n.
French Normandie
Historic and cultural region, northwestern France.
The capital was Rouen . Inhabited since Paleolithic times, its Celtic population was conquered by the Romans 0441; 56 BC, when it became part of the province of Lugdunensis . Invaded by Viking s in the mid-9th century, it was ceded to their chief, Rollo , in 911 by Charles III (the Simple) of France. The Vikings became known as Normans, hence the region's name.William, duke of Normandy, made the Norman Conquest (1066), uniting Normandy to England and becoming William I (William the Conqueror) of England. Normandy became a province of France in 1450 and was divided into several departments after the French Revolution . It was the site of the World War II Allied invasion of German-occupied France in 1944 (see Normandy Campaign ).