Armorica in the context of "Brittany"

The Bretons (/ˈbrɛtɒnz, -ənz, -ɒ̃z/; Breton: Bretoned or Vretoned, Breton pronunciation: [breˈtɔ̃nɛt]) are an ethnic group native to Brittany, north-western France. Originally, the demonym designated groups of Brittonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain, particularly Cornwall and Devon, mostly during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. They migrated in waves from the 3rd to 9th century (most heavily from 450 to 600) to the west of Armorica. That western part of Armorica was subsequently named after them, as were the inhabitants.

The main traditional language of Brittany is Breton (Brezhoneg), spoken in Lower Brittany (i.e., the western part of the peninsula). Breton is spoken by around 206,000 people as of 2013. The other principal minority language of Brittany is Gallo, a Romance language; Gallo is spoken only in Upper Brittany, where Breton used to be spoken as well but it has seen a decline and has been less dominant in Upper Brittany since around the year 900. Currently, most Bretons' native language is standard French.

The Veneti (Latin: [ˈwɛnɛtiː], Gaulish: Uenetoi) were a Gallic tribe dwelling in Armorica, in the southern part of the Brittany Peninsula, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

A seafaring people, the Veneti strongly influenced southwestern Brittonic culture through trading relations with Great Britain. After they were defeated by Junius Brutus Albinus in a naval battle in 56 BC, their maritime commerce eventually declined under the Roman Empire, but a prosperous agricultural life is indicated by archaeological evidence.

The Variscan orogeny or Hercynian orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. It remains visible today as a series of isolated massifs, including the Ardennes, Bohemian Massif, Vosges-Black Forest, Armorican Massif, Cornubian Massif, Massif Central, and Iberian System. These are interspersed with Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary basins. The chain also crops out in southern Ireland and was later incorporated into the Alpine orogeny (external crystalline massifs) and Pyrenean orogeny. These ancient massifs form the pre-Permian basement of western and Central Europe, part of a larger mountain system stretching from the Ural Mountains in Russia to the Appalachian Mountains in North America.

The chain originated from the convergence and collision of three continental masses: the microcontinent Armorica and the supercontinents Protogondwana and Laurussia (a union of Laurentia and Baltica from the Caledonian orogeny). This convergence contributed to the formation of the supercontinent Pangaea.

48°00′N 3°00′W / 48.000°N 3.000°W / 48.000; -3.000

The history of Brittany may refer to the entire history of the Armorican peninsula or only to the creation and development of a specifically Brythonic culture and state in the Early Middle Ages and the subsequent history of that state.

Gwened, Bro-Gwened (Breton: Bro-Wened) or Vannetais (French: Pays Vannetais) is a historic realm and county of Brittany in France. It is considered part of Lower Brittany.

Bro-Gwened was an early medieval principality or kingdom around Vannes in Armorica (Brittany), lasting from around AD 490 to around 635. It was peopled by Christianized Britons fleeing the Saxon invasions of Britain, who displaced or assimilated the remaining pagan Veneti Gauls. Its bishop and (usually) court was at Gwened, the site of the former Roman settlement of Darioritum and the present French city of Vannes.

This is a list of rulers of Brittany. In different epochs the rulers of Brittany were kings, princes, and dukes. The Breton ruler was sometimes elected, sometimes attained the position by conquest or intrigue, or by hereditary right. Hereditary dukes were sometimes a female ruler, carrying the title duchesse of Brittany. Its principal cities and regions were ruled by counts who often found themselves in conflict with the Breton ruler, or who became the Breton ruler.

During the declining years of the Roman Empire, the earliest Breton rulers in Gaul were styled "kings" of the small realms of Cornouaille and Domnonée. Some such kings may have had a form of hegemony over all of the Brythonic populations in the Armorican peninsula, and Riothamus is called King of the Britons by the chronicler Jordanes. However, there are no certain rulers of the whole of Brittany, which was divided into the fiefdoms of local counts.