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
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

Côtes-d'Armor (French pronunciation: [kot daʁmɔʁ]; Breton: Aodoù-an-Arvor), formerly known as Côtes-du-Nord, is a department in the north of Brittany, in northwestern France.

History

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1801	504,303	—
1821	552,424	+0.46%
1831	598,872	+0.81%
1841	607,572	+0.14%
1851	632,613	+0.40%
1861	628,676	−0.06%
1876	630,957	+0.02%
1881	627,585	−0.11%
1891	618,652	−0.14%
1901	609,349	−0.15%
1921	557,824	−0.44%
1936	532,000	−0.32%
1946	526,955	−0.10%
1954	503,178	−0.58%
1962	501,923	−0.03%
1968	506,000	+0.13%
1975	525,556	+0.54%
1982	538,860	+0.36%
1990	538,443	−0.01%
1999	542,398	+0.08%
2006	569,498	+0.70%
2016	598,953	+0.51%
source:

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.

Party groupings		seats
style="background-color: Template:Union for a Popular Movement/meta/color" |	Centre et droite républicaine	32
style="background-color: Template:Socialist Party (France)/meta/color" |	Socialiste et républicain	15
style="background-color: Template:French Communist Party/meta/color" |	Communiste et républicain	5
	non-party	2

Current National Assembly Representatives

Constituency		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:Democratic Movement (France)/meta/color" |	Côtes-d'Armor's 1st constituency	Bruno Joncour	MoDem
style="background-color: Template:En Marche!/meta/color" |	Côtes-d'Armor's 2nd constituency	Hervé Berville	La République En Marche!
style="background-color: Template:The Republicans (France)/meta/color" |	Côtes-d'Armor's 3rd constituency	Marc Le Fur	The Republicans
style="background-color: Template:En Marche!/meta/color" |	Côtes-d'Armor's 4th constituency	Yannick Kerlogot	La République En Marche!
style="background-color: Template:La République En Marche!/meta/color" |	Côtes-d'Armor's 5th constituency	Éric Bothorel	La République En Marche!

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

External links

• Template:Fr icon Prefecture website
• Template:Fr icon General Council website
• Template:En icon Cotes-d'Armor at Curlie
• Template:Fr icon Tourist board website