Armorica or Aremorica is the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul that includes the Brittany peninsula and the territory between the Seine and Loire rivers, extending inland to an indeterminate point and down the Atlantic coast. It is based on the Gaulish phrase "are mori" "on/at [the] sea", made into the Gaulish place name Aremorica 'Place by the Sea'. In Breton (which with Welsh and Cornish are the living representatives of Gaulish), 'on [the] sea' is 'war vor' (Welsh 'ar for'), though the older form 'arvor' is used to refer to the coastal regions of Brittany, in contrast to 'argoad' (ar 'on/at', coad 'forest' [Welsh 'ar goed' ('coed' forest)] for the inland regions. This modern use suggests that the Romans first contacted coastal people in Britanny and assumed that the regional name Aremorica referred to the whole area, seaside and inland. Map of Gaul circa 58 BC Gaul (from Latin Gallia, c. ... Traditional coat of arms This article is about the historical duchy and French province, as well as the cultural area of Brittany. ... Peninsula A peninsula (Latin, literally meaning almost island) is a geographical formation consisting of an extension of land from a larger body, surrounded by water on three sides. ... This article is about the river in France. ... The Loire is wide; here in Orléans, half of it is shown, up to a dividing half-flooded island. ...

The Irish form is 'ar mhuir', the Manx is 'er vooir', and the Scottish form 'air mhuir', however in these languages the phrase means 'on the sea', as opposed to 'ar thír' or 'ar thalamh/ar thalúin (er heer/er haloo, air thìr/air thalamh) 'on the land'.

Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (2.17.105), claims that Armorica was the older name for Aquitania, stating Armorica's southern boundary extended to the Pyrenees. Taking into account the Gaulish origin of the name, this is perfectly correct and logical, as Aremorica is not a 'country name', but a word that describes a type of geographical region - a region that is by the sea. Pliny lists the following Celtic tribes as living in the Brittany peninsula: the Aedui and Carnuteni as having treaties with Rome; the Neldi and Secusiani as having some measure of independence; and the Boii, Senones, Aulerci (both the Eburovices and Cenomani), the Parisii, Tricases, Andicavi, Viducasses, Bodiocasses, Venelli, Coriosvelites, Diablinti, Rhedones, Turones, and the Atseui. Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19c portrait. ... Naturalis Historia Pliny the Elders Natural History is an encyclopedia written by Pliny the Elder. ... Capital Bordeaux Area 41,309 km² Regional President Alain Rousset ( PS) (since 1998) Population   - 2004 estimate   - 1999 census   - Density (Ranked 6th) 3,049,000 2,908,359 74/km² (2004) Arrondissements 18 Cantons 235 Communes 2,296 Départements Dordogne Gironde Landes Lot-et-Garonne Pyrénées-Atlantiques Aquitaine... Central Pyrenees The Pyrenees (French: Pyrénées; Spanish: Pirineos; Occitan: Pirenèus or Pirenèas; Catalan Pirineus; Aragonese: Perinés; Basque: Pirinioak) are a range of mountains in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain. ... This is a list of Celtic tribes with their geographical localization. ... Aedui, Haedui or Hedui (Gr. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni (Left-Wing Democrats) Area  - City Proper  1290 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,546,807 almost 4,000,000 1... A map of Gaul showing the relative position of the Boii tribe. ... The Senones were a Celtic people of Gallia Celtica, who in the time of Julius Caesar inhabited the district which now includes the departments of Seine-et-Marne, Loiret and Yonne. ... The Cenomani were a a branch of the Aulerci in Gallia Celtica, whose territory corresponded generally to Maine in the modern départment of Sarthe. ... The Parisii (or Quarisii) were a Celtic Iron Age people that lived on the banks of the river Seine (in Latin, Sequana) in Gaul from the middle of the third century B.C. until the Roman era. ... The Viducasses were one of the Gaulish people. ... The Turones were a Celtic tribe of pre-Roman Gaul. ...

