Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a
subarctic
The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of humid continental regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and the Cairngorms. Generally, ...
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
lying between
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
, the
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...
and
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. It is the northernmost region of the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.
The islands lie about to the northeast of Orkney, from mainland Scotland and west of Norway. They form part of the border between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
to the east. Their total area is ,
[Shetland Islands Council (2012) p. 4] and the population totalled 22,920 in 2019.
The islands comprise the
Shetland constituency of the
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...
. The local authority, the
Shetland Islands Council
The Shetland Islands Council ( sco, Shetland Islands Cooncil; gd, Comhairle Shealtainn) is the local authority for Shetland, Scotland. It was established by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and is the successor to the former Lerwick Tow ...
, is one of the 32
council areas
For local government purposes, Scotland is divided into 32 areas designated as "council areas" ( gd, comhairlean), which are all governed by single-tier authorities designated as "councils". They have the option under the Local Government (Ga ...
of Scotland. The islands' administrative centre and only
burgh
A burgh is an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland and Northern England, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burg ...
is
Lerwick
Lerwick (; non, Leirvik; nrn, Larvik) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010.
Centred off the north coast of the Scottish mainland ...
, which has been the capital of Shetland since 1708, before which time the capital was
Scalloway
Scalloway ( non, Skálavágr, "bay with the large house(s)") is the largest settlement on the west coast of the Mainland, the largest island of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. The village had a population of roughly 900, at the 2011 census. No ...
.
The archipelago has an
oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
, complex geology, rugged coastline, and many low, rolling hills.
The largest island, known as "
the Mainland", has an area of , and is the
fifth-largest island in the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
. It is one of 16 inhabited islands in Shetland.
Humans have lived in Shetland since the
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...
period.
Picts
The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from ea ...
are known to have been the original inhabitants of the islands, before the Norse conquest and subsequent colonisation in the
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...
. During the 10th to 15th centuries, the islands formed part of the
Kingdom of Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
until they were annexed into the
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland (; , ) was a sovereign state in northwest Europe traditionally said to have been founded in 843. Its territories expanded and shrank, but it came to occupy the northern third of the island of Great Britain, sharing a la ...
due to a royal dispute involving the payment of a
dowry
A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...
. In 1707, when Scotland and England united to form the
Kingdom of Great Britain
The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a Sovereign state, sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of ...
, trade between Shetland and continental
Northern Europe
The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...
decreased. The discovery of
North Sea oil
North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea.
In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian Sea and ...
in the 1970s significantly boosted Shetland's economy, employment and public-sector revenues.
Fishing has always been an important part of the islands’ economy.
The local way of life reflects the Norse heritage of the isles, including the
Up Helly Aa
Up Helly Aa ( ; literally "Up Holy .html" ;"title="ay/nowiki>">ay/nowiki> All") is a type of fire festival held annually from January to March in various communities in Shetland, Scotland, to mark the end of the Yule season. Each festival inv ...
fire festivals and a strong musical tradition, especially the traditional
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
style. Almost all place names in the islands also have Norse origin. The islands have produced a variety of prose writers and poets, who have often written in the distinctive
Shetland dialect
Shetland dialect (also variously known as Shetlandic; broad or auld Shetland or Shaetlan; and referred to as Modern Shetlandic Scots (MSS) by some linguists) is a dialect of Insular Scots spoken in Shetland, an archipelago to the north of mainl ...
. Numerous areas on the islands have been set aside to protect the local
fauna
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...
and
flora
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''.
E ...
, including a number of important seabird nesting sites. The
Shetland pony
The Shetland pony is a Scottish breed of pony originating in the Shetland Isles in the north of Scotland. It may stand up to at the withers. It has a heavy coat and short legs, is strong for its size, and is used for riding, driving, and pa ...
and
Shetland Sheepdog
The Shetland Sheepdog, often known as the Sheltie, is a breed of herding dog that originated in the Shetland Islands of Scotland. The original name was ''Shetland Collie,'' but this caused controversy amongst Rough Collie breeders of the time, s ...
are two well-known
Shetland animal breeds
The Shetland Islands of Scotland have long had their own distinct animal breeds, due to the remoteness of the archipelago. Below is a list of Shetland's domesticated animals.
Shetland Pony
The Shetland Pony is a very small, robust breed of ...
. Other animals with local breeds include the
Shetland sheep
The Shetland is a small, wool-producing breed of sheep originating in the Shetland Isles, Scotland, but is now also kept in many other parts of the world. It is part of the Northern European short-tailed sheep group, and it is closely relat ...
,
cow
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...
,
goose
A goose ( : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera ''Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and '' Branta'' (the black geese). Some other birds, mostly related to the ...
, and
duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...
. The Shetland pig, or
grice
The grice was a breed of swine found in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and in Ireland. Culley, George(1807), ''Observations on Livestock'', pub Wilkie, Robinson et al, p 176/ref> It became extinct, surviving longest in the Shetland Isle ...
, has been extinct since about 1930.
The islands' motto, which appears on the Council's
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
, is "" (“By law shall the land be built"). The phrase is of
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
origin, is mentioned in ''
Njáls saga
''Njáls saga'' ( ), also ''Njála'' ( ), ''Brennu-Njáls saga'' ( ) or ''"The Story of Burnt Njáll"'', is a thirteenth-century sagas of Icelanders, Icelandic saga that describes events between 960 and 1020.
The saga deals with a process of ...
'', and was likely borrowed from provincial Norwegian laws such as the
Frostathing Law
Frostathing law (Frostating's law, Frostating Law, Frostathinglaw, Frostaþing law) (''Frostatingsloven'') is one of Norway's oldest laws. It concerned the Frostating, which covered large parts of Norway, and derives its name from the ancient cour ...
.
Etymology
The name ''Shetland'' may derive from the
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
words ('
hilt
The hilt (rarely called a haft or shaft) of a knife, dagger, sword, or bayonet is its handle, consisting of a guard, grip and pommel. The guard may contain a crossguard or quillons. A tassel or sword knot may be attached to the guard or pommel. ...
'), and ('land'). Another possibility is that the first syllable is derived from the name of an ancient Celtic tribe.
In AD 43, the Roman author
Pomponius Mela
Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest Roman geographer. He was born in Tingentera (now Algeciras) and died AD 45.
His short work (''De situ orbis libri III.'') remained in use nearly to the year 1500. It occupies less ...
made reference in his writing to seven islands he called the . In AD 77,
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...
called these same islands the . Scholars have inferred that both of these references are to islands in the Shetland group. Another possible early written reference to the islands is
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars.
The surviving portions of his t ...
' report in ''
Agricola
Agricola, the Latin word for farmer, may also refer to:
People Cognomen or given name
:''In chronological order''
* Gnaeus Julius Agricola (40–93), Roman governor of Britannia (AD 77–85)
* Sextus Calpurnius Agricola, Roman governor of the mid ...
'' in AD 98. After he described the Roman discovery and conquest of Orkney, he added that the Roman fleet had seen "
Thule
Thule ( grc-gre, Θούλη, Thoúlē; la, Thūlē) is the most northerly location mentioned in ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek and Latin literature, Roman literature and cartography. Modern interpretations have included Orkney, Shet ...
, too". In
early Irish
The history of the Irish language begins with the period from the arrival of speakers of Celtic languages in Ireland to Ireland's earliest known form of Irish, Primitive Irish, which is found in Ogham inscriptions dating from the 3rd or 4th cen ...
literature, Shetland is referred to as — "the Isles of Cats" (meaning the island inhabited by the tribe called ''Cat''). This may have been the pre-Norse inhabitants' name for the islands. Cat was the name of a Pictish people who occupied parts of the northern Scottish mainland (see
Kingdom of Cat
Cait or Cat was a Pictish kingdom originating c. AD 800 during the Early Middle Ages. It was centered in what is now Caithness in northern Scotland. It was, according to Pictish legend, founded by Caitt (or Cat), one of the seven sons of the anc ...
); and their name survives in the names of the county of
Caithness
Caithness ( gd, Gallaibh ; sco, Caitnes; non, Katanes) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland.
Caithness has a land boundary with the historic county of Sutherland to the west and is otherwise bounded by ...
and in the Scottish Gaelic name for
Sutherland
Sutherland ( gd, Cataibh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire (later ...
, , which means "among the Cats".
The oldest known version of the modern name Shetland is . It occurs in a letter written by Harald, earl of Orkney, Shetland and Caithness, in c.1190. By 1431, the islands were being referred to as ''Hetland'', after various intermediate transformations. It is possible that the
Pictish
Pictish is the extinct language, extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited num ...
