1.
Calvados (department)
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Calvados is a department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the English Channel coast, Calvados is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from a part of the province of Normandy. The name Orne inférieure was originally proposed for the department, one popular legend ascribes its etymology to the Salvador, a ship from the Spanish Armada that sank by the rocks near Arromanches-les-bains in 1588. It is more likely, however, that the name Calvados was derived from calva dorsa, meaning bare backs, after the allied victory at Waterloo the department was occupied by Prussian troops between June 1815 and November 1818. On 6 June 1944, the Allied forces landed on the beaches of the Bay of the Seine in what known as the Battle of Normandy. Calvados belongs to the region of Normandy and is surrounded by the departments of Seine-Maritime, Eure, Orne, to the north is the Baie de la Seine, part of the English Channel. On the east, the Seine River forms the boundary with Seine-Maritime, Calvados includes the Bessin area, the Pays dAuge and the area known as the Suisse normande. The most notable places in Calvados include Deauville and the formerly elegant 19th-century casino resorts of the coast, agriculture dominates the economy of Calvados. The area is known for producing butter, cheese, cider and Calvados, the President of the General Council is the centrist Jean-Léonce Dupont, the former dominant figure of the right and centre in the department. The Conseil General of Calvados and Devon County Council signed a Twinning Charter in 1971 to develop links with the English county of Devon, the inhabitants of Calvados are called Calvadosiens and Calvadosiennes. In 1999, Calvados had 648,299 inhabitants, making it the 30th most populated French department, Juno Beach Centre at Courseulles-sur-Mer, Calvados, commemorates the D-Day landing of the Canadian liberation forces at Juno Beach during World War II in 1944. The cult of Saint Thérèse de Lisieux brings large numbers of people on pilgrimage to Lisieux, every September, Deauville hosts the Festival of the American Movie and the beach resort of Cabourg hosts the Festival of the Romantic Movie. Annually, the city of Caen celebrates the festival of the electronical cultures called Nordik Impakt & The festival of Beauregard, the local dialect of the Norman language is known as Augeron. It is spoken by a minority of the population, the culinary specialties from the verdant countryside of Calvados are abundant, cider, calvados, camembert and Pont-lÉvêque cheeses. One of the advantage of Calvados is to be fairly near large urban centers, Calvados is therefore often preferred for holidays and for weekends and sometimes considered as the countryside of Paris. Calvados, via the port of Ouistreham, is an entrance to the continent from Britain, there are two airports, Caen-Carpiquet and Deauville-Saint Gatien. The department of Calvados has several popular tourist areas, the Bessin, the Plain of Caen, the Bocage Virois, the Côte de Nacre, the Côte Fleurie, several beaches of Calvados are popular for water sports, including Cabourg and Merville-Franceville-Plage
2.
Brandy
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Brandy is a spirit produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume and is taken as an after-dinner drink. Some brandies are aged in casks, some are coloured with caramel colouring to imitate the effect of aging. In broader sense, the term also denotes liquors obtained from distillation of pomace or mash or wine of any other fruit. These products are also named eaux-de-vie, varieties of wine brandy can be found across the winemaking world. Among the most renowned are Cognac and Armagnac from Southwestern France, the origins of brandy were clearly tied to the development of distillation. While the process was known in times, it wasnt used for significant beverage production until the 15th century. Initially wine was distilled as a method and as a way to make it easier for merchants to transport. It is also thought that wine was distilled to lessen the tax which was assessed by volume. The intent was to add the water removed by distillation back to the brandy shortly before consumption and it was discovered that after having been stored in wooden casks, the resulting product had improved over the original distilled spirit. Non-volatile substances such as pigments, sugars, and salts remained behind in the still, as a result, the taste of the distillate was often quite unlike that of the original source. This liquor, distilled only once, was called spirit of wine or brandy, purified by another distillation, this was then called spirit of wine rectified. The second distillation was made in balneo mariae and in a glass cucurbit, and this was further rectified—as long as the operator thought necessary—to produce brandy. To shorten these several distillations, which were long and troublesome, to test the purity of the rectified spirit of wine, a portion was ignited. If the entire contents were consumed by a fire without leaving any impurities behind, another, better test involved putting a little gunpowder in the bottom of the spirit. If the gunpowder could ignite after the spirit was consumed by fire, as most brandies have been distilled from grapes, the regions of the world producing excellent brandies have roughly paralleled those areas producing grapes for viniculture. In 1884, David Sarajishvili founded his brandy factory in Tbilisi, Georgia, a crossroads for Turkish, Central Asian, and Persian trade routes and a part of the Russian Empire at the time. The storehouses of the Romanov Court in St. Petersburg were regarded as the largest collections of cognacs, the Russian market was always a huge brandy-consuming region in which home-grown varieties were common but much of it was imported
3.