Trade between Armorica and Britain, described by Diodorus Siculus and implied by Pliny [1] was long-established. Because, even after the campaign of Crassus in 57 BC, continued resistance to Roman rule in Armorica was still being supported by Celtic aristocrats in Britain, Julius Caesar led two invasions of Britain in 55 and 54 in response. Some hint of the complicated cultural web that bound Armorica and the Britanniae (the "Britains" of Pliny) is given by Caesar when he describes Diviciacus of the Suessiones, as "the most powerful ruler in the whole of Gaul, who had control not only over a large area of this region but also of Britain (De Bello Gallico ii.4). Archaeological sites along the south coast of England, notably at Hengistbury Head, show connections with Armorica as far east as the Solent. This 'prehistoric' connection of Cornwall and Brittany remained very close as long as Cornish (a dialect of Breton) was spoken. Still farther East, however, the typical Continental connections of the Britannic coast were with the lower Seine valley instead. Diodorus Siculus was a Greek historian, born at Agyrium in Sicily (now called Agira, in the Province of Enna). ... Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC 70s BC 60s BC - 50s BC - 40s BC 30s BC 20s BC 10s BC 0s BC Years: 62 BC 61 BC 60 BC 59 BC 58 BC 57 BC 56 BC 55 BC 54... Gaius Julius Caesar (Classical Latin: IMP·C·IVLIVS·CAESAR·DIVVS) (b. ... Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC 70s BC 60s BC - 50s BC - 40s BC 30s BC 20s BC 10s BC 0s BC Years: 60 BC 59 BC 58 BC 57 BC 56 BC 55 BC 54 BC 53 BC 52... Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC 70s BC 60s BC - 50s BC - 40s BC 30s BC 20s BC 10s BC 0s BC Years: 59 BC 58 BC 57 BC 56 BC 55 BC 54 BC 53 BC 52 BC 51... De Bello Gallico (literally On the Gallic Wars in Latin) is an account written by Julius Caesar about his nine years of war in Gaul. ... Hengistbury Head is a headland jutting into the English Channel between Bournemouth and Christchurch in the English county of Dorset. ... Satellite image showing the Solent, separating the Isle of Wight from mainland Britain The Solent is a stretch of sea separating the Isle of Wight from the mainland of Great Britain. ...

Archeology has not yet been as enlightening in Iron-Age Armorica as the coinage, which has been surveyed by Philip de Jersey (Coinage in Iron Age Armorica 1994, vol 2 of Studies in Celtic Coinage).

Under the Roman Empire, Armorica was administered as part of the province of Gallia Lugdunensis, which had its capital in Lyons. When the Roman provinces were reorganized in the 4th century, Armorica was placed under the second and third divisions of Lugdunensis. After the legions retreated from Britannia (407) the local elite there expelled the civilian magistrates in the following year; Armorica too rebelled in the 430s and again in the 440s, throwing out the ruling officials, as the Romano-Britons had done. The "Brittany" peninsula came to be settled with British from Britain during the poorly documented period of the 5th-7th centuries. These settlers, whether refugees or not, made their presence felt in the naming of the westernmost, Atlantic-facing provinces of Armorica, Cornouaille ("Cornwall") and Domnonea ("Devon"). These settlements are associated with leaders like Saints Samson of Dol and Pol Aurelian, among the "founder saints" of Brittany. The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Ancient Roman polity in the centuries following its reorganization under the leadership of Octavian (better known as Caesar Augustus), until its radical reformation in what was later to be known as the Byzantine Empire. ... Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis, 120 AD Gallia Lugdunensis was a province of the Roman Empire roughly encompassing the regions of Brittany, Normandy and the area around Lutetia Parisiorum (Paris) in what is now the modern country of France. ... City motto: Avant, avant, Lion le melhor. ... Map of the Roman Empire, with the provinces, after 120 AD. In Ancient Rome, a province (Latin, provincia, pl. ... (3rd century - 4th century - 5th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 4th century was that century which lasted from 301 to 400. ... Centuries: 4th century - 5th century - 6th century Decades: 380s - 390s - 400s - 410s - 420s - 430s - 440s - 450s - 460s - 470s - 480s Years: 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 Events: Buddhagosha writes the Visuddhimagga in Sri Lanka (approximate date). ... Centuries: 4th century - 5th century - 6th century Decades: 390s - 400s - 410s - 420s - 430s - 440s - 450s - 460s - 470s - 480s - 490s Years: 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 Events Armorica rebels against the Roman empire. ... Motto: Onan hag oll (Cornish: One and all) Cornwall, England Geography Status Ceremonial and (smaller) Non-metropolitan county Region South West England Area - Total - Admin. ... The inner harbour, Brixham, south Devon, at low tide Devon is a large county in South West England, bordering on Cornwall to the west, Dorset and Somerset to the east. ... Samson of Dol (born 486?) was a Christian religious figure of the fifth century. ... Pol Aurelian (also Pol de Léon, Paulinus Aurelianus, or Paol) is a Celtic saint. ...

