Brest is a city in Brittany, or the Bretagne région, north-west France, sous-préfecture of the Finistère département. Located on the western tip of Brittany, the city is an important port and naval base. The population of the city was estimated at 146,000 as of 2004; the population of the metropolitan area was recorded as 303,484 inhabitants in the 1999 census. Although the city is by far the largest in Finistère, its préfecture (capital) resides in the much smaller commune of Quimper.