Morbihan

Morbihan
—  Department  —
Coat of arms
Location of Morbihan in France
Coordinates: 47°50′N 02°50′E / 47.833°N 2.833°E / 47.833; 2.833Coordinates: 47°50′N 02°50′E / 47.833°N 2.833°E / 47.833; 2.833
Country	France
Region	Brittany
Prefecture	Vannes
Subprefectures	Lorient Pontivy
Government
– President of the General Council	Joseph-François Kergueris
Area1
– Total	6,823 km2 (2,634.4 sq mi)
Population (2007)
– Total	702,487
– Rank	32nd
– Density	103/km2 (266.7/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
– Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	56
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	42
Communes	261
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Morbihan (French pronunciation: [mɔʁbi.ɑ̃]; Breton: Mor-Bihan) is a department in Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan (small sea in Breton), the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coastline.

History

Morbihan is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from a part of the Duchy of Brittany. It is the only French department which has no French name; Morbihan is in Breton. It is also the only department in France which has kept its original name.

Geography

Morbihan is part of the current region of Brittany and is surrounded by the departments of Finistère, Côtes-d'Armor, Ille-et-Vilaine, and Loire-Atlantique, and the Atlantic Ocean on the southwest.

The Gulf of Morbihan has many islands: 365 according to legend, but, in reality, between 30 and 40, according to how they are counted. There are also many islets which are too small to be built on. Of these islands, all but two are private: l'Île aux Moines and l'Île D'Arz. The others are privately owned, some by movie stars or fashion designers.

In the department of Morbihan, but outside the Gulf, there are four inhabited islands:

• Belle Île
• Groix
• Houat
• Hoëdic

• Meaban, just outside the Port du Crouesty is an ornithological reserve and it is forbidden to alight there.

Culture

The Breton language is an important issue, with many advocating bilingual education.

Art

The painter Raymond Wintz (1884–1956) depicted locations around the Gulf of Morbihan.

Tourism

• The megalithic alignments of Carnac are situated in Morbihan.
• Tourism office of Auray

See also

Brittany portal

• Cantons of the Morbihan department
• Communes of the Morbihan department
• Arrondissements of the Morbihan department
• La Baule - Guérande Peninsula

External links

• (French) Prefecture website
• (French) General Council website
• (English) Morbihan at the Open Directory Project
• (French) Cultural Heritage
• (French) Tourism website
• (English) Hiking in Morbihan