"cat" sound contributed to this
Norse name. In the 16th century, Shetland was referred to as .
[Gammeltoft (2010) p. 21-22][Sandnes (2010) p. 9]
When the Scandinavian
Norn language
Norn is an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in the Northern Isles (Orkney and Shetland) off the north coast of mainland Scotland and in Caithness in the far north of the Scottish mainland. After Orkney and Shetland were pledged t ...
previously spoken by the inhabitants of the islands was replaced by the Shetland dialect of
Scots (a gradual process), became . The initial letter is the
Middle Scots
Middle Scots was the Anglic language of Lowland Scotland in the period from 1450 to 1700. By the end of the 15th century, its phonology, orthography, accidence, syntax and vocabulary had diverged markedly from Early Scots, which was virtually ...
letter, ''
yogh
The letter yogh (ȝogh) ( ; Scots Language, Scots: ; Middle English: ) was used in Middle English and Older Scots, representing ''y'' () and various velar consonant , velar phonemes. It was derived from the Insular G, Insular form of the letter ...
'', the pronunciation of which is almost identical to the original Norn sound, . When the use of the letter yogh was discontinued, it was often replaced by the similar-looking letter
z (which at the time was usually rendered with a curled tail: ⟨ʒ⟩) hence , the form used in the name of the pre-1975
county council
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.
Ireland
The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...
. This is also the source of the
ZE postcode used for Shetland.
Most of the individual islands have
Norse names, although the derivations of some are obscure and may represent pre-Norse, possibly
Pictish
Pictish is the extinct language, extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited num ...
or even pre-
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
names or elements.
Geography and geology
![Baliasta and Baltasound from Houlland - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Baliasta_and_Baltasound_from_Houlland_-_geograph.org.uk_-_921747.jpg)
Shetland is around north of Great Britain and west of
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. It covers an area of and has a coastline long.
[
]Lerwick
Lerwick (; non, Leirvik; nrn, Larvik) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010.
Centred off the north coast of the Scottish mainland ...
, the capital and largest settlement, has a population of 6,958 and about half of the archipelago's total population of 22,920 people[ live within of the town.
]Scalloway
Scalloway ( non, Skálavágr, "bay with the large house(s)") is the largest settlement on the west coast of the Mainland, the largest island of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. The village had a population of roughly 900, at the 2011 census. No ...
on the west coast, which was the capital until 1708, has a population of fewer than 1,000 people.[Shetland Islands Council (2010) p. 10]
Only 16 of about 100 islands are inhabited. The main island of the group is known as Mainland
Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...
. The next largest are Yell
A yell is a loud vocalization; see screaming.
Yell may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Yell, Shetland, one of the North Isles of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland
* Yell Sound, Shetland, Scotland
United States
* Yell, Tennessee, an unin ...
, Unst
Unst (; sco, Unst; nrn, Ønst) is one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. It is the northernmost of the inhabited British Isles and is the third-largest island in Shetland after Mainland and Yell. It has an area of .
Unst ...
, and Fetlar
Fetlar ( sco, Fetlar) is one of the North Isles of Shetland, Scotland, with a usually resident population of 61 at the time of the 2011 census. Its main settlement is Houbie on the south coast, home to the Fetlar Interpretive Centre. Fetlar is ...
, which lie to the north, and Bressay
Bressay ( sco, Bressa) is a populated island in the Shetland archipelago of Scotland.
Geography and geology
Bressay lies due south of Whalsay, west of the Isle of Noss, and north of Mousa. With an area of , it is the fifth-largest island in Shet ...
and Whalsay
Whalsay ( sco, Whalsa; non, Hvalsey or ''Hvals-øy'', meaning 'Whale Island') is the sixth largest of the Shetland Islands in the north of Scotland.
Geography
Whalsay, also known as "The Bonnie Isle", is a peat-covered island in the Shetland I ...
, which lie to the east. East
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...
and West Burra
West Burra is one of the Scalloway Islands, a subgroup of the Shetland Islands in Scotland. It is connected by bridge to East Burra. With an area of , it is the eleventh-largest of the Shetland Islands.
Geography
The nearby south-facing s ...
, Muckle Roe
Muckle Roe is an island in Shetland, Scotland, in St. Magnus Bay, to the west of Mainland. It has a population of around 130 people, who mainly croft and live in the south east of the island.Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 440
'Muckle' is Scots for 'bi ...
, Papa Stour
Papa Stour ( sco, Papa Stour) is one of the Shetland Islands in Scotland, with a population of under fifteen people, some of whom immigrated after an appeal for residents in the 1970s. Located to the west of mainland Shetland and with an area o ...
, Trondra
Trondra ( sco, Trondra) is one of the Scalloway Islands, a subgroup of the Shetland Islands in Scotland. It shelters the harbour of Scalloway and has an area of .
History
Trondra was becoming rapidly depopulated until 1970, when road bridges were ...
and Vaila
Vaila (Old Norse: "Valey") is an island in Shetland, Scotland, lying south of the Westland peninsula of the Shetland Mainland. It has an area of , and is at its highest point.Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canong ...
are smaller islands to the west of Mainland. The other inhabited islands are Foula
Foula (; sco, also Foola; nrn, Fuglø), located in the Shetland archipelago of Scotland, is one of the United Kingdom’s most remote permanently inhabited islands. Owned since the turn of the 20th century by the Holbourn family, the island wa ...
west of Walls
Walls may refer to:
*The plural of wall, a structure
* Walls (surname), a list of notable people with the surname
Places
* Walls, Louisiana, United States
*Walls, Mississippi, United States
* Walls, Ontario, neighborhood in Perry, Ontario, C ...
, Fair Isle
Fair Isle (; sco, Fair Isle; non, Friðarey; gd, Fara) is an island in Shetland, in northern Scotland. It lies about halfway between mainland Shetland and Orkney. It is known for its bird observatory and a traditional style of knitting. Th ...
south-west of Sumburgh Head
Sumburgh Head is a headland located at the southern tip of the Shetland Mainland in northern Scotland. The head consists of a 100 m high rocky spur and topped by the Sumburgh Head Lighthouse. In the Old Norse language, Sumburgh Head was cal ...
, and the Out Skerries
The Out Skerries are an archipelago of islets, some inhabited, in Shetland, Scotland, and are the easternmost part of Shetland. Locally, they are usually called Da Skerries or just Skerries.
Geography
The Out Skerries lie about northeast of ...
to the east.
The uninhabited islands include Mousa
Mousa ( non, Mosey "moss island") is a small island in Shetland, Scotland, uninhabited since the nineteenth century. The island is known for the Broch of Mousa, an Iron Age round tower, and is designated as a Special Protection Area for storm-p ...
, known for the Broch of Mousa
Broch of Mousa (or Mousa Broch) is a preserved Iron Age broch or round tower. It is on the island of Mousa in Shetland, Scotland. It is the tallest broch still standing and amongst the best-preserved prehistoric buildings in Europe. It is though ...
, the finest preserved example in the world of an Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
broch
A broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure found in Scotland. Brochs belong to the classification "complex Atlantic roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s. Their origin is a matter of some controversy.
Origin ...
; Noss to the east of Bressay
Bressay ( sco, Bressa) is a populated island in the Shetland archipelago of Scotland.
Geography and geology
Bressay lies due south of Whalsay, west of the Isle of Noss, and north of Mousa. With an area of , it is the fifth-largest island in Shet ...
, which has been a national nature reserve since 1955; St Ninian's Isle
St Ninian's Isle is a small tied island connected by the largest tombolo in the UK to the south-western coast of the Mainland, Shetland, in Scotland. It is part of the civil parish of Dunrossness on the South Mainland. The tombolo, known locally ...
, connected to Mainland by the largest active tombolo
A tombolo is a sandy or shingle isthmus. A tombolo, from the Italian ', meaning 'pillow' or 'cushion', and sometimes translated incorrectly as ''ayre'' (an ayre is a shingle beach of any kind), is a deposition landform by which an island become ...
in the United Kingdom; and Out Stack
Out Stack or Ootsta is an island in Shetland, Scotland and the northernmost point of both Scotland and the British Isles.
It lies northeast of Muckle Flugga and north of the island of Unst.
It is one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islan ...
, the northernmost point of the British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
.["Get-a-map"]
, Ordnance Survey
, nativename_a =
, nativename_r =
, logo = Ordnance Survey 2015 Logo.svg
, logo_width = 240px
, logo_caption =
, seal =
, seal_width =
, seal_caption =
, picture =
, picture_width =
, picture_caption =
, formed =
, preceding1 =
, di ...
