... in Brittany in northwestern France.
Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton
peninsula, Brest is an important seaport and naval base. The 1999 census
recorded 303,484 inhabitants of the Brest metropolitan area, while the
population of the city itself was estimated in 2004 to number some 146,000.
Although Brest is by far the largest city in Finistère, the préfecture (capital)
of the department is the much smaller commune of Quimper
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