Normandy
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Normandy is one of the regions of France, roughly corresponding to the historical Duchy of Normandy. Administratively, Normandy is divided into five departments, Calvados, Eure, Manche, Orne and it covers 30,627 km², forming roughly 5% of the territory of France. Its population of 3.37 million accounts for around 5% of the population of France, Normans is the name given to the inhabitants of Normandy, and the region is the homeland of the Norman language. The historical region of Normandy comprised the region of Normandy, as well as small areas now part of the départements, or departments of Mayenne. For a century and a following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, Normandy and England were linked by Norman. Archaeological finds, such as paintings, prove that humans were present in the region in prehistoric times. Celts invaded Normandy in successive waves from the 4th to the 3rd century BC, when Julius Caesar invaded Gaul, there were nine different Celtic tribes living in Normandy. The Romanisation of Normandy was achieved by the methods, Roman roads. Classicists have knowledge of many Gallo-Roman villas in Normandy, in the late 3rd century, barbarian raids devastated Normandy. Coastal settlements were raided by Saxon pirates, Christianity also began to enter the area during this period. In 406, Germanic tribes began invading from the east, while the Saxons subjugated the Norman coast, the Roman Emperor withdrew from most of Normandy. As early as 487, the area between the River Somme and the River Loire came under the control of the Frankish lord Clovis, the Vikings started to raid the Seine Valley during the middle of the 9th century. As early as 841, a Viking fleet appeared at the mouth of the Seine, after attacking and destroying monasteries, including one at Jumièges, they took advantage of the power vacuum created by the disintegration of Charlemagnes empire to take northern France. The fiefdom of Normandy was created for the Norwegian Viking leader Hrólfr Ragnvaldsson, Rollo had besieged Paris but in 911 entered vassalage to the king of the West Franks, Charles the Simple, through the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. In exchange for his homage and fealty, Rollo legally gained the territory which he, the name Normandy reflects Rollos Viking origins. The descendants of Rollo and his followers adopted the local Gallo-Romance language and they became the Normans – a Norman-speaking mixture of Saxons and indigenous Franks and Celts. Besides the Norman conquest of England and the subsequent conquests of Wales and Ireland, Norman families, such as that of Tancred of Hauteville, Rainulf Drengot and Guimond de Moulins played important parts in the Norman conquest of southern Italy and Crusades. They also carved out a place for themselves and their descendants in the Crusader states of Asia Minor, the 14th century Norman explorer Jean de Béthencourt established a kingdom in the Canary Islands
4.
