Finistère (Department, France)

Penn-ar-Bed

Last modified: 2003-07-05 by ivan sache
Keywords: finistere | penn-ar-bed | bretagne | lion (black) | ram (white) | general council | ermines: 5 (black) |
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by Jaume Ollé

Flag of the General Council

• Administrative data
• Flag of the General Council

See also:

• France
• France: Metropolitan departments
• Clickable map of France (departments)
• Finistère (Department, France): Municipal flags
  • Brest
  • Audierne
  • Concarneau
  • Fouesnant
  • Guerlesquin
  • Le Juch
  • Kerlouan
  • Landivisiau
  • Plomelin
  • Ushant (Ouessant)
• Finistère (Department, France): Yacht club burgees

Administrative data

Code: 29
Region: Bretagne
Traditional provinces: Bretagne (traditional Breton provinces of Cornouaille and Léon, traditional district of Pays Bigouden)
Bordering departments: Côtes-d'Armor, Morbihan

Area: 6,733 km²
Population (1995): 840,600 inhabitants

Préfecture: Quimper
Sous-préfectures: Brest, Châteaulin, Morlaix
Subdivisions: 4 arrondissements, 52 cantons, 283 communes.

The department is named after its geographical location, at land's end (Finis Terrae, in Latin).

Flag of the General Council

Lower inscription Penn-ar-Bed means in Breton land's end.
Upper part of shield is ermine (traditional heraldic Breton symbol)
Lower left is a lion (Northern part of Finistère is province of Léon)
Lower right is a ram, for Breton Cornwall (Southern part of Finistère).

Armand Noël du Payrat, 7 April 1997

Penn-ar-Bed is cognate with Welsh pen y byd, Irish ceann an bheatha and Scots Gaelic ceann na bithe, all of which mean end of the earth.

Vincent Morley, 7 April 1997