About Brest, France

[Chair _Geosco]

Brest, city (1990 pop. 153,099), Finistère dept., NW France, on an
inlet of the Atlantic Ocean. It is a commercial port, an important
naval station, and the seat of the French Naval Academy. There is a
national engineering school in Brest and nearby is the Oceanographic
Center of Brittany. Electronics equipment, metals, paper, and clothing
are the chief manufactures. The city dates from Gallo-Roman times. The
spacious, landlocked harbor was created in 1631 by Cardinal Richelieu
as a military base and arsenal. In 1683, during the reign of Louis
XIV, Marshal Vauban built the ramparts and a castle. The French
repulsed the English in 1694 off Brest; in 1794 the English, under
Lord Howe, defeated the French fleet. During World War II the Germans
had a huge submarine base at Brest. Their heavily fortified submarine
pens showed few cracks under Allied air raids; but the city itself was
almost completely destroyed. The German garrison capitulated to U.S.
troops in 1944 [source: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition,
2008].

_Images of Brest_:
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&biw=1680&bih=856&q=brest+france&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

_Videos of Brest_:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1680&bih=856&q=brest%20france&gbv=2&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbs=vid:1&source=og&sa=N&tab=iv

_Hotels of Brest_:
http://www.hotel.info/Search.aspx?hs_lnh=17&lng=EN&hs_destination=Brest&cpnll=371&hs_ltype=1&hs_locationnr=65715&cpn=46&hs_mpl=65086&hs_llong=-4%2c48923468589782&hs_circum=0&hs_validate=2&oc=es-ES&hs_landisoa3=FRA&hs_llat=48%2c3977031724214

_Weather of Brest_: http://www.webcamgalore.com/EN/webcam/France/Brest/289.html

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