Regions of France
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France is divided into 18 administrative regions, including 13 metropolitan regions and 5 overseas regions. The current legal concept of region was adopted in 1982, the term région was officially created by the Law of Decentralisation, which also gave regions their legal status. The first direct elections for representatives took place on 16 March 1986. In 2016, the number of regions was reduced from 27 to 18 through amalgamation, in 2014, the French parliament passed a law reducing the number of metropolitan regions from 22 to 13 with effect from 1 January 2016. However, the region of Upper and Lower Normandy is simply called Normandy. Permanent names were to be proposed by the new regional councils by 1 July 2016, the legislation defining the new regions also allowed the Centre region to officially change its name to Centre-Val de Loire with effect from January 2015. Two regions, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, opted to retain their interim names, between 1982 and 2015, there were 22 regions in Metropolitan France. Before 2011, there were four regions, in 2011 Mayotte became the fifth. Regions lack separate legislative authority and therefore cannot write their own statutory law and they levy their own taxes and, in return, receive a decreasing part of their budget from the central government, which gives them a portion of the taxes it levies. They also have considerable budgets managed by a council made up of representatives voted into office in regional elections. A regions primary responsibility is to build and furnish high schools, in March 2004, the French central government unveiled a controversial plan to transfer regulation of certain categories of non-teaching school staff to the regional authorities. Critics of this plan contended that tax revenue was insufficient to pay for the costs. In addition, regions have considerable power over infrastructural spending, e. g. education, public transit, universities and research. This has meant that the heads of regions such as Île-de-France or Rhône-Alpes can be high-profile positions. Number of regions controlled by each coalition since 1986, Overseas region is a recent designation, given to the overseas departments that have similar powers to those of the regions of metropolitan France. Radio France Internationale in English Overseas regions Ministère de lOutre-Mer some explanations about the past and current developments of DOMs and TOMs
5.
8th century
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The 8th century is the period from 701 to 800 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Common Era. In the Middle East, the coast of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula quickly come under Islamic Arab domination, the westward expansion of the Arab Empire was famously halted at the Siege of Constantinople by the Byzantine Empire and the Battle of Tours by the Franks. The tide of Arab conquest came to an end in the middle of the 8th century, in Europe, late in the century, the Vikings, seafaring peoples from Scandinavia, begin raiding the coasts of Europe and the Mediterranean, and go on to found several important kingdoms. In Asia, the Pala Empire is founded in Bengal, the Tang dynasty reaches its pinnacle under Chinese Emperor Xuanzong. The Nara period begins in Japan, estimated century in which the poem Beowulf is composed. Classical Maya civilization begins to decline, the first Serbian state is formed at the beginning of the century. Borobodur, the famous Indonesian Buddhist structure, begins construction, probably as a non-Buddhist shrine, Buddhist Jataka stories are translated into Syriac and Arabic as Kalilag and Damnag. An account of Buddhas life is translated into Greek by Saint John of Damascus, height of the Classic period in pre-Columbian Maya civilization history. Śāntideva, a Buddhist monk at Nalanda Monastery in India, composes the famous Bodhicharyāvatāra, the height of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xian, China is extended by 5 stories. 701, The Taihō Code is enacted in late Asuka period Japan,705, Overthrow of Empress Wu Zetian, the reign of Chinas first and only sole-ruling empress ends. 705, Justinian II is forced to give the title Caesar of Byzantium to the Bulgarian Emperor Tervel, the Byzantine Empire begins to pay annual tributes to Bulgaria. 708 –711, The Bulgarians defeat Justinian II at the battle of Anchiallus,710, Empress Genmei moves the capital to Heijō-kyū, initiating the Nara period of Japan. 711, Palenque is conquered by Toniná,711, Tariq ibn Ziyad crosses the Straits of Gibraltar. With the creation of Al-Andalus, most of the Iberian Peninsula is conquered by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule,712, Liutprand, King of the Lombards begins his reign. 712, Metropolitan episcopal see is established by the Assyrian Church in Chinese capital of Changan,712 –756, Emperor Xuanzong reigned, the time was considered one of Chinas high points. 712 –740, Caliphate campaigns in India 713, Death of Dajian Huineng, sixth,717 –718, Siege of Constantinople. The Bulgarians and the Byzantines decisively defeat the invading Arabs, thus halting the Arab advance toward Europe,726, Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian destroys the icon of Christ above the Chalke Gate in the capital city of Constantinople, beginning the first phase of the Byzantine Iconoclasm. 731, Bede completes his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, near Poitiers, France, leader of the Franks Charles Martel and his men defeat a large army of Moors under the governor of Cordoba, Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, who is killed during the battle
6.