Questions of the relations between the Celtic languages of Britain— Cornish and Welsh— and Celtic Breton are far from settled. Martin Henig (review, 2003) suggests that in Armorica as in sub-Roman Britain, "there was a fair amount of creation of identity in the migration period. We know that the mixed, but largely British and Frankish population of Kent repackaged themselves as 'Jutes', and the largely British populations in the lands east of Dumnonia (Devon and Cornwall) seem to have ended up as 'West Saxons'. In western Armorica the small elite which managed to impose an identity on the population happened to be British rather than 'Gallo-Roman' in origin, so they became Bretons. The process may have been essentially the same." However, his arguments are rather from someone looking back from now to the past rather than looking at the past in its own terms. There is plenty of evidence in the languages and so on of much continuity in those British-speaking areas from before Roman periods. The Cornish language (in Cornish: Kernowek, Kernewek, Curnoack) is one of the Brythonic group of Celtic languages that includes Welsh, Breton, the extinct Cumbric and perhaps the hypothetical Ivernic. ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ... Breton (Brezhoneg) is a Celtic language spoken by some of the inhabitants of Brittany in France. ... Sub-Roman Britain is a term derived from an archaeologists label for the culture of Britain in Late Antiquity. ... Human migration denotes any movement of groups of people from one locality to another, rather than of individual wanderers. ... The Jutes were a Germanic people who are believed to have originated from Jutland in modern Denmark and part of the Frisian coast. ...

With western Armorica already evolved into Brittany, when Vikings or Northmen settled in the Cotentin peninsula and the lower Seine around Rouen in the 9th and early 10th centuries, and these regions came to be known as Normandy, the name Armorica fell out of use. The name Viking is a borrowed word from the native Scandinavian term for the Norse warriors who raided the coasts of Scandinavia, the British Isles, and other parts of Europe from the late 8th century to the 11th century. ... Northmen was a common term for the Vikings, famously used in the prayer From the fury of the Northmen deliver us, O Lord!, doubtfully attributed to monks of the English monasteries plundered by Viking raids in the 8th and 9th centuries. ... The Cotentin Peninsula juts out into the English Channel from Normandy towards England, forming part of the north-west coast of France. ... Location within France Rouen (pronounced in French, sometimes also ) is the historical capital city of Normandy, in northern France, and presently the capital of the Upper Normandy région. ... Mont Saint Michel is a historic pilgrimage site and a symbol of Normandy Normandy is a geographical region in northern France. ...

External links

• Barry Cunliffe, "Britain and the Continent : Networks of interaction"
• Martin Henig, review in British Archaeology 72 (September 2003)
• An Tour Tan- Dorioù Breizh – Breton culture and traditions
• Gouelioù Breizh - Breton events
• Skingomz e Breizh – Breton broadcasting - e brezhoneg hag e galleg - in breton and french
• Sevenadur ha gizioù Breizh e saozneg - Breton culture and traditions in english
• Skol uhel ar vro – High Institute of Brittany - Ti Istor Breizh – The house for the History of Brittany
• Ofis ar brezhoneg - Breton language office
• Banniel Breizh – Brittany’s flag
• Personelezh Breizh e saozneg - Breton identity in english
• Keleier Breizh – Brittany’s news*
• Keleier diwar-benn Breizh – News about Brittany
• Dorioù Breizh - Breton culture
• Douaroniezh Breizh – Geography of Brittany