Original: The traditional province of Normandy, with an integral history reaching back to the 10th century, was divided in 1957 into two regions: Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy.
Simplified: Lower Normandy (called Basse-Normandie in French) is one of the administrative Regions of France. It first became a region in 1956, when the old region of Normandy was split, into a part to the west (and south), the current Lower Normandy, and Upper Normandy, more to the east and the north.