Charlemagne
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Charlemagne or Charles the Great, numbered Charles I, was the King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774 and Emperor of the Romans from 800. He united much of Europe during the early Middle Ages and he was the first recognised emperor in western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier. The expanded Frankish state which Charlemagne founded was called the Carolingian Empire, Charlemagne was the oldest son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon. He became king in 768 following his fathers death, initially as co-ruler with his brother Carloman I, carlomans sudden death in 771 in unexplained circumstances left Charlemagne as the undisputed ruler of the Frankish Kingdom. He continued his fathers policy towards the papacy and became its protector, removing the Lombards from power in northern Italy and he campaigned against the Saxons to his east, Christianising them upon penalty of death and leading to events such as the Massacre of Verden. Charlemagne reached the height of his power in 800 when he was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day at Old St. Peters Basilica. Charlemagne has been called the Father of Europe, as he united most of Western Europe for the first time since the Roman Empire and his rule spurred the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of energetic cultural and intellectual activity within the Western Church. All Holy Roman Emperors considered their kingdoms to be descendants of Charlemagnes empire, up to the last Emperor Francis II and these and other machinations led to the eventual split of Rome and Constantinople in the Great Schism of 1054. Charlemagne died in 814, having ruled as emperor for thirteen years and he was laid to rest in his imperial capital of Aachen in what is today Germany. He married at least four times and had three sons, but only his son Louis the Pious survived to succeed him. By the 6th century, the western Germanic Franks had been Christianised, Francia, ruled by the Merovingians, was the most powerful of the kingdoms that succeeded the Western Roman Empire. Following the Battle of Tertry the Merovingians declined into powerlessness, for which they have dubbed the rois fainéants. Almost all government powers were exercised by their chief officer, the mayor of the palace, in 687, Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, ended the strife between various kings and their mayors with his victory at Tertry. He became the governor of the entire Frankish kingdom. Pepin was the grandson of two important figures of the Austrasian Kingdom, Saint Arnulf of Metz and Pepin of Landen, Pepin of Herstal was eventually succeeded by his illegitimate son Charles, later known as Charles Martel. After 737, Charles governed the Franks in lieu of a king, Charles was succeeded in 741 by his sons Carloman and Pepin the Short, the father of Charlemagne. In 743, the brothers placed Childeric III on the throne to curb separatism in the periphery and he was the last Merovingian king. Carloman resigned office in 746, preferring to enter the church as a monk, Pepin brought the question of the kingship before Pope Zachary, asking whether it was logical for a king to have no royal power
7.
Guild
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A guild /ɡɪld/ is an association of artisans or merchants who control the practice of their craft in a particular town. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of tradesmen and they were organized in a manner something between a professional association, trade union, a cartel, and a secret society. A lasting legacy of traditional guilds are the guildhalls constructed and used as meeting places, an important result of the guild framework was the emergence of universities at Bologna, Oxford and Paris, they originated as guilds of students as at Bologna, or of masters as at Paris. Usually the founders were free independent master craftsmen who hired apprentices, there were several types of guilds, including the two main categories of merchant guilds and craft guilds but also the frith guild and religious guild. In many cases became the governing body of a town. The Freedom of the City, effective from the Middle Ages until 1835, gave the right to trade, Trade guilds arose in the 14th century as craftsmen united to protect their common interest. The occasion for these oaths were drunken banquets held on December 26, gregory of Tours tells a miraculous tale of a builder whose art and techniques suddenly left him, but were restored by an apparition of the Virgin Mary in a dream. Michel Rouche remarks that the story speaks for the importance of practically transmitted journeymanship, in France, guilds were called corps de métiers. According to Viktor Ivanovich Rutenburg, Within the guild itself there was little division of labour. Thus, according to Étienne Boileaus Book of Handicrafts, by the century there were no less than 100 guilds in Paris. In Catalan towns, specially at Barcelona, guilds or gremis were a basic agent in the society, a shoemakers guild is recorded in 1208. In England, specifically in the City of London Corporation, more than 110 guilds, referred to as companies, survive today. Other groups, such as the Worshipful Company of Tax Advisers, have been formed far more recently, membership in a livery company is expected for individuals participating in the governance of The City, as the Lord Mayor and the Remembrancer. The guild system reached a state in Germany circa 1300 and held on in German cities into the 19th century. In the 15th century, Hamburg had 100 guilds, Cologne 80, the latest guilds to develop in Western Europe were the gremios of Spain, e. g. Valencia or Toledo. Not all city economies were controlled by guilds, some cities were free, in order to become a Master, a Journeyman would have to go on a three-year voyage called Journeyman years. The practice of the Journeyman years still exists in Germany and France, in Ghent, as in Florence, the woolen textile industry developed as a congeries of specialized guilds. The appearance of the European guilds was tied to the emergent money economy, before this time it was not possible to run a money-driven organization, as commodity money was the normal way of doing business
8.
