The Northern Isles (Scots: Northern Isles; Scottish Gaelic: Na h-Eileanan a Tuath; Old Norse: Norðreyjar; Norn: Nordøjar) are a chain (or archipelago) of islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The climate is cool and temperate and highly influenced by the surrounding seas. There are two main island groups: Shetland and Orkney. There are a total of 36 inhabited islands, with the fertile agricultural islands of Orkney contrasting with the more rugged Shetland islands to the north, where the economy is more dependent on fishing and the oil wealth of the surrounding seas. Both archipelagos have a developing renewable energy industry. They share a common Pictish and Norse history, and were part of the Kingdom of Norway before being absorbed into the Kingdom of Scotland in the 15th century. The islands played a significant naval role during the world wars of the 20th century.
Tourism is important to both archipelagos, with their distinctive prehistoric ruins playing a key part in their attraction, and there are regular ferry and air connections with mainland Scotland. The Scandinavian influence remains strong, especially in local folklore and both island chains have strong, though distinct local cultures. The names of the islands are dominated by the Norse heritage, although some may retain pre-Celtic elements.
^General Register Office for Scotland (28 November 2003) Scotland's Census 2001 – Occasional Paper No 10: Statistics for Inhabited Islands. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
^National Records of Scotland (15 August 2013). "Appendix 2: Population and households on Scotland's Inhabited Islands" (PDF). Statistical Bulletin: 2011 Census: First Results on Population and Household Estimates for Scotland Release 1C (Part Two) (PDF) (Report). SG/2013/126. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
The NorthernIsles (Scots: NorthernIsles; Scottish Gaelic: Na h-Eileanan a Tuath; Old Norse: Norðreyjar; Norn: Nordøjar) are a chain (or archipelago)...
the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the NorthernIsles (Orkney and Shetland), and over six thousand...
The Kingdom of the Isles was a Norse-Gaelic kingdom comprising the Isle of Man, the Hebrides and the islands of the Clyde from the 9th to the 13th centuries...
islands are to be found in the Hebrides and the NorthernIsles to the north, and Anglesey and the Isle of Man between Great Britain and Ireland. Not included...
waters in the United Kingdom, predominantly within Scotland. In the NorthernIsles, it more often refers to a smaller inlet. It is linguistically cognate...
Norn is an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in the NorthernIsles (Orkney and Shetland) off the north coast of mainland Scotland and in...
"Linguistic patterns in the place-names of Norway and the NorthernIsles" Northern Lights, Northern Words. Selected Papers from the FRLSU Conference, Kirkwall...
a matter of some controversy. The later Iron Age inhabitants of the NorthernIsles were probably Pictish, although the historical record is sparse. Hunter...
isolated isles. The archipelago is also known as The Seven Hunters. During the Middle Ages, they also may have been called the Seven Haley (Holy) Isles. Martin...
h-Innse Gall, 'Islands of the Strangers'; Scots: Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island (Scottish Gaelic: an t-Eilean Fada), is...
The British Isles is an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Continental Europe. It includes Ireland, Great Britain, the Isle of Man, Shetland...
passing of the Isles of Scilly Order 1930, this authority has had the status of a county council, and today it is known as the Council of the Isles of Scilly...
ritual sites are particularly common and well preserved in the NorthernIsles and Western Isles, where a lack of trees led to most structures being built of...
settlement of the NorthernIsles. By that time the croft lands had clearly been in use for centuries. Between the 9th and 15th centuries, Fair Isle was a Norwegian...
NorthernIsles of Orkney and Shetland. Since July 2012, it has been operated by international services company Serco. The subsidised NorthernIsles ferry...
"Southern Isles" include: The Hebrides or Western Isles comprising: The Outer Hebrides, aka the "Long Island" to the west, separated from the northern Inner...
attempts to reassert authority in the Isles. For instance, Rothesay Castle fell to a Norwegian-backed King of the Isles in 1230, and fell again to the Norwegians...
Katharine Briggs called it "the nastiest" of all the demons of Scotland's NorthernIsles. The nuckelavee's breath was thought to wilt crops and sicken livestock...
the Isles. Iona remained part of the Lordship of the Isles for the next century and a half. Following the 1491 Raid on Ross, the Lordship of the Isles was...
Ulster Scots). Most commonly spoken in the Scottish Lowlands, NorthernIsles, and northern Ulster, it is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it...
fowk), meaning 'seal folk'. Selkies are mainly associated with the NorthernIsles of Scotland, where they are said to live as seals in the sea but shed...
'Suðr-eyjar'), or South Isles of the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles, but on the death of Godred Crovan in 1095 all the isles came under the direct rule...
(1818). Description of the Western Isles of Scotland called Hybrides, by Mr. Donald Munro, High Dean of the Isles, who travelled through most of them...
Orkney Islands (archaically "The Orkneys"), is an archipelago in the NorthernIsles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain...
including the Ascrib Islands, Crowlin Islands, Slate Islands, Small Isles, Summer Isles and Treshnish Islands. The islands are shown to be important as a...
colonies (then including Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and the NorthernIsles of Orkney and Shetland). The union was not quite continuous; there were...
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