Pontivy

Pontivy
Pondi

The Château des Rohan in Pontivy

Coat of arms

Pontivy

Location within Brittany region

Pontivy

Coordinates: 48°04′09″N 2°57′41″W / 48.0692°N 2.9614°WCoordinates: 48°04′09″N 2°57′41″W / 48.0692°N 2.9614°W

Country

Pontivy

Pontivy Communauté

Government

• Mayor (2008—2014)

Jean-Pierre Le Roch

Area¹

24.85 km² (9.59 sq mi)

Population (1999)²

13,508

• Density

540/km² (1,400/sq mi)

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

• Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

INSEE/Postal code

56178 /56300

Elevation

48–192 m (157–630 ft)
(avg. 60 m or 200 ft)

¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

²Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Pontivy (French pronunciation: [pɔ̃tivi]; Breton: Pondi) is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It lies at the confluence of the river Blavet and the Canal de Nantes à Brest.

A monk called Ivy built a bridge nearby over the river Blavet in the 7th century, and the town is named after him ("pont-Ivi" being the Breton for "Ivy's bridge"). From November 9, 1804, the name was changed to Napoléonville after Napoléon Bonaparte, under whom it had around 3,000 inhabitants. After his downfall, it was renamed Pontivy again, then later Bourbonville, and Napoléonville again after Napoléon III came to power.

This is a largely agricultural town.

Inhabitants of Pontivy are called Pontivyens.

The municipality launched a linguistic plan through Ya d'ar brezhoneg on 8 August 2004. As part of that plan, all road signs in the town centre are bilingual.

In 2008, 11.34% of the children in the town attended the bilingual schools in primary education.

The town maintains twinning links with:

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Wikipedia