Cider
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Cider is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. The juice of any variety of apple can be used to make cider, the addition of sugar or extra fruit before a second fermentation increases the alcoholic content of the resulting beverage. Cider is popular in the United Kingdom, especially in the West Country, the UK has the worlds highest per capita consumption, as well as its largest cider-producing companies. Cider is also popular in other European countries including Ireland, Portugal, France, northern Italy, central Europe also has its own types of cider with Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse producing a particularly tart version known as Apfelwein. Cider alcohol content varies from 1. 2% ABV to 8. 5% or more in traditional English ciders, in UK law, it must contain at least 35% apple juice, although CAMRA says that real cider must be at least 90% fresh apple juice. In the US, there is a 50% minimum, in France, cider must be made solely from apples. Perry is a product made from fermented pear juice. Ciders can be classified from dry to sweet and their appearance ranges from cloudy with sediment to completely clear, and their colour ranges from almost clear to amber to brown. The variations in clarity and colour are mostly due to filtering between pressing and fermentation, some apple varieties will produce a clear cider without any need for filtration. Both sparkling and still ciders are made, the variety is the more common. Modern, mass-produced ciders closely resemble sparkling wine in appearance, more traditional brands tend to be darker and cloudier. They are often stronger than the varieties and taste more strongly of apples. Almost colourless, white cider has the apple juice content as conventional cider but is harder to create because the cider maker has to blend various apples to create a clearer liquid. White ciders tend to be sweeter and more refreshing and they are typically 7-8 % ABV in strength. Black cider, by contrast, is dry amber premium cider which has an content of 7-8 % ABV. The descriptor black usually comes after the name such as Union Black. Apples grown for consumption are suitable for making, though some regional cider-makers prefer to use a mix of eating and cider apples. There are many hundreds of varieties of cultivars developed specifically for cider making, once the apples are gathered from trees in orchards they are scratted into what is called pomace or pommage
9.
