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Hebrides

Geography
Hebrides
Map of Inner Hebrides (red) and outer (yellow).
Country	United Kingdom
Location	Atlantic Ocean
Area	7 285 km ²
Number of islands	over 150
Island (s) principal (s)	Lewis and Harris , Skye , Mull , Islay , Jura , North Uist , South Uist
Climax	Sgurr Alasdair (993 m on Skye )
Geology	Continental islands
Administration
United Kingdom
Constituent nation	Scotland
Council area	Highland , Argyll and Bute , Western Isles
Demography
Population	44 600 hab. (2001)
Density	6.12 inhabitants / km ²
Largest city	Stornoway
Other information
Discovery	Prehistory
Time Zone	UTC +0
Archipelagos of the United Kingdom

The Hebrides (Na h-Innse Gallen, Scotland ) are an archipelago in the United Kingdom to the west of Scotland. These islands are divided into two main groups:

the Inner Hebrides (Na h-Eileanan a-Staigh in Scotland ), including the islands of Skye , Mull , Islay , Jura , Iona , the Small Isles and the Slate Islands ;
the Outer Hebrides (Na h-Eileanan Siar, in Scotland ), including the islands of Lewis and Harris , Berneray , North Uist , South Uist , Barra and St Kilda.

The Hebrides are sometimes called the Western Isles , a term which in reality is more appropriate to describe only the Outer Hebrides.

The other groups of islands of Scotland, it should not be included in the Hebrides as is sometimes the case, are the Shetlands , the Orkney Islands and the Firth of Clyde ( Arran , Bute , etc..).

The Hebrides is the region of the UK where Scotland is the most talked about.

Summary

/ / Languages

The Scottish is the majority language in the archipelago, especially in the Outer Hebrides. It is official with the English. The Scottish spoken and taught among the people of the Hebrides. The road signs are displayed as dual Scottish / English ^History

Prehistory

The Hebrides were among the last lands of the British Isles to be occupied, perhaps as early as the Mesolithic period , around -8500 to -8250, as soon as weather permitted human occupation. There are examples of structures possibly dating -3000, one of the best examples being the Stones of Calanais (Callanish), but some archaeologists date the site of the Bronze Age. We know little about the peoples who occupied the Hebrides, but they were probably the same origin as those who settled in Scotland. Human Settlements Northton and Harris have housing characteristics of the Beaker culture and the Neolithic.

Celtic Period

The first written mention of the Outer Hebrides is due to the Greek historian Diodorus of Sicily in -55. It evokes an island he called Hyperborea (which can be roughly translated as "far north") where there was a circular temple of the moon seemed to appear a short distance from the earth every 19 years, a possible reference the stone circle Callan. Pomponius Mela , a geographer born in Spain ⁱⁿ the 1st century, refers to a group of seven islands which he gives the name Haemodae (Hebrides?). Other writers of antiquity such as Pliny the Elder , the Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy , and Solinus ^(third century) seem to mention the Hebrides, which attests to contacts between the peoples living there and the Roman world.

We know little about the history of people of the Hebrides until the ^sixth century, since, like the rest of Scotland, they had no writing. The first written accounts of these islands appear with St. Columban , ^the sixth century. This Irish monk first introduced the Christianity in the islands and founded several churches.

Norwegian Domination

Even before ^the ninth century, the Norwegians began to settle in the Hebrides and to control them. These islands were known as the southern islands Sureyar or in Old Norse. Norwegian domination of the Hebrides was formalized in 1098 when Edgar I of Scotland recognized the claims of Magnus III of Norway. The recognition of Scottish sovereignty over the islands Magnus III followed the conquest of the islands by the Norwegians Orkney , the Hebrides and the Isle of Man during a quick campaign that year against the various local leaders who controlled Norwegian these islands. Magnus III subdued the Norsemen who had seized the islands centuries ago and united under his direct royal control.

Control of the Inner Hebrides and external by the Norwegians was the source of endless wars to share 1156. The Outer Hebrides remained the possession of the Kingdom of Man and the Isles while the Inner Hebrides broke away under the leadership of Somerled , a parent Celtic-Norman Lulach and the royal family of Man. Although the Inner Hebrides, known from 1156 as the Kingdom of the Hebrides , were still legal under Norwegian sovereignty, its leaders were Scots language and culture more than Scandinavians.

After his victory in 1156, Somerled two years later conquered the island of Man itself and became the last king of Man and the Isles to rule again on all the islands that formerly comprised the kingdom. After his death in 1164 , the rulers of Man ceased to control the Inner Hebrides.

Scottish Domination

In 1262 Scottish raid took place on Skye , which brought the King of Norway Hkon IV to visit Scotland to settle the case. Towards the end of 1263, Hkon sailed to Scotland with a strong invading army of 200 ships and 15,000 men. The Norwegian fleet wiped storms near the coast of Scotland, and had to carry forty ships overland to Loch Lomond. Finally a small skirmish took place at the Battle of Largs , in which the Norwegians and their allies controlled by Man Magnus III of Man only obtained a slight tactical advantage over the Scots not ordered Alexander Stewart. After the battle, bad weather forced the Norwegian and Manx fleet to retire to Orkney. Upon his arrival in Kirkwall , Hkon, sick and tired, decided to spend the winter in the palace of the bishop Heinrkr to resume his campaign the following summer. His plans were foiled, however, when he died in December.

His crown passed to his son Magnus VI of Norway , who thought that making peace with the Scots was more important than maintaining the Norwegian possessions on the islands west of Scotland and Irish Sea. The Treaty of Perth of 1266 left the Hebrides and the Isle of Man to Scotland for 5000 marks and an annual tribute of 100 marks. Scotland at the same time confirmed Norwegian sovereignty over the islands Shetland and Orkney. However the control of Man by the Scots did not become effective until after the defeat of the Manx and their last king of Norway, Godfred Magnuson of Man , the battle of Ronaldsway in 1275.

Geography

The Hebrides are a part of the eroded remnants and roots ( volcanic and metamorphic ) of the mountains that formed during the Caledonian Orogeny.

The Inner Hebrides and outside more than 500 islands and islets. Only a few dozen islands are inhabited today.

Access

Many islands were only attainable by the sea ferry crossing from Oban to Lochboisdale takes about five hours.

Administration

The Hebrides are part of the Council areas of Highland , in Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles) and Argyll and Bute.

References

(In) This article is partially or entirely from the article in English entitled " Hebrides "(see the list of authors )

(en) Local Government (Gaelic Names) (Scotland) Act 1997

Notes

Inhabited islands of the Hebrides
Inner Hebrides	Canna Coll Colonsay Danna Davaar Easdale Eigg Eilean Ban Eilean Donan Eilean Shona Erraid Ewe Island Gigha Gometra Iona Islay Jura Kerrera Lismore Luing Lunga Muck Isle of Mull Oronsay Raasay Rum Sanda Sanday Scalpay Seil Shuna Skye Soay South Rona Tanera Mr Tiree Ulva
Outer Hebrides	Baile Sear Barra Benbecula Berneray Eriskay Flodder Great Bernera Grimsay Lewis and Harris Scalpay North Uist South Uist Vatersay

British Isles
Sovereign states	Ireland United Kingdom
British Crown Dependencies	Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey
Constituent nations of the United Kingdom	Northern Ireland Scotland Wales England
Political Cooperation	British-Irish Council British-Irish Interparliamentary Body Common Travel Area
Islands	Channel Islands Britain Hebrides Ireland Isle of Man Orkney Shetland Isle of Wight
List of islands	England Ireland Isle of Man Scotland Wales
History	British Isles England Ireland Isle of Man Jersey Scotland UK Wales
State Historical	Kingdom of Scotland Kingdom of England Principality of Wales Kingdom of Ireland United Kingdom of Great Britain UK Irish Free State Kingdom of Man and the Isles
Modern Languages	BSL Cornish English French Guernsey Irish ISL Jersey NISL Manx Scots Ulster Scots Scottish Welsh
Peoples	British Celts Cornish English Irish Travellers Manx Scottish Ulster Scots Welsh