, Retrieved 7 March 2011 Shetland's location means that it provides a number of such records: Muness is the most northerly castle in the United Kingdom and Skaw the most northerly settlement.
The geology of Shetland is complex, with numerous faults and fold axes. These islands are the northern outpost of the Caledonian orogeny
The Caledonian orogeny was a mountain-building era recorded in the northern parts of the British Isles, the Scandinavian Mountains, Svalbard, eastern Greenland and parts of north-central Europe. The Caledonian orogeny encompasses events that occ ...
, and there are outcrops of Lewisian, Dalradian
The Dalradian Supergroup (informally and traditionally the Dalradian) is a stratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the lithostratigraphy of the Grampian Highlands of Scotland and in the north and west of Ireland. The diverse assemblag ...
and Moine metamorphic rocks with histories similar to their equivalents on the Scottish mainland. There are also Old Red Sandstone
The Old Red Sandstone is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the northeastern seaboard of North America. It also exte ...
deposits and granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
intrusions. The most distinctive feature is the ophiolite
An ophiolite is a section of Earth's oceanic crust and the underlying upper mantle that has been uplifted and exposed above sea level and often emplaced onto continental crustal rocks.
The Greek word ὄφις, ''ophis'' (''snake'') is found i ...
in Unst and Fetlar which is a remnant of the Iapetus Ocean
The Iapetus Ocean (; ) was an ocean that existed in the late Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic eras of the geologic timescale (between 600 and 400 million years ago). The Iapetus Ocean was situated in the southern hemisphere, between the paleoco ...
floor made up of ultrabasic
Ultramafic rocks (also referred to as ultrabasic rocks, although the terms are not wholly equivalent) are igneous and meta-igneous rocks with a very low silica content (less than 45%), generally >18% MgO, high FeO, low potassium, and are compos ...
peridotite
Peridotite ( ) is a dense, coarse-grained igneous rock consisting mostly of the silicate minerals olivine and pyroxene. Peridotite is ultramafic, as the rock contains less than 45% silica. It is high in magnesium (Mg2+), reflecting the high prop ...
and gabbro
Gabbro () is a phaneritic (coarse-grained), mafic intrusive igneous rock formed from the slow cooling of magnesium-rich and iron-rich magma into a holocrystalline mass deep beneath the Earth's surface. Slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro is che ...
.
Much of Shetland's economy depends on the oil-bearing sediments in the surrounding seas. Geological evidence shows that in around 6100 BC a tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...
caused by the Storegga Slide
The three Storegga Slides ( no, Storeggaraset) are amongst the largest known submarine landslides. They occurred at the edge of Norway's continental shelf in the Norwegian Sea, approximately 6225–6170 BCE. The collapse involved an estimated ...
hit Shetland, as well as the west coast of Norway, and may have created a wave of up to high in the voes where modern populations are highest.
The highest point of Shetland is Ronas Hill
Ronas Hill (or Rönies Hill) is a hill in Shetland, Scotland. It is classed as a Marilyn, and is the highest point in the Shetland Islands at an elevation of . A Neolithic chambered cairn is located near the summit.
Location
Ronas Hill (, meani ...
at . The Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
glaciations entirely covered the islands. During that period, the Stanes of Stofast, a 2000-tonne glacial erratic
A glacial erratic is glacially deposited rock differing from the type of rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundred ...
, came to rest on a prominent hilltop in Lunnasting
Vidlin (from Old Norse: ''Vaðill'' meaning a ford) is a small village located on Mainland, Shetland, Scotland. The settlement is within the parish of Nesting.
History
It is at the head of Vidlin Voe, and is the modern heart of the old parish ...
.
Shetland has a national scenic area which, unusually, includes a number of discrete locations: Fair Isle, Foula, South West Mainland (including the Scalloway Islands
The Scalloway Islands are in Shetland opposite Scalloway on south west of the Mainland. They form a mini-archipelago and include:
* Burra (two islands linked by bridge to each other and Trondra)
** East Burra (with Houss Ness)
** West Burra
* ...
), Muckle Roe, Esha Ness
Esha Ness, also spelled Eshaness, is a peninsula on the west coast of Northmavine, on the island of Mainland, Shetland, Scotland. Esha Ness Lighthouse on the west coast, just south of Calder's Geo. It was designed by David Alan Stevenson and com ...
, Fethaland and Herma Ness. The total area covered by the designation is 41,833 ha, of which 26,347 ha is marine (i.e. below low tide).
In October 2018, legislation came into force in Scotland to prevent public bodies, without good reason, showing Shetland in a separate box in maps, as had often been the practice. The legislation requires the islands to be "displayed in a manner that accurately and proportionately represents their geographical location in relation to the rest of Scotland", so as make clear the islands' real distance from other areas.
Climate
Shetland has an oceanic temperate maritime climate (Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
: ''Cfb''), bordering on, but very slightly above average in summer temperatures, the subpolar variety, with long but cool winters and short warm summers. The climate all year round is moderate owing to the influence of the surrounding seas, with average night-time low temperatures a little above in January and February and average daytime high temperatures of near in July and August.["Shetland, Scotland Climate"](_blank)
climatetemp.info, Retrieved 6 January 2018 The highest temperature on record was on 6 August 1910 at Sumburgh Head
Sumburgh Head is a headland located at the southern tip of the Shetland Mainland in northern Scotland. The head consists of a 100 m high rocky spur and topped by the Sumburgh Head Lighthouse. In the Old Norse language, Sumburgh Head was cal ...
and the lowest in the Januaries of 1952 and 1959.[Shetland Islands Council (2005), pp. 5–9] The frost-free period may be as little as three months. In contrast, inland areas of nearby Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
on similar latitudes experience significantly larger temperature differences between summer and winter, with the average highs of regular July days comparable to Lerwick's all-time record heat that is around , further demonstrating the moderating effect of the Atlantic Ocean. In contrast, winters are considerably milder than those expected in nearby continental areas, even comparable to winter temperatures of many parts of England and Wales much further south.
The general character of the climate is windy and cloudy with at least of rain falling on more than 250 days a year. Average yearly precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
is , with November and December the wettest months. Snowfall is usually confined to the period November to February, and snow seldom lies on the ground for more than a day. Less rain falls from April to August although no month receives less than . Fog
Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...
is common during summer due to the cooling effect of the sea on mild southerly airflows.
Because of the islands' latitude
In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...
, on clear winter nights the northern lights can sometimes be seen in the sky, while in summer there is almost perpetual daylight, a state of affairs known locally as the "simmer dim". Annual bright sunshine averages 1110 hours, and overcast days are common.
Prehistory
Due to the practice, dating to at least the early Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
, of building in stone on virtually treeless islands, Shetland is extremely rich in physical remains of the prehistoric eras and there are over 5,000 archaeological sites all told. A midden
A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...
site at West Voe on the south coast of Mainland, dated to 4320–4030 BC, has provided the first evidence of Mesolithic
The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...
human activity in Shetland. The same site provides dates for early Neolithic activity and finds at Scord of Brouster
The Scord of Brouster is one of the earliest Neolithic farm sites in Shetland, Scotland. It has been dated to 2220 BC with a time window of 80 years on either side. It comprises three houses, several fields surrounded by walls, and a cairn ...
in Walls
Walls may refer to:
*The plural of wall, a structure
* Walls (surname), a list of notable people with the surname
Places
* Walls, Louisiana, United States
*Walls, Mississippi, United States
* Walls, Ontario, neighborhood in Perry, Ontario, C ...
have been dated to 3400 BC. "Shetland knives" are stone tools that date from this period made from felsite from Northmavine.[Schei (2006) p. 10]
Pottery shards found at the important site of Jarlshof also indicate that there was Neolithic activity there although the main settlement dates from the Bronze Age. This includes a Forge, smithy, a cluster of wheelhouse (archaeology), wheelhouses and a later broch. The site has provided evidence of habitation during various phases right up until Viking times. Heel-shaped cairns, are a style of chambered cairn unique to Shetland, with a particularly large example in Vementry.
Numerous brochs were erected during the Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
. In addition to Mousa there are significant ruins at Broch of Clickimin, Clickimin, Broch of Culswick, Culswick, Old Scatness and Broch of West Burrafirth, West Burrafirth, although their origin and purpose is a matter of some controversy. The later Iron Age inhabitants of the Northern Isles were probably Pictish, although the historical record is sparse. Hunter (2000) states in relation to King Bridei I of the Picts in the sixth century AD: "As for Shetland, Orkney, Skye and the Western Isles, their inhabitants, most of whom appear to have been Pictish in culture and speech at this time, are likely to have regarded Bridei as a fairly distant presence". In 2011, the collective site, "The Crucible of Iron Age Shetland", including Broch of Mousa, Old Scatness and Jarlshof, joined the UKs "Tentative List" of World Heritage Sites in Scotland, World Heritage Sites.["Sites make Unesco world heritage status bid shortlist"](_blank)
(22 March 2011) BBC Scotland. Retrieved 22 March 2011
History
Scandinavian colonisation
The expanding population of Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
led to a shortage of available resources and arable land there and led to a period of Viking expansion, the North Germanic peoples, Norse gradually shifting their attention from plundering to invasion. Shetland was colonised during the late 8th and 9th centuries, the fate of the existing indigenous Pictish population being uncertain. Modern Shetlanders still retain the Norse DNA with many family trees showing the Norse patronymic system(-sson, -dottir/daughter). Modern DNA studies such as the Viking Health Study are severely flawed as they only account for a tiny fraction of the population.[Gilbert, E ''et al'' (2019]
"The genetic landscape of Scotland and the Isles"
, Retrieved 11 September 2020
Vikings then used the islands as a base for pirate expeditions to Norway and the coasts of mainland Scotland. In response, Norwegian king Harald I of Norway, Harald Hårfagre ("Harald Fair Hair") annexed the Northern Isles (comprising Orkney and Shetland) in 875. Rognvald Eysteinsson received Earl of Orkney, Orkney and Shetland as an earldom from Harald as reparation for the death of his son in battle in Scotland, and then passed the earldom on to his brother Sigurd Eysteinsson, Sigurd the Mighty.
The islands converted to Christianity in the late 10th century. King Olaf I of Norway, Olav Tryggvasson summoned the ''earl, jarl'' Sigurd the Stout during a visit to Orkney and said, "I order you and all your subjects to be baptised. If you refuse, I'll have you killed on the spot and I swear I will ravage every island with fire and steel". Unsurprisingly, Sigurd agreed and the islands became Christian at a stroke.[Thomson (2008) p. 69 quoting the ''Orkneyinga Saga'' chapter 12.] Unusually, from c. 1100 onwards the Norse ''jarls'' owed allegiance both to Norway and to the Scottish crown through their holdings as Earls of Caithness.
In 1194, when Harald Maddadsson was Earl of Orkney, Earl of Orkney and Shetland, a rebellion broke out against King Sverre Sigurdsson of Norway. The ("Island Beardies") sailed for Norway but were beaten in the Battle of Florvåg near Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...
. After his victory King Sverre placed Shetland under direct Norwegian rule, a state of affairs that continued for nearly two centuries.[Schei (2006) p. 13]
Increased Scottish interest
From the mid-13th century onwards Scottish monarchs increasingly sought to take control of the islands surrounding their seas. The process was begun in earnest by Alexander II of Scotland, Alexander II and was continued by his successor Alexander III of Scotland, Alexander III. This strategy eventually led to an invasion of Scotland by Haakon IV of Norway, Haakon Haakonsson, King of Norway. His fleet assembled in Bressay Sound before sailing for Scotland. After the stalemate of the Battle of Largs, Haakon retreated to Orkney, where he died in December 1263, entertained on his deathbed by recitations of the sagas. His death halted any further Norwegian expansion in Scotland and following this ill-fated expedition, the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles, Hebrides and Mann were yielded to the Kingdom of Scotland as a result of the 1266 Treaty of Perth, although the Scots recognised continuing Norwegian sovereignty over Orkney and Shetland.
Absorption by Scotland
In the 14th century, Orkney and Shetland remained a Norwegian possession, but Scottish influence was growing. Jon Haraldsson, who was murdered in Thurso in 1231, was the last of an unbroken line of Norse jarls, and thereafter the earls were Scots noblemen of the houses of Earl of Angus, Angus and Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, St Clair. On the death of Haakon VI of Norway, Haakon VI in 1380, Norway formed a Kalmar Union, political union with Denmark, after which the interest of the royal house in the islands declined. In 1469, Shetland was pledge (law), pledged by Christian I of Denmark, Christian I, in his capacity as King of Norway, as security against the payment of the dowry
A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...
of his daughter Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland, Margaret, betrothed to James III of Scotland. As the money was never paid, the connection with the Crown of Scotland became permanent. In 1470, William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness, ceded his title to James III, and the following year the Northern Isles were directly absorbed to the Crown of Scotland, an action confirmed by the Parliament of Scotland in 1472. Nonetheless, Shetland's connection with Norway has proved to be enduring.
From the early 15th century onward Shetlanders sold their goods through the Hanseatic League of German merchantmen. The Hansa would buy shiploads of salted fish, wool and butter, and import salt, cloth, beer and other goods. The late 16th century and early 17th century were dominated by the influence of the despotic Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney, Robert Stewart, Earl of Orkney, who was granted the islands by his half-sister Mary, Queen of Scots, Mary Queen of Scots, and his son Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney, Patrick. The latter commenced the building of Scalloway Castle, but after his imprisonment in 1609, the Crown annexed Orkney and Shetland again until 1643, when Charles I of England, Charles I granted them to William Douglas, 7th Earl of Morton. These rights were held on and off by the Mortons until 1766, when they were sold by James Douglas, 14th Earl of Morton to Laurence Dundas.
18th and 19th centuries
The trade with the North German towns lasted until the 1707 Act of Union 1707, Act of Union, when high salt duties prevented the German merchants from trading with Shetland. Shetland then went into an economic depression, as the local traders were not as skilled in trading salted fish. However, some local merchant-lairds took up where the German merchants had left off, and fitted out their own ships to export fish from Shetland to the Continent. For the independent farmers of Shetland this had negative consequences, as they now had to fish for these merchant-lairds.["History"](_blank)
, visit.shetland.org, Retrieved 20 March 2011
Smallpox afflicted the islands in the 17th and 18th centuries (as it did all of Europe), but as Smallpox vaccine, vaccines became available after 1800, health improved. The islands were very badly hit by the Highland Potato Famine, potato famine of 1846 and the government introduced a Relief Plan for the islands under the command of Rear Admiral Robert Craigie, Captain Robert Craigie of the Royal Navy who stayed in Lerwick to oversee the project 1847–1852. During this period Craigie also did much to improve and increase roads in the islands.
Population increased to a maximum of 31,670 in 1861. However, British rule came at a price for many ordinary people as well as traders. The Shetlanders' nautical skills were sought by the Royal Navy. Some 3,000 served during the Napoleonic wars from 1800 to 1815 and impressment, press gangs were rife. During this period 120 men were taken from Fetlar alone, and only 20 of them returned home. By the late 19th century 90% of all Shetland was owned by just 32 people, and between 1861 and 1881 more than 8,000 Shetlanders emigrated.[Schei (2006) pp. 16–17, 57] With the passing of the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886, Crofters' Act in 1886 the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal prime minister William Ewart Gladstone, William Gladstone emancipated crofters from the rule of the landlords. The Act enabled those who had effectively been landowners' serfs to become owner-occupiers of their own small farms. By this time fishermen from Holland, who had traditionally gathered each year off the coast of Shetland to fish for herring, triggered an industry in the islands that boomed from around 1880 until the 1920s when stocks of the fish began to dwindle. The production peaked in 1905 at more than a million barrels, of which 708,000 were exported.
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 established a uniform system of county councils in Scotland and realigned the boundaries of many of Scotland's counties: Zetland County Council, which was created in 1890, was established at County Buildings, Lerwick, County Buildings in Lerwick.
20th century
During World War I, many Shetlanders served in the Gordon Highlanders, a further 3,000 served in the Merchant Navy, and more than 1,500 in a special local naval reserve. The 10th Cruiser Squadron was stationed at Swarbacks Minn (the stretch of water to the south of Muckle Roe), and during a single year from March 1917 more than 4,500 ships sailed from Lerwick as part of an escorted convoy system. In total, Shetland lost more than 500 men, a higher proportion than any other part of Britain, and there were further waves of emigration in the 1920s and 1930s.[Nicolson (1972) pp. 91, 94–95]
During World War II, a Norwegian naval unit nicknamed the "Shetland bus, Shetland Bus" was established by the Special Operations Executive in the autumn of 1940 with a base first at Lunna House, Lunna and later in Scalloway to conduct operations around the coast of Norway. About 30 fishing vessels used by Norwegian refugees were gathered and the Shetland Bus conducted covert operations, carrying intelligence agents, refugees, instructors for the resistance, and military supplies. It made over 200 trips across the sea, and Leif Larsen, the most highly decorated Allies of World War II, allied naval officer of the war, made 52 of them.["The Shetland Bus"](_blank)
, scotsatwar.org.uk, Retrieved 23 March 2011 Several RAF airfields and sites were also established at Sullom Voe and several lighthouses suffered enemy air attacks.