17th century
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The 17th century was the century that lasted from January 1,1601, to December 31,1700, in the Gregorian calendar. The greatest military conflicts were the Thirty Years War, the Great Turkish War, in the Islamic world, the Ottoman, Safavid Persian and Mughal empires grew in strength. In Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Edo period at the beginning of the century, European politics were dominated by the Kingdom of France of Louis XIV, where royal power was solidified domestically in the civil war of the Fronde. With domestic peace assured, Louis XIV caused the borders of France to be expanded and it was during this century that English monarch became a symbolic figurehead and Parliament was the dominant force in government – a contrast to most of Europe, in particular France. It was also a period of development of culture in general,1600, On February 17 Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake by the Inquisition. 1600, Michael the Brave unifies the three Romanian countries, Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania after the Battle of Șelimbăr from 1599. 1601, Battle of Kinsale, England defeats Irish and Spanish forces at the town of Kinsale, driving the Gaelic aristocracy out of Ireland and destroying the Gaelic clan system. 1601, Michael the Brave, voivode of Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania, is assassinated by the order of the Habsburg general Giorgio Basta at Câmpia Turzii, 1601–1603, The Russian famine of 1601–1603 kills perhaps one-third of Russia. 1601, Panembahan Senopati, first king of Mataram, dies and passes rule to his son Panembahan Seda ing Krapyak 1601,1602, Matteo Ricci produces the Map of the Myriad Countries of the World, a world map that will be used throughout East Asia for centuries. 1602, The Portuguese send an expeditionary force from Malacca which succeeded in reimposing a degree of Portuguese control. 1602, The Dutch East India Company is established by merging competing Dutch trading companies and its success contributes to the Dutch Golden Age. 1602, Two emissaries from the Aceh Sultanate visit the Dutch Republic,1603, Elizabeth I of England dies and is succeeded by her cousin King James VI of Scotland, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England. 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu takes the title of Shogun, establishing the Tokugawa Shogunate and this begins the Edo period, which will last until 1869. 1603–1623, After modernizing his army, Abbas I expands the Persian Empire by capturing territory from the Ottomans,1603, First permanent Dutch trading post is established in Banten, West Java. First successful VOC privateering raid on a Portuguese ship,1604, A second English East India Company voyage commanded by Sir Henry Middleton reaches Ternate, Tidore, Ambon and Banda. 1605, Gunpowder Plot failed in England,1605, The fortresses of Veszprém and Visegrad are retaken by the Ottomans. 1605, February, The VOC in alliance with Hitu prepare to attack a Portuguese fort in Ambon,1605, Panembahan Seda ing Krapyak of Mataram establishes control over Demak, former center of the Demak Sultanate. 1606, Treaty of Vienna ends anti-Habsburg uprising in Royal Hungary,1606, Assassination of Stephen Bocskay of Transylvania
10.
Brittany
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Brittany is a cultural region in the north-west of France. Brittany has also referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain. It is bordered by the English Channel to the north, the Celtic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and its land area is 34,023 km². Since reorganisation in 1956, the administrative region of Brittany comprises only four of the five Breton departments. The remaining area of old Brittany, the Loire-Atlantique department around Nantes, at the 2010 census, the population of historic Brittany was estimated to be 4,475,295. Of these, 71% lived in the region of Brittany, while 29% lived in the Loire-Atlantique department, in 2012, the largest metropolitan areas were Nantes, Rennes, and Brest. Brittany is the homeland of the Breton people and is recognised by the Celtic League as one of the six Celtic nations. A nationalist movement seeks greater autonomy within the French Republic, the word Brittany, along with its French, Breton and Gallo equivalents Bretagne, Breizh and Bertaèyn, derive from the Latin Britannia, which means Britons land. This word had been used by the Romans since the 1st century to refer to Great Britain and this word derives from a Greek word, Πρεττανικη or Βρεττανίαι, used by Pytheas, an explorer from Massalia who visited the British Islands around 320 BC. This term probably comes from a Gallic word, aremorica, which close to the sea. Another name, Letauia, was used until the 12th century and it possibly means wide and flat or to expand and it gave the Welsh name for Brittany, Llydaw. Later, authors like Geoffrey of Monmouth used the terms Britannia minor, breton-speaking people may pronounce the word Breizh in two different ways, according to their region of origin. Breton can be divided into two dialects, the KLT and the dialect of Vannes. KLT speakers pronounce it and would write it Breiz, while the Vannetais speakers pronounce it, the official spelling is a compromise between both variants, with a z and an h together. In 1941, efforts to unify the dialects led to the creation of the so-called Breton zh, on its side, Gallo language has never had a widely accepted writing system and several ones coexist. For instance, the name of the region in that language can be written Bertaèyn in ELG script, or Bertègn in MOGA, Brittany has been inhabited by humans since the Lower Paleolithic. This population was scarce and very similar to the other Neanderthals found in the whole of Western Europe and their only original feature was a distinct culture, called Colombanian. One of the oldest hearths in the world has found in Plouhinec
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