Highland (council area)Highland (Gàidhealtachd, ˈkɛːəl̪ɣt̪əxk; Hieland) is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the 2011 census. It shares borders with the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Moray and Perth and Kinross. Their councils, and those of Angus and Stirling, also have areas of the Scottish Highlands within their administrative boundaries.
SomerledSomerled (died 1164), known in Middle Irish as Somairle, Somhairle, and Somhairlidh, and in Old Norse as Sumarliði ˈsumɑrˌliðe, was a mid-12th-century Norse-Gaelic lord who, through marital alliance and military conquest, rose in prominence to create the Kingdom of Argyll and the Isles. Little is certain of Somerled's origins, although he may have been born in northern Ireland and appears to have belonged to a Norse–Gaelic family of some prominence.
FortriuFortriu (Verturiones; *Foirtrinn; Wærteras; *Uerteru) was a Pictish kingdom recorded between the 4th and 10th centuries. It was traditionally believed to be located in and around Strathearn in central Scotland, but is more likely to have been based in the north, in the Moray and Easter Ross area. Fortriu is a term used by historians as it is not known what name its people used to refer to their polity. Historians also sometimes use the name synonymously with Pictland in general.
Isle of ButeThe Isle of Bute (Buit; Eilean Bhòid or An t-Eilean Bòdach), known as Bute (bjuːt), is an island in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, United Kingdom. It is divided into highland and lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault. Formerly a constituent island of the larger County of Bute, it is now part of the council area of Argyll and Bute. Bute's resident population was 6,498 in 2011, a decline of just over 10% from the figure of 7,228 recorded in 2001 against a background of Scottish island populations as a whole growing by 4% to 103,702 for the same period.
GometraGometra (Gòmastra) is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, lying west of Mull. It lies immediately west of Ulva, to which it is linked by a bridge, and at low tide also by a beach. It is approximately in size. The name is also applied to the island summit, which is a Marilyn. The island has been owned since 1991 by Roc Sandford, a wealthy environmental campaigner who lives mostly in London and part of the year on Gometra. According to Gillies (1906), Gometra is from the Norse gottr + madr + ey and means "The good-man's island" or "God-man's island".
DunoonDunoon (duˈnuːn; Dùn Omhain t̪un ˈo.ɪɲ) is the main town on the Cowal peninsula in the south of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is located on the western shore of the upper Firth of Clyde, to the south of the Holy Loch and to the north of Innellan. As well as forming part of the council area of Argyll and Bute, Dunoon also has its own community council. Dunoon was a burgh until 1976. The early history of Dunoon often revolves around two feuding clans: the Lamonts and the Campbells.
UlaidUlaid (Old Irish, ˈuləðj) or Ulaidh (Modern Irish, ˈʊlɣiː, ˈʊlɣə) was a Gaelic over-kingdom in north-eastern Ireland during the Middle Ages made up of a confederation of dynastic groups. Alternative names include Ulidia, which is the Latin form of Ulaid, and in Cóiced, Irish for "the Fifth". The king of Ulaid was called the rí Ulad or rí in Chóicid. Ulaid also refers to a people of early Ireland, and it is from them that the province of Ulster derives its name.
CraignishCraignish (Scottