We spoke a lot about Breton before and Lughaidh (well known in this site) being a true Breton man , I come and just report this little story .
I heard this morning on TV that a riot was going on about one "département" (roughly = district)in France (where I'm living).
All the problem was about the district of "Loire Atlantique" ("Loire" is because the river "Loire" is the main river in this district and "Atlantique" is because this district is situated along the Atlantic ocean). By the way, this "département" was called before "Loire Inférieure" .
A long time ago, this district belonged to Brittany but I don't know what it was called. Its "chef lieu" (main town) is called "Nantes" of which the Breton name is "Naoned".
The riot goes on about some inhabitants wanting to change the name and be attached to Brittany and be considered as true Bretons. But , of course, some inhabitants want to stay as they are , that's to say inhabitants of the "Pays de Loire" ("river Loire Land").
This is going to become a real problem and there's gonna be a vote about that .

I just wanted to report and make a wink .
Even if it's not so serious as what's been going on for Irish, it's funny to see that it's just always the same story all over the world.
What do you think of that Lughaidh? is Nantes in Brittany or in Pays de Loire . I'd like to have the opinion of a true Breton.

Qu'est-ce que tu en penses?
Peut-être habites-tu d'ailleurs en Loire Atlantique ? Penses-tu que ce département soit un département des Pays de Loire ou bien de Bretagne ?
Les gens étaient très catégoriques ce matin, mais aussi bien dans un camp comme dans l'autre .

Just a wink .

Lughaidh has problems with his computer at the moment, hopefully he will be back in time to see this thread.

Tchífidh mé thú

Historically, it is Brittany since the castle of the Dukes of Brittany is in Nantes... And Breton was spoken in a village of Northwestern Loire-Atlantique till the beginning of the 20th century.
Now I think the inhabitants of Loire Atlantique should be asked if they want to be again a part of Brittany or not.
By the way, the "pays de Loire" are not a historical region, just a group of departments put together "by chance". The Loire-Atlantique is a part of the Pays de Loire only since the 1940s, if I remember well.

Another question I can't answer : what will change if the Loire-Atlantique becomes again a part of Brittany ? Will it be better or worse than now ? I don't know (I don't master that subject - I work on linguistics, not on history, politics or geography...).

Now if the Loire-Atlantique becomes again a part of Brittany there may be another problem : Brittany will have two capitals (Rennes and Nantes), and the pays de Loire won't have any capital anymore (or it will be a much smaller town than Nantes)...

So it's not that simple.

I worked in Maine-et-Loire years ago, not too far from there. Lovely country France...

I met a Breton lad who was working as a barman on Oileán Cléire last July.He thought Brittany extended much further south in the past.Spoke of Loire Atlantique and also (I think) La Vendée.He didn't quite claim Bordeaux,but Breton nationalism is alive and well!

I don't know if the Vendée was ever a part of Brittany. Not sure. Brittany extended further northeast in the Middle Ages (it included parts of Normandy and Anjou), though.
Breton nationalism is alive but it represents a very small minority of the Breton population.

Go raibh maith agaibh, a chairde!
Thanks to you Trigger to warn me about Lughaidh's computer . I've had trouble with mine too, that's why I was long to answer.
And of course thanks to you Lughaidh for your precisions. I hadn't thought of this problem of having two capitals .
I am practically certain , being not very far from Vendée (and knowing a lot of people from there) that it has never been part of Brittany . But I could be wrong! I'm not a historian .
About Breton nationalism : I happen to know some Breton families in my region .I can say they are proud of being such but nevertheless they cannot speak a word of Breton. On the contrary, I had a French teacher when I was in my last grade just before taking my Baccalaureat who was pure Breton and who had taught us many words in Breton (just before the french exam!)I remember him shouting at us in Breton !
I'm due to go to Brest in one month or so , so I'll have another sight of this nationalism in a little while.

Bearn, what about coming in Poitou , just a little bit beneath Maine-et-Loire ?

Thanks to you all.

I asked a friend of mine (who teaches history) and he told me that the northern part of the Vendée was once a part of Brittany (I think at the beginning of the Middle Ages).

Most Breton nationalists can't speak Breton anyway, and almost all native speakers of Breton don't care a damn about politics, especially about Breton nationalism. Strangely enough, most Breton nationalists are French speakers, from towns, middle-class ; many of them are interested in Breton but don't speak it or they've had lessons etc, but most of them are not fluent and almost none of them is a native speaker. The situation is strange and complicated...

I bit like Irish in Ireland -I think we can relate...

But the Irish language is in a better situation than Breton... Ireland is independent, Brittany isn't, so I think these 2 countries can't really be compared...

Ní gá neamhspleáchas chun go n-éirí le teanga neamhfhorleathan--féach ar an mBreatnais, mar sampla, nó ar an gCatalóinis. Is í an deifir tháchtach ná an easpa aitheantais oifigiúil.

But we were talking about Breton nationalism. Breton nationalists don't only want Breton to become official, they want Brittany to become independent too. The situation cannot be compared, French history is very different from Irish and British history too.