Côtes-d'Armor

Côtes-d'Armor
Department
The departmental council and prefectural building in Saint-Brieuc
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Côtes-d'Armor in France
Coordinates: 48°20′N 02°50′W / 48.333°N 2.833°W / 48.333; -2.833Coordinates: 48°20′N 02°50′W / 48.333°N 2.833°W / 48.333; -2.833
Country	France
Region	Brittany
Prefecture	Saint-Brieuc
Subprefectures	Dinan Guingamp Lannion
Government
• President of the departmental council	Alain Cadec (LR)
Area 1
• Total	6,878 km2 (2,656 sq mi)
Population  (2016)
• Total	598,953
• Rank	43rd
• Density	87/km2 (230/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Department number	22
Arrondissements	4
Cantons	27
Communes	348
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

The Côtes-d'Armor (/koʊt dɑːrmər/, /-dɑːrmɔːr/; French pronunciation: [kot daʁmɔʁ] (listen); Breton: Aodoù-an-Arvor, pronounced [ˈoːdu ãn ˈarvor]), formerly known as Côtes-du-Nord (Breton: Aodoù-an-Hanternoz), are a department in the north of Brittany, in northwestern France.

History[]

Côtes-du-Nord was one of the original 83 departments created on 4 March 1790 following the French Revolution. It was made up from the near entirety of the ancient Pays de Saint-Brieuc, most of historical Trégor, the eastern half of Cornouaille, and the north-western part of the former diocese of Saint-Malo.

In 1990 the name was changed to Côtes-d'Armor: the French word côtes means "coasts" and ar mor is "the sea" in Breton. The name also recalls that of the Roman province of Armorica ("the coastal region").

Geography[]

Côtes-d'Armor is part of the current administrative region of Brittany and is bounded by the departments of Ille-et-Vilaine to the east, Morbihan to the south, and Finistère to the west, and by the English Channel to the north.

Demonym[]

The inhabitants of the department are known in French as Costarmoricains.

Politics[]

Côtes-d'Armor's long tradition of anti-clericalism, especially in the interior around Guingamp (a former Communist stronghold), has often led to the department's being seen as an area of left-wing exceptionalism in an otherwise strongly clerical and right-wing Brittany. The current president of the departmental council, Alain Cadec, is nevertheless a member of the centre-right party, Les Républicains.

Current National Assembly Representatives[]

Culture[]

The western part of the département is part of the traditionally Breton-speaking "Lower Brittany" (Breizh-Izel in Breton). The boundary runs from Plouha to Mûr-de-Bretagne. The Breton language has become an intense issue in many parts of Brittany, and many Breton-speakers advocate for bilingual schools. Gallo is also spoken in the east and is offered as a language in the schools and on the baccalaureat exams.

Gallery[]

• 

  Paimpol

• 

  Perros-Guirec

• 

  Fort-la-Latte

• 

  Cap Fréhel

• 

  Castel Meur house in Plougrescant

• 

  Statue of Bertrand du Guesclin in Dinan

Notable people[]

• Anne Beaumanoir (b. 1923), one of the Righteous Among the Nations, was born in Guildo.
• English-born poet Robert William Service (1874–1958), known as the "Bard of the Yukon", is buried in Lancieux.

See also[]

• Cantons of the Côtes-d'Armor department
• Communes of the Côtes-d'Armor department
• Arrondissements of the Côtes-d'Armor department

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Côtes-d'Armor.

• (in French) Prefecture website
• (in French) General Council website
• (in English) Cotes-d'Armor at Curlie
• (in French) Tourist board website