Pontivy
Pontivy (; ) 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. Inhabitants of Pontivy are called "Pontivyens" in French. History. 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. Economy. This is a largely agricultural town. Breton language. 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. Twin towns. The town maintains twinning links with: