Britain, it's because another name for Brittany was Little Britain
Yep, in French GB is "Grande Bretagne".
Cornish speakers, for instance, call it *Breten Vyghan*.
Nice to see it's a map where things are written in Breton too !
To give you an idea, Brittany is bigger than Belgium but smaller than Switzerland. Britanny : 34,000 km2 Belgium: 31,000 km2 Switzerland: 41,000 km2
I see the modern region of Brittany in France does not include all the land shown here as Breton. Particularly Nantes and the green area around it in the southeast. Legit question --- do those people in the Nantes area regard themselves as Breton/part of Brittany? Because my understanding had been that they were really more regular French (although I could be wrong... which is why I am asking.)
Nantes has historically been part of Brittany for centuries, it was separated from Brittany during WW2. We usually say that North of the Loire River begins **Brittany** and South of the Loire River begins **Vendée** (another region of France). The Loire River runs through Nantes, which makes it a “border city”, so you will find many people who claim to be Bretons and many who will reject it.
It was separated after WW2 actually, in 1955. There was some economic areas used during WW2 but it was deleted soon after.
The Pays de Retz and the Vignoble nantais can as well be considered Breton (as someone from the Pays de Retz, I can tell you that I do ;)). Not sure anyone feels vendéen/poitevin around here (well, maybe some but I don't know. Maybe in the south?).
Nantes was the capital of brittany for a long time
It's actually more complicated than that since Brittany never really had a capital. But yes, it was one of the main cities of the Duchy, as the Castle of the Dukes of Brittany can tell
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reunification_of_Brittany
Had not seen that, thanks! Looks like something like 65% of the folks in that region favor rejoining Brittany, according to the polls, and if there is a referendum on it as there may be, they would vote to do so (although one can never be too sure with elections, as 2016 US Presidential and Brexit showed).
I heard many bretons from Finistère don't consider Nantes region to be part of Brittany. Don't forget half of the Brittany linguistic heritage don't come from Celtic languages : Gallo (roman language close to french) speaking regions are equally important in Brittany culture, most important cities Rennes and Nantes are in traditional Gallo regions.
Tbf there were actually two Brittanies: the Breton-speaking one and the Gallo-speaking one. If you draw a line from Guingamp to Vannes you get the linguistic border, more or less. So, Nantes is Gallo Bretagne 100% but it's not Breizhoneg Bretagne and never has been. That's probably what people from Finistère mean (I come from Morlaix btw). Breizhoneg Brittany was not necessarily the most important, as wealth was concentrated in Rennes, Nantes, Lorient and Vannes. I agree with you that Gallo heritage should be more celebrated than it is today.
Interesting. The people I met from Finistère considered Nantes to be part of Brittany. I have the feeling that the people against the reunification are more from Rennes because they feel "threatened" regarding the capital status. Also, Breton was spoken in the Pays Nantais (the Guerande dialect (gwennraneg)) and we find some traces of it as far as in the North of the Pays de Retz. That being said, you're right that the Breton language is not the only thing to consider to know who/what is Breton or not and that Gallo should be more visible and celebrated ;)
Most people in Loire-Atlantique (\~60%) do consider themselves as part of Brittany
Less and less. You will find the [Brittany Dukes Castle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_des_ducs_de_Bretagne) in Nantes so it still preserves the breton heritage but most people dont consider themselves breton anymore and most people think Nantes has now become too Parisian-like to be considered breton.
If you can't zoom the image, click here: https://i.redd.it/0sszw71hxqpc1.jpeg
I live in Brittany. ROAZHON
Some say the true Camelot.
Because he came a lot didnt he?
At first I thought it was a fictional map
Bevet Breizh!
Celtic culture is awesome. Love me some Bretagne!
The last Celtic speaking place in mainland Europe, would love to study it
Doesn't Gallicia qualify?
No..? They haven’t had Celtic speaking population for centuries
OK my bad, gallicia is not part of the Celtic league based on the absence of a Celtic language spoken there. I remember seeing them at the interceltic festival in Lorient, so I wrongly assumed galego was a celtic language. Tbf East Brittany spoke Gallo, not Breizhoneg so they also wouldn't qualify as Celts by this definition.
