It became an independent kingdom and then a duchy before being united with the Kingdom of France in 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 , [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] retaining 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.
Its land area is 34, km 2 13, 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. Loire-Atlantique now belongs to the Pays de la Loire region while the other four departments make up the Brittany region. At the census, the population of historic Brittany was estimated to be 4,, In , the largest metropolitan areas were Nantes , inhabitants , Rennes , inhabitants , and Brest , inhabitants.
A nationalist movement seeks greater autonomy within the French Republic, or independence from it. 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.
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 the Garonne estuary. This term probably comes from a Gallic word, aremorica , which means "close to the sea". 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 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.
