Local History
The Breton's are a part of the Celtic nation, there are many Celtic areas in the world, but the principal ones are Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, Ireland, Cornwall, Gallice & the Basque region of northern Spain & southern France. Here's a few important dates in the history of the Bretons.

Iron Age:
The Celts arrive in Armoric. The old name for Brittany meaning "Land before the Sea".

56 BC:
Caesar defeats the Venetes, (a Celtic clan from were Vannes gets its name), near the Gulf of Morbihan.

5th Century:
The Brits, (or "Briton's")  start to arrive in Brittany, pushed out of England by the Saxons.

6th Century:
The term "Bretagne" (or "Brittany") is used for the first time by Gregoire de Tour.

845 AD:
The duchy of Brittany wins it's independence.

937 AD:
Nantes becomes the capital of Brittany.

938 AD:
Alain Barbe Tort declares himself the first Duke of Brittany.

1188 AD: The first flag of Brittany  , (the opposite to the Cornish flag).

1213 AD:
The "hermine" (sort of fleur de lys) appear on the flag.

1381 AD:
End of the English-Breton war (wasn't as long as the English-French war!)

1436 AD:
The Chateau de Nantes is rebuilt by François II and becomes the palace of the dukes of Brittany.

1488 AD:
Anne of Brittany (daughter of François II) marries Maximilien of Habsbourg.

1491 AD:
Charles VIII, unhappy with the Breton/Austrian alliance besieges Anne at Rennes before she agrees to marry him. Nantes loses it's political supremacy to Rennes.

1499 AD:
Anne of Brittany marries Louis XII, successor to Francois II.

1532 AD: The flag of Brittany is replaced by one compose solely of "hermine".

1789 AD:
Three ministers die during a sitting of the parliament of Brittany.

1914-18
At least 120,000 Bretons die under the French flag.

1918: Birth of the actual Breton flag as we know it. The "Gwen ha du" literary means "the white and black". The "hermines" represent the dukes of Brittany , the black stripes represent the "Gallo" districts and the white stripes represent the Breton speaking districts.

1940:
Hundreds of  Bretons rally to de Gaulle or join the resistance, some collaborate with the Nazis, on the basis that when the Germans win, Brittany will have it's independence.

1941:
The Vichy government take away Loire Atlantic from Brittany as punishment for the Breton collaborators.

Present Day
The Bretons are a proud people, and are still fighting for their independence from France, a few are taking it too far, (but that's the world over!), but the good thing is that they are keeping their identity. Take their music for example; they still have traditional music, but also Celtic-rock, Techno-Celt, etc. They are proud of their roots, but this does not mean they are stuck in the past!