Oil reserves discovered in the later 20th century in the seas both east and west of Shetland have provided a much-needed alternative source of income for the islands. The East Shetland Basin is one of Europe's prolific petroleum provinces. As a result of the oil revenue and the cultural links with Norway, a small Shetland Movement, Home Rule movement developed briefly to recast the constitutional position of Shetland. It saw as its models the Isle of Man, as well as Shetland's closest neighbour, the Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...
, an autonomous dependency of Denmark.
The population stood at 17,814 in 1961.
Economy
Today, the main revenue producers in Shetland are agriculture, aquaculture, fishing, renewable energy in Scotland, renewable energy, the petroleum, petroleum industry (crude oil and natural gas production), the creative industries and tourism. Unst also has a Spaceport, rocket launch site called SaxaVord Spaceport (previously known as Shetland Space Centre). A February 2021 news item indicated that a rocket manufacturer from Germany, HyImpulse Technologies, planned to launch spacecraft powered by hydrogen from the Spaceport, starting in 2023. During the previous month, the Space Centre had filed plans with Council for a "satellite launch facility and associated infrastructure".
As of February 2021, information on the Promote Shetland Web site indicated that "Shetland is less reliant on tourism than many Scottish islands" and that oil was an important sector of the economy. The "process of gradually transitioning from oil to clean renewable energy ... production of clean hydrogen" was also emphasized. Fishing remained the primary sector and was expected to grow.
Fishing
Fishing is central to the islands' economy today, with the total catch being in 2009, valued at over £73.2 million. Atlantic mackerel, Mackerel makes up more than half of the catch in Shetland by weight and value, and there are significant landings of haddock, atlantic cod, cod, atlantic herring, herring, merlangius merlangus, whiting, lophius piscatorius, monkfish and shellfish.
A report published in October 2020 was optimistic about the future of this sector in: "With new fish markets in Lerwick and Scalloway, and plans to expand its aquaculture offerings in Yell, Shetland is preparing for more growth in its biggest industry".
As of February 2021, the Promote Shetland Web site stated that "more fish is landed in Shetland than in England, Wales and Northern Ireland combined', that "Shetland harvests 40,000 tonnes of salmon a year, worth £180 million" and that "6,500 tonnes of mussels are grown in Shetland, more than 80 per cent of the total Scottish production".
Energy and fossil fuels
Oil and gas were first landed in 1978 at Sullom Voe, which has subsequently become one of the largest terminals in Europe. Taxes from the oil have increased public sector spending on social welfare, art, sport, environmental measures and financial development. Three quarters of the islands' workforce is employed in the service sector, and the Shetland Islands Council
The Shetland Islands Council ( sco, Shetland Islands Cooncil; gd, Comhairle Shealtainn) is the local authority for Shetland, Scotland. It was established by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and is the successor to the former Lerwick Tow ...
alone accounted for 27.9% of output in 2003. Shetland's access to oil revenues has funded the Shetland Charitable Trust, which in turn funds a wide variety of local programmes. The balance of the fund in 2011 was £217 million, i.e., about £9,500 per head.
In January 2007, the Shetland Islands Council signed a partnership agreement with Scottish and Southern Energy for the Viking Wind Farm, a 200-turbine wind farm and subsea cable. This renewable energy project would produce about 600 watt, megawatts and contribute about £20 million to the Shetland economy per year. The plan met with significant opposition within the islands, primarily resulting from the anticipated visual impact of the development. The PURE project in Unst is a research centre which uses a combination of wind power and fuel cells to create a wind-Hydrogen Hybrid Power Systems, wind hydrogen system. The project is run by the Unst Partnership, the local community's development trust.
A status report on hydrogen production in Shetland, published in September 2020, stated that Shetland Islands Council (SIC) had "joined a number of organisations and projects to drive forward plans to establish hydrogen as a future energy source for the isles and beyond". For example, it was a member of the Scottish Hydrogen Fuel Cell Association (SHFCA). The ORION project, previously named the Shetland Energy Hub, was underway; the plan was to create an energy hub that would use clean electricity in the development of "new technologies such as blue and green hydrogen generation".
In December 2020 the Scottish government released a hydrogen policy statement with plans for incorporating both Blue hydrogen, blue and green hydrogen for use in heating, transportation and industry. The government also planned an investment of £100 million in the hydrogen sector "for the £180 million Emerging Energy Technologies Fund". Shetland Islands Council planned to obtain further specifics about the availability of funding. The government had already agreed that the production of "green" hydrogen from wind power near Sullom Voe Terminal was a valid plan. A December 2020 report stated that "the extensive terminal could also be used for direct refuelling of hydrogen-powered ships" and suggested that the fourth jetty at Sullom Voe "could be suitable for ammonia export".
Farming and textiles
Farming is mostly concerned with the raising of Shetland (sheep), Shetland sheep, known for their unusually fine wool.
Knitwear is important both to the economy and culture of Shetland, and the Fair Isle (technique), Fair Isle design is well known. However, the industry faces challenges due to plagiarism of the word "Shetland" by manufacturers operating elsewhere, and a certification trademark, "The Shetland Lady", has been registered.
Crofting, the farming of small plots of land on a legally restricted tenancy basis, is still practised and is viewed as a key Shetland tradition as well as an important source of income. Crops raised include oats and barley; however, the cold, windswept islands make for a harsh environment for most plants.
Media
Shetland is served by a weekly local newspaper, ''The Shetland Times'' and the online ''Shetland News'' with radio service being provided by BBC Radio Shetland and the commercial radio station SIBC.
Tourism
Shetland is a popular destination for cruise ships, and in 2010 the Lonely Planet guide named Shetland as the sixth best region in the world for tourists seeking unspoilt destinations. The islands were described as "beautiful and rewarding" and the Shetlanders as "a fiercely independent and self-reliant bunch". Overall visitor expenditure was worth £16.4 million in 2006, in which year just under 26,000 cruise liner passengers arrived at Lerwick Harbour. This business has grown substantially with 109 cruise ships already booked in for 2019, representing over 107,000 passenger visits. In 2009, the most popular visitor attractions were the Shetland Museum, the RSPB reserve at Sumburgh Head, Bonhoga Gallery at Weisdale Mill and Jarlshof. Geopark Shetland (now Shetland UNESCO Global Geopark) was established by the Amenity Trust in 2009 to boost sustainable tourism to the islands.
According to the Promote Shetland organisation's website, tourism increased "by £12.6 million between 2017 and 2019 with more than half of visitors giving their trip a perfect rating".
Extremely popular in many countries, with five series having been filmed and aired by early 2021, Shetland (TV series) was inspired by the Ann Cleeves books about the fictional Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez. This has created an interest in Shetland and some tourists visit because they wish to see the places where the series is set and filmed. In 2018, series star Douglas Henshall said in an interview, "When we were there filming, there’s people from Australia and different parts of America who had come specifically because of the show ... It’s showing all over the world. Now you get a lot of people from Scandinavia on these noir tours".
An October 2018 report stated that 91,000 passengers from cruise ships arrived that year (a record high), an increase over the 70,000 in 2017. There was a drop in 2019 to "over 76,000 cruise ship passengers".
Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic
Tourism dropped significantly in 2020 (and into 2021) due to restrictions necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the major decline in the number of cruise ships that continued to operate worldwide.
As of early February 2021, the Promote Shetland website was still stating this information: "At present, nobody should travel to Shetland from a Level 3 or Level 4 local authority area in Scotland, unless it's for essential purposes". That page reiterated the government recommendation "that people avoid any unnecessary travel between Scotland and England, Wales, or Northern Ireland".
A September 2020 report stated that "The Highlands and Islands region has been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic to date, when compared to Scotland and the UK as a whole". The tourism industry required short term support for "business survival and recovery" and that was expected to continue as the sector was "severely impacted for as long as physical distancing and travel restrictions". As of 31 December 2020, the usage of ferries and buses was restricted to those traveling for essential purposes. The Island Equivalent scheme was introduced in early 2021 by the Scottish government to financially assist hospitality and retail businesses "affected by Level 3 coronavirus restrictions". Previous schemes in 2020 included the Strategic Framework Business Fund and the Coronavirus Business Support Fund.
Quarries
* Brindister:
* Scord:
Scalloway 05
* Sullom:
* Vatster:
Transport
Transport between islands is primarily by ferry, and Shetland Islands Council operates various SIC Ferries, inter-island services. Shetland is also served by a domestic connection from Lerwick to Aberdeen on mainland Scotland. This service, which takes about 12 hours, is operated by NorthLink Ferries. Some services also call at Kirkwall, Orkney, which increases the journey time between Aberdeen and Lerwick by 2 hours. There are plans for road tunnels to some of the islands, especially Bressay
Bressay ( sco, Bressa) is a populated island in the Shetland archipelago of Scotland.
Geography and geology
Bressay lies due south of Whalsay, west of the Isle of Noss, and north of Mousa. With an area of , it is the fifth-largest island in Shet ...
and Whalsay
Whalsay ( sco, Whalsa; non, Hvalsey or ''Hvals-øy'', meaning 'Whale Island') is the sixth largest of the Shetland Islands in the north of Scotland.
Geography
Whalsay, also known as "The Bonnie Isle", is a peat-covered island in the Shetland I ...
; however, it is hard to convince the mainland government to finance them.
Sumburgh Airport, the main airport in Shetland, is located close to Sumburgh Head, south of Lerwick. Loganair operates flights to other parts of Scotland up to ten times a day, the destinations being Kirkwall, Aberdeen, Inverness, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Tingwall Airport, Lerwick/Tingwall Airport is located west of Lerwick. Operated by Directflight Limited in partnership with Shetland Islands Council, it is devoted to inter-island flights from the Shetland Mainland to Fair Isle Airport, Fair Isle and Foula Airfield, Foula.
Scatsta Airport was an airport near Sullom Voe which allowed frequent charter flights from Aberdeen Airport, Aberdeen to transport oilfield workers. The airport closed on 30 June 2020.
Public bus services are operated in Mainland
Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...
, Trondra
Trondra ( sco, Trondra) is one of the Scalloway Islands, a subgroup of the Shetland Islands in Scotland. It shelters the harbour of Scalloway and has an area of .
History
Trondra was becoming rapidly depopulated until 1970, when road bridges were ...
, Burra, Shetland, Burra, Unst
Unst (; sco, Unst; nrn, Ønst) is one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. It is the northernmost of the inhabited British Isles and is the third-largest island in Shetland after Mainland and Yell. It has an area of .
Unst ...
and Yell, Shetland, Yell, with scheduled dial-a-ride services available in Bressay
Bressay ( sco, Bressa) is a populated island in the Shetland archipelago of Scotland.
Geography and geology
Bressay lies due south of Whalsay, west of the Isle of Noss, and north of Mousa. With an area of , it is the fifth-largest island in Shet ...
and Fetlar
Fetlar ( sco, Fetlar) is one of the North Isles of Shetland, Scotland, with a usually resident population of 61 at the time of the 2011 census. Its main settlement is Houbie on the south coast, home to the Fetlar Interpretive Centre. Fetlar is ...
. Buses also connect with ferries leading to Foula
Foula (; sco, also Foola; nrn, Fuglø), located in the Shetland archipelago of Scotland, is one of the United Kingdom’s most remote permanently inhabited islands. Owned since the turn of the 20th century by the Holbourn family, the island wa ...
, Papa Stour
Papa Stour ( sco, Papa Stour) is one of the Shetland Islands in Scotland, with a population of under fifteen people, some of whom immigrated after an appeal for residents in the 1970s. Located to the west of mainland Shetland and with an area o ...
, and Whalsay
Whalsay ( sco, Whalsa; non, Hvalsey or ''Hvals-øy'', meaning 'Whale Island') is the sixth largest of the Shetland Islands in the north of Scotland.
Geography
Whalsay, also known as "The Bonnie Isle", is a peat-covered island in the Shetland I ...
.
The archipelago is exposed to wind and tide, and there are numerous sites of wrecked ships. Lighthouses are sited as an aid to navigation at various locations.
Government
The Shetland Islands Council
The Shetland Islands Council ( sco, Shetland Islands Cooncil; gd, Comhairle Shealtainn) is the local authority for Shetland, Scotland. It was established by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and is the successor to the former Lerwick Tow ...
is the local government authority for all the islands and is based in Lerwick Town Hall.
Shetland is sub-divided into 18 community council areas and into 12 list of civil parishes in Scotland, civil parishes that are used for statistical purposes.
Education
As of early 2021, Shetland had 22 primary schools, five junior high schools, and two high schools: Anderson High School, Lerwick, Anderson High School and Brae High School.
Shetland College UHI is a partner of the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI). UHI’s Centre for Rural Creativity partners with Shetland Arts Development Agency to provide courses on film, music and media up to Masters level at Mareel. The North Atlantic Fisheries College (NAFC) also operates in partnership with UHI offering "a range of training courses relevant to the maritime industries".
The Institute for Northern Studies, operated by UHI, provides "postgraduate teaching and research programmes"; one of the three locations is at Shetland.
Sport
The Shetland Football Association oversees two divisions — a Premier League and a Reserve League — which are affiliated with the Scottish Amateur Football Association. Seasons take place during summer.
The islands are represented by the Shetland football team, which regularly competes in the Island Games.
Churches and religion
The Reformation reached the archipelago in 1560. This was an apparently peaceful transition and there is little evidence of religious intolerance in Shetland's recorded history.
In the 2011 census, Shetland registered a higher proportion of people with no religion than the Scottish average. Nevertheless, a variety of religious denominations are represented in the islands.
The Methodist Church of Great Britain, Methodist Church has a relatively high membership in Shetland, which is a District of the Methodist Church (with the rest of Scotland comprising a separate District).
The Church of Scotland had a Presbyterian polity, Presbytery of Shetland that includes Lerwick and Bressay Parish Church, St. Columba's Church in Lerwick.
On 1 June 2020 the Presbytery of Shetland merged with the Presbytery of Aberdeen becoming the Presbytery of Aberdeen and Shetland. In addition there was further church reorganisation in the islands with a series of church closures and all parishes merging into one, covering the whole of Shetland.
The Catholic population is served by the church of St. Margaret and the Sacred Heart in Lerwick. The parish is part of the Diocese of Aberdeen.
The Scottish Episcopal Church (part of the Anglican Communion) has regular worship at: St Magnus' Church, Lerwick; St Colman's Church, Burravoe; and the Chapel of Christ the Encompasser, Fetlar, the last of which is maintained by the Society of Our Lady of the Isles, the most northerly and remote Anglican religious order of nuns.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a congregation in Lerwick. The former print works and offices of the local newspaper, The Shetland Times, has been converted into a chapel.
Jehovah’s Witnesses has a congregation and Kingdom Hall in Lerwick.
Politics
Shetland is represented in the British House of Commons, House of Commons as part of the Orkney and Shetland (UK Parliament constituency), Orkney and Shetland United Kingdom constituencies, constituency, which elects one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP). As of February 2021, and since 2001 UK general election, 2001, the MP is Alistair Carmichael, a Liberal Democrat. He grew up on Islay, the son of hill farmers who raised sheep and cattle and worked at various occupations before running for election.
This seat has been held by the Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrats or their predecessors the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party since 1950 UK general election, 1950, longer than any other seat in the United Kingdom.
In the Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...
the Shetland (Scottish Parliament constituency), Shetland constituency elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality voting system, first past the post system. Tavish Scott of the Scottish Liberal Democrats had held the seat since the creation of the Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...
in 1999. Beatrice Wishart MSP, also of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, was elected to replace Tavish Scott in August 2019. Shetland is within the Highlands and Islands (Scottish Parliament electoral region), Highlands and Islands scottish Parliament constituencies and regions, electoral region.
The political composition of the Shetland Islands Council is 21 Independent politician, Independents and 1 Scottish National Party.
In the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, 2014 referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom, Shetland voted to remain in the United Kingdom by the third largest margin of the 32 local authority areas, by 63.71% to 36.29% in favour of the Union.
In the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, Shetland voted for the UK to remain an European Union, EU Member state of the European Union, member state, with 56.5% voting to remain and 43.5% voting to leave. In comparison to the rest of Scotland, Shetland had lower-than-average support for remaining in the EU.
The Wir Shetland movement was set up in 2015 to campaign for greater autonomy. In September 2020, the Shetland Islands Council voted 18–2 to explore replacing the council with a new system of government which controls a fairer share of the islands revenue streams and has a greater influence over their own affairs, which could include very lucrative oil fields and fishing waters.
In 2022, as part of the Levelling up policy of the Boris Johnson government#White paper, Levelling Up White Paper, an "Island Forum" was proposed, which would allow local policymakers and residents in Shetland to work alongside their counterparts in Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
, the Outer Hebrides, Western Isles, Anglesey and the Isle of Wight on common issues, such as broadband connectivity, and provide a platform for them to communicate directly with the government on the challenges island communities face in terms of levelling up.
Shetland flag
Roy Grönneberg, who founded the local chapter of the Scottish National Party in 1966, designed the flag of Shetland in cooperation with Bill Adams to mark the 500th anniversary of the transfer of the islands from Norway to Scotland. The colours are identical to those of the flag of Scotland, but are shaped in the Nordic cross. After several unsuccessful attempts, including a referendum, plebiscite in 1985, the Lord Lyon King of Arms approved it as the official flag of Shetland in 2005.["Flag of Shetland"]
, Flags of the World, Retrieved 19 March 2011
Local culture and the arts
After the islands were officially transferred from Norway to Scotland in 1472, several Scots families from the Scottish Lowlands emigrated to Shetland in the 16th and 17th centuries.[Goodacre, S. ''et al'' (2005]
"Genetic evidence for a family-based Scandinavian settlement of Shetland and Orkney during the Viking periods"
''Heredity'' 95, pp. 129–135. nature.com, Retrieved 20 March 2011 Studies of the genetic makeup of the islands' population, however, indicate that Shetlanders are just under half Scandinavian in origin, and sizeable amounts of Scandinavian ancestry, both patrilineal and matrilineal, have been reported in Orkney (55%) and Shetland (68%). This combination is reflected in many aspects of local life. For example, almost every place name in use can be traced back to the Vikings. The Lerwick Up Helly Aa
Up Helly Aa ( ; literally "Up Holy .html" ;"title="ay/nowiki>">ay/nowiki> All") is a type of fire festival held annually from January to March in various communities in Shetland, Scotland, to mark the end of the Yule season. Each festival inv ...
is one of several fire festivals held in Shetland annually in the middle of winter, starting on the last Tuesday of January. The festival is just over 100 years old in its present, highly organised form. Originally held to break up the long nights of winter and mark the end of Yule, the festival has become one celebrating the isles' heritage and includes a procession of men dressed as Vikings and the burning of a replica longship.
Shetland also competes in the biennial International Island Games Association, International Island Games, which it hosted in 2005 Island Games, 2005.
The cuisine of Shetland is based on locally produced lamb, beef and seafood, some of it organic food, organic. The real ale-producing Valhalla Brewery is the most northerly in Britain. The Shetland Black is a variety of blue potato with a dark skin and indigo-coloured flesh markings.
Language
The Norn language
Norn is an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in the Northern Isles (Orkney and Shetland) off the north coast of mainland Scotland and in Caithness in the far north of the Scottish mainland. After Orkney and Shetland were pledged t ...
was a form of Old Norse language, Old Norse spoken in the Northern Isles, and continued to be spoken until the 18th century. It was gradually replaced in Shetland by an insular dialect of Scots, known as Shetlandic, which is in turn being replaced by Scottish English. Although Norn was spoken for hundreds of years, it is now extinct and few written sources remain, although influences remain in the Insular Scots dialects. Shetland dialect is used in local radio and dialect writing, and is kept alive by organisations such as Shetland Forwirds, and the Shetland Folk Society.
Music
Shetland's culture and landscapes have inspired a variety of musicians, writers and film-makers. The Forty Fiddlers was formed in the 1950s to promote the traditional fiddle style, which is a vibrant part of local culture today. Notable exponents of Shetland folk music include Aly Bain, Jenna Reid, Fiddlers' Bid, and the late Tom Anderson (fiddler), Tom Anderson and Peerie Willie Johnson. Thomas Fraser (singer), Thomas Fraser was a country musician who never released a commercial recording during his life, but whose work has become popular more than 20 years after his death in 1978.
The annual Shetland Folk Festival began in 1981 and is hosted on the first weekend of May.
Writers
Walter Scott's 1822 novel ''The Pirate (novel), The Pirate'' is set in "a remote part of Shetland", and was inspired by his 1814 visit to the islands. The name ''Jarlshof'' meaning "Earl's Mansion" is a coinage of his.["Jarlshof"](_blank)
, Gazetteer for Scotland, Retrieved 2 August 2008 Robert Cowie, a doctor born in Lerwick published the 1874 work.
Hugh MacDiarmid, the Scots poet and writer, lived in Whalsay from the mid-1930s through 1942, and wrote many poems there, including a number that directly address or reflect the Shetland environment, such as "On A Raised Beach", which was inspired by a visit to West Linga. The 1975 novel ''North Star'' by Hammond Innes is largely set in Shetland and Raman Mundair's 2007 book of poetry ''A Choreographer's Cartography'' offers a British Asian perspective on the landscape. The ''Shetland Quartet'' by Ann Cleeves, who previously lived in Fair Isle
Fair Isle (; sco, Fair Isle; non, Friðarey; gd, Fara) is an island in Shetland, in northern Scotland. It lies about halfway between mainland Shetland and Orkney. It is known for its bird observatory and a traditional style of knitting. Th ...
, is a series of crime novels set around the islands. In 2013, her novel ''Red Bones'' became the basis of BBC crime drama television series ''Shetland (TV series), Shetland''.
Vagaland, who grew up in Walls, was arguably Shetland's finest poet of the 20th century. Haldane Burgess was a Shetland historian, poet, novelist, violinist, linguist and socialist, and Rhoda Bulter (1929–1994) is one of the best-known Shetland poets of recent times. Other 20th- and 21st-century poets and novelists include Christine De Luca, Robert Alan Jamieson who grew up in Sandness, the late Lollie Graham of Veensgarth, Stella Sutherland of Bressay
Bressay ( sco, Bressa) is a populated island in the Shetland archipelago of Scotland.
Geography and geology
Bressay lies due south of Whalsay, west of the Isle of Noss, and north of Mousa. With an area of , it is the fifth-largest island in Shet ...
, the late William J. Tait from Yell and Laureen Johnson.
There is one monthly magazine in production: ''Shetland''. The quarterly ''The New Shetlander'', founded in 1947, is said to be Scotland's longest-running literary magazine. For much of the later 20th century, it was the major vehicle for the work of local writers — and of others, including early work by George Mackay Brown.
Films and television
Michael Powell made ''The Edge of the World'' in 1937, a dramatisation based on the true story of the evacuation of the last 36 inhabitants of the remote island of St Kilda, Scotland, St Kilda on 29 August 1930. St Kilda lies in the Atlantic Ocean, west of the Outer Hebrides but Powell was unable to get permission to film there. Undaunted, he made the film over four months during the summer of 1936 in Foula and the film transposes these events to Shetland. Forty years later, the documentary ''Return to the Edge of the World'' was filmed, capturing a reunion of cast and crew of the film as they revisited the island in 1978.
A number of other films have been made on or about Shetland including ''A Crofter's Life in Shetland'' (1932), ''A Shetland Lyric'' (1934), ''Devil's Gate (2004 film), Devil's Gate'' (2003) and ''It's Nice Up North'' (2006), a comedy documentary by Graham Fellows. The Screenplay film festival takes place annually in Mareel, a cinema, music and education venue.
The BBC One television series ''Shetland (TV series), Shetland'', a crime drama, is set in the islands and is based on the book series by Ann Cleeves. The programme is filmed partly in Shetland and partly on the Scottish mainland.
Wildlife
Shetland has three national nature reserve (United Kingdom), national nature reserves, at the seabird colonies of Hermaness and Noss, and at Keen of Hamar to preserve the Serpentine soil, serpentine flora. There are a further 81 SSSIs, which cover 66% or more of the land surfaces of Fair Isle
Fair Isle (; sco, Fair Isle; non, Friðarey; gd, Fara) is an island in Shetland, in northern Scotland. It lies about halfway between mainland Shetland and Orkney. It is known for its bird observatory and a traditional style of knitting. Th ...
, Papa Stour
Papa Stour ( sco, Papa Stour) is one of the Shetland Islands in Scotland, with a population of under fifteen people, some of whom immigrated after an appeal for residents in the 1970s. Located to the west of mainland Shetland and with an area o ...
, Fetlar
Fetlar ( sco, Fetlar) is one of the North Isles of Shetland, Scotland, with a usually resident population of 61 at the time of the 2011 census. Its main settlement is Houbie on the south coast, home to the Fetlar Interpretive Centre. Fetlar is ...
, Noss and Foula
Foula (; sco, also Foola; nrn, Fuglø), located in the Shetland archipelago of Scotland, is one of the United Kingdom’s most remote permanently inhabited islands. Owned since the turn of the 20th century by the Holbourn family, the island wa ...
