Côtes-d'Armor

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Côtes-d'Armor

Coat of arms of the Côtes-d'Armor department
Location

Administration
Department number:	22
Region:	Bretagne
Prefecture:	Saint-Brieuc
Subprefectures:	Dinan Guingamp Lannion
Arrondissements:	4
Cantons:	52
Communes:	373
President of the General Council:	Claudy Lebreton PS
Statistics
Population	Ranked 43rd
-1999	542,373
Population density:	79/km²
Land area¹:	6878 km²

¹ French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km².

Côtes-d'Armor (Breton:Aodoù-an-Arvor) is a department in the north of Brittany, in northwestern France.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Demographics
4 Culture
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

Côtes-du-Nord was one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Brittany. Its name was changed in 1990 to Côtes-d'Armor (ar mor meaning by the sea in Breton). The name also has a historical connotation recalling the Roman province of Armorica.

[edit] Geography

Côte-d'Armor is part of the current administrative region of Bretagne and is surrounded by the departments of Finistère, Morbihan, and Ille-et-Vilaine, with the English Channel on the north.

[edit] Demographics

The inhabitants of the department are called Costarmoricains.

[edit] Culture

The western part of the département is part of the tradititionally Breton-speaking "Lower Brittany" (Breizh-Isel 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.