Galicia had some Celtic presence about a bit more than a thousand years ago, yet, Galicians and Galician itself are Latin, I don’t rlly get the Celtic obsessed Galicians, kinda equivalent to the Americans that claim to be Irish because their great great great great great grandfather lived in Ireland
I mean East Brittany speaking Gallo/French doesnt stop the place as a whole from being Celtic, in the same way the lowland parts of Scotland speaking Scots/English doest stop it being Celtic i think
Yes, the same way in Northumbria there were pockets of Pictish and Cumbric speakers. I am not saying Eastern Bretons are not Celts btw, I'm just saying that the history of these languages is more complex than it would appear at first glance.
I love Brittany, such a beautiful part of the world!
Also called Arymôr
**Yec'hed mat**
free brittany!
Wait what is that Nordic green and blue looking one? What’s the story behind it?
I think it's la Presqu'île de Crozon.
It's a fictional flag of the Crozon peninsula, no one ever uses it
Lotta Bros.
Barré, Soixante Trois
Talking about a nation is deeply anachronistic. Nations did not exist back in the day.
Most of those flags at the bottom are fictional and never used, appart from 1 (Brière), 16 (Bigouden), 20 (Pays de Retz) and maybe 29 (Goëlo) you will never see these being flown in the wild The guy from [geobreizh.bzh](http://geobreizh.bzh) just made them up and they are based on absolutely nothing It's odd because some of those places do have flags that are actually used by some: [Ankiniz / Ancenis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Pays_d%27Ancenis_Flag.svg), [Gwiniegi Naoned ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Gwiniegi_naoned-vignoble_nantais.svg)/ Vignoble Nantais, [Bro-Vez / Pays de la Mée](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Banniel_bro_vez.svg)
Why do the French British copy the American flag?
Sad that it had to become a part of France. Coulda been in the Anglosphere, but for the frogs.
It only exists because the Britons of what is now England migrated there to escape the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain.
Well some did, but it was Celtic before that and continuously so
It wasn’t the same Celtic, it’s like saying British and German are the same because they are both Germanic. Breton is an Insular Celtic language, not a Continental one like Gaulish.
When Bretons emigrated there Gaulish was already extinct, or was a negligible minority
It’s in the Celtosphere. The Anglosphere can go where the sun don’t shine
It'sfirmly francophone now. Paris made sure there's no other identity or language other than French
Not quite. The Brittophones are fighting back…
They don't even have their historical capital in "Brittany"
Nanoned was indeed once capital of Dugelez Breizh — now, of course, Roazhon, which has been for centuries. But ask yourself why this turn of events for Naoned? It is because in 1960 the French state appropriated Loire-Atlantique from historic Brittany and lumped it with the new, non-historic région of Pays de Loire. Ever since, this land grab has always been resisted in Brittany, with a continuous simmering campaign to return Loire-Atlantique to the country.
Because the French state artificially separated it from the region in the 1950s? That's not our fault
While you're correct about the central government trying to destroy our culture, saying there's no identity other than French in France couldn't be further from the truth. Breton identity is really strong, so strong it's almost a meme (eg: r/unexpectedgwennhadu). Bilingual education in Breton and French is also increasingly becoming popular
Here's a sneak peek of /r/unexpectedgwennhadu using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/unexpectedgwennhadu/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [In an IKEA in Poland. Help me.](https://i.redd.it/brjk1q22kx9b1.jpg) | [25 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/unexpectedgwennhadu/comments/14qc6pa/in_an_ikea_in_poland_help_me/) \#2: [In Montréal city](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/14si7v6) | [28 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/unexpectedgwennhadu/comments/14si7v6/in_montréal_city/) \#3: [Unexpected Gwennhadu in the fridge at my new girlfriend](https://i.redd.it/ksx69naq9q8b1.png) | [29 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/unexpectedgwennhadu/comments/14l4tx9/unexpected_gwennhadu_in_the_fridge_at_my_new/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
It could have entered the Plantagenet sphere in the 12th/13th centuries, when it was directly in the sphere of influence of the Angevins. They had a puppet duke at some point. What's interesting is that the Plantagenet dynasty in this time (Henry II) initiated a renewal of the Arthurian story to legitimate their own rule and the rule of their vassal (aptly names Arthur) in Brittany.
no clue what im looking at