BREST

oblast (province), southwestern Belarus, occupying an area of 12,475 sq mi (32,300 sq km) in the basin of the upper Pripet River and its tributaries. Centred on Brest city, it was formed in 1939 from areas held by Poland from 1919. Except in the north, where the land rises to the morainic hills of the Belarusian Ridge, the oblast is exceptionally flat and swampy, with huge areas of reed and grass marsh, peat bog, and standing waters. Higher and drier areas are mostly forested. Some drainage has been undertaken since 1873; these reclaimed areas are cultivated for flax, hemp, potatoes, and sugar beets. Dairying and forestry are both important, and the towns are engaged chiefly in processing agricultural produce and timber. Peat is used for power generation. The Dnieper-Bug Canal links the Pripet and Dnieper rivers to the Bug and Vistula, and the oblast is crossed by the MoscowWarsaw railway and highway. Pop. (1991 est.) 1,483,000. port city, Finistre dpartement, Bretagne region, western France, on two hills divided by the Penfeld River. Its magnificent roadstead, the Rade de Brest, is 14 mi (23 km) long; it is protected from the sea by the Qulern Peninsula, and the Goulet Passage (12 mi wide) leads to open water. Brest was ceded about 1240 by Count Herv V of Lon to John I, duke of Brittany. The English occupied it from 1342 until 1397. By marriage it passed (1491) from Brittany to the French crown. Cardinal de Richelieu decided in 1631 to make it a major naval base. It was improved by Jean-Baptiste Colbert and fortified by Sbastien Le Prestre de Vauban. The former instituted the Inscription Maritime, still functioning, which inducted Breton fishermen (1848 years old) into the Naval Reserve. In exchange for this obligation, the Inscription offers them family security for life. Brest has been the seat of the French Naval Academy since 1830. Brest was the debarkation point for U.S. troops during World War I. Afterward its importance as a naval and transatlantic passenger port increased. The Germans, who occupied it in June 1940, built concrete submarine pens and used the port as a base against Allied shipping. The city, almost completely destroyed during World War II, has been rebuilt, its port restored and re-equipped. The naval port, behind the Lanion breakwater, is in part excavated from the rock, and some of the installations are in deep caves in the cliffs. The commercial port, which has large shipfitting installations, is separated from the city by the Cours Dajot, an excellent promenade constructed on the old ramparts in 1769 by convicts from the notorious prison hulks of Brest (closed in the 19th century when Devil's Island and the penal colony of French Guiana were established). It is, with Toulon, one of the two major bases of the French navy. In the 1960s three industrial zones were created to offset a decline in naval construction. Metallurgy, associated with shipbuilding and repair, is important; planned diversified industries include precision mechanics, gas bottling, and the manufacture of electronic equipment, fertilizers, chemicals, and paper. Pop. (1990) 147,956. formerly Brest-Litovsk, Polish Brzesc city and administrative centre of Brest oblast (province), southwestern Belarus, on the right bank of the western Bug River. First mentioned in 1019 as Berestye, it passed to Lithuania in 1319 and later to Poland. In 1795 Russia acquired Brest, although it reverted to Poland from 1919 to 1939. In 1918 the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed between Germany and the Soviet government. Its fortress made a prolonged defense against the Germans in 1941. Brest is a major point of rail entry to Belarus and Russia and is a river port with light industries. Pop. (1991 est.) 277,000.