. Mainland has 45 separate sites.[Shetland Islands Council (2010) p. 52]
Flora
The landscape in Shetland is marked by the grazing of sheep and the harsh conditions have limited the total number of plant species to about 400. Native trees such as sorbus aucuparia, rowan and malus sylvestris, crab apple are only found in a few isolated places such as cliffs and loch islands. The flora is dominated by Arctic-alpine plants, wild flowers, moss and lichen. Scilla verna, Spring squill, plantago coronopus, buck's-horn plantain, Scots lovage, rhodiola rosea, roseroot and silene uniflora, sea campion are abundant, especially in sheltered places. Shetland mouse-ear (''Cerastium nigrescens'') is an endemism, endemic flowering plant found only in Shetland. It was first recorded in 1837 by botanist Thomas Edmondston. Although reported from two other sites in the nineteenth century, it currently grows only on two serpentine hills in the island of Unst. The nationally scarce mertensia, oysterplant is found in several islands and the British IUCN Red List, Red Listed bryophyte ''Thamnobryum, Thamnobryum alopecurum'' has also been recorded. Listed marine algae include: ''Polysiphonia fibrillosa'' (Dillwyn) Sprengel, ''Polysiphonia atlantica'' Kapraun and J.Norris, ''Polysiphonia brodiaei'' (Dillwyn) Sprengel, ''Polysiphonia elongata'' (Hudson) Sprengel, ''Polysiphonia elongella'', Harvey The Shetland Monkeyflower is unique to Shetland and is a mutation of the Erythranthe, Monkeyflower ''(mimulus guttatus'') introduced to Shetland in the 19th century.
Fauna
Shetland has numerous seabird colonies. Birds found in the islands include Atlantic puffin, European storm-petrel, storm-petrel, red-throated diver, northern gannet and great skua (locally called the "bonxie").[SNH (2008) p. 16] Numerous rarities have also been recorded including black-browed albatross and snow goose, and a single pair of snowy owls bred in Fetlar from 1967 to 1975. The Shetland wren, Fair Isle wren and Shetland starling are subspecies endemism, endemic to Shetland.["Endemic Vertebrates of Shetland"](_blank)
, Nature in Shetland, Retrieved 12 March 2011 There are also populations of various moorland birds such as Eurasian curlew, curlew, Northern lapwing, lapwing, common snipe, snipe and eurasian golden plover, golden plover.
One of the early ornithologists that wrote about the wealth of birdlife in Shetland was Edmund Selous (1857–1934) in his book ''The Bird Watcher in the Shetlands'' (1905). He writes extensively about the gulls and terns, about the arctic skuas, the black guillemots and many other birds (and the seals) of the islands.
The geographical isolation and recent glacial history of Shetland have resulted in a depleted mammalian fauna and the brown rat and house mouse are two of only three species of rodent present in the islands. The Shetland field mouse is the third and the archipelago's fourth endemic subspecies, of which there are three varieties in Yell, Foula and Fair Isle. They are variants of ''Wood mouse, Apodemus sylvaticus'' and archaeological evidence suggests that this species was present during the Middle Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
(around 200 BC to 400 AD). It is possible that ''Apodemus'' was introduced from Orkney where a population has existed since at the least the Bronze Age.
Domesticated animals
There is a variety of indigenous breeds, of which the diminutive Shetland pony
The Shetland pony is a Scottish breed of pony originating in the Shetland Isles in the north of Scotland. It may stand up to at the withers. It has a heavy coat and short legs, is strong for its size, and is used for riding, driving, and pa ...
is probably the best known, as well as being an important part of the Shetland farming tradition. The first written record of the pony was in 1603 in the Court Books of Shetland and, for its size, it is the strongest of all the horse breeds.["Breed History"](_blank)
, Shetland Pony Studbook Society, Retrieved 11 May 2012 Others are the Shetland Sheepdog
The Shetland Sheepdog, often known as the Sheltie, is a breed of herding dog that originated in the Shetland Islands of Scotland. The original name was ''Shetland Collie,'' but this caused controversy amongst Rough Collie breeders of the time, s ...
or "Sheltie", the endangered Shetland cattle and Shetland goose and the Shetland sheep
The Shetland is a small, wool-producing breed of sheep originating in the Shetland Isles, Scotland, but is now also kept in many other parts of the world. It is part of the Northern European short-tailed sheep group, and it is closely relat ...
which is believed to have originated prior to 1000 AD. The Grice was a breed of semi-domesticated pig that had a habit of attacking lambs. It became extinct sometime between the middle of the nineteenth century and the 1930s.
See also
Lists
* List of counties of the United Kingdom
* List of islands in Scotland
* List of populated places in Shetland
About Shetland
* Mavis Grind
* Udal law
Others
*
* Battle of Florvåg
* Rögnvald Kali Kolsson
* Timeline of prehistoric Scotland
* Prehistoric Scotland
* Constitutional status of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles
Notes
References
General references
* Armit, I.; (2003), ''Towers in the North: The Brochs of Scotland'', Stroud, Tempus,
* Ballin Smith, B. and Banks, I.; (ed. 2002), ''In the Shadow of the Brochs, the Iron Age in Scotland'', Stroud, Tempus,
* Barrett, James H.; "The Norse in Scotland" in Brink, Stefan, (ed. 2008), ''The Viking World'', Abingdon, Routledge,
* Clapperton, Chalmers M.; (ed. 1983), ''Scotland: A New Study'', Newton Abbott, David & Charles
* Gillen, Con; (2003), ''Geology and landscapes of Scotland'', Harpenden, Terra Publishing,
* James Graham-Campbell, Graham-Campbell, James; (1999), ''Cultural Atlas of the Viking World'', Facts On File,
* Fleming, Andrew; (2005), ''St. Kilda and the Wider World: Tales of an Iconic Island'', Windgather Press,
* Gammeltoft, Peder; (2010),
Shetland and Orkney Island-Names – A Dynamic Group
", ''Northern Lights, Northern Words'', Selected Papers from the FRLSU Conference, Kirkwall 2009, edited by Robert McColl Millar
*
*
* James Hunter (historian), Hunter, James; (2000), ''Last of the Free: A History of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland'', Edinburgh, Mainstream,
* Jones, Charles; (ed. 1997), ''The Edinburgh history of the Scots language'', Edinburgh University Press,
* Keay, J. & Keay, J.; (1994), ''Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland'', London, HarperCollins,
* Noble, Gordon; Poller, Tessa & Verrill, Lucy; (2008), ''Scottish Odysseys: The Archaeology of Islands'', Stroud, Tempus,
* Omand, Donald; (ed. 2003), ''The Orkney Book'', Edinburgh, Birlinn,
* Nicolson, James R.; (1972), ''Shetland'', Newton Abbott, David & Charles
* Sandnes, Berit; (2003),
From Starafjall to Starling Hill: An investigation of the formation and development of Old Norse place-names in Orkney
'', (pdf), Doctoral Dissertation, NTU Trondheim
* Schei, Liv Kjørsvik; (2006), ''The Shetland Isles'', Grantown-on-Spey, Colin Baxter Photography,
* NatureScot, Scottish Natural Heritage, (2008), ''The Story of Hermaness National Nature Reserve'', Lerwick
* Shetland Islands Council, (2005)
"Shetland In Statistics 2005"
(pdf), Economic Development Unit, Lerwick, Retrieved 19 March 2011
* Shetland Islands Council, (2010)
"Shetland in Statistics 2010"
(pdf), Economic Development Unit, Lerwick, Retrieved 6 March 2011
* Thomson, William P. L.; (2008), ''The New History of Orkney'', Edinburgh, Birlinn,
* Turner, Val; (1998), ''Ancient Shetland'', London, B. T. Batsford/Historic Scotland,
* William J. Watson, Watson, William J.; (1994), ''The Celtic Place-Names of Scotland'', Edinburgh, Birlinn, , First published 1926.
Further reading
*
*Shepherd, Mike (2015). Oil Strike North Sea: A first-hand history of North Sea oil. Luath Press.
*
External links
*
Shetland Islands Council
www.shetland.org
shetlopedia.com, – The Online Shetland Encyclopedia
HIE Area Profile – Shetland
(PDF file) from Highlands and Islands Enterprise
Shetlink – Shetland's Online Community
National Library of Scotland: Scottish Screen Archive
(selection of archive films about Shetland)
{{Viking
Shetland,
Council areas of Scotland
Counties of Scotland
Former Norwegian colonies
Former Danish colonies
Highlands and Islands of Scotland
Lieutenancy areas of Scotland
National scenic areas of Scotland
Northern Isles
Kingdom of Norway (872–1397)
Archipelagoes of Scotland
Archipelagoes of the Atlantic Ocean
Counties of the United Kingdom (1801–1922)