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Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. 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 to the east. Their total area is , and the population totalled 22,920 in 2019. The islands comprise the Shetland constituency of the Scottish Parliament. The local authority, the Shetland Islands Council, is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. The islands' administrative centre, largest settlement and only burgh is Lerwick, which has been the capital of Shetland since 1708, before which time the capital was Scalloway. The archipelago has an oceanic climate, 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. It is one of 16 inhabited islands in Shetland. Humans have lived in Shetland since the Mesolithic period. Picts are known to have been the original inhabitants of the islands, before the Norse conquest and subsequent colonisation in the Early Middle Ages. During the 10th to 15th centuries, the islands formed part of the Kingdom of Norway until they were annexed into the Kingdom of Scotland due to a royal dispute involving the payment of a dowry. In 1707, when Scotland and England united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, trade between Shetland and continental Northern Europe decreased. The discovery of North Sea oil 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 fire festivals and a strong musical tradition, especially the traditional fiddle style. Almost all place names in the islands also have Norse origin.

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Related concepts (111)

Faroe Islands

The Faroe or Faeroe Islands (ˈfɛəɹoʊ ), or simply the Faroes (Føroyar ˈfœɹjaɹ; Færøerne ˈfeɐ̯ˌøˀɐnə), is a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of the United Kingdom, and about halfway between Norway ( away) and Iceland ( away). The islands form part of the Kingdom of Denmark, along with mainland Denmark and Greenland. The islands have a total area of about with a population of 54,000 as of June 2022. The capital and largest city is Tórshavn.

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 to Scotland by Norway in 1468–69, it was gradually replaced by Scots. Norn is thought to have become extinct in 1850, after the death of Walter Sutherland, the language's last known speaker, though there are claims the language persisted as late as the 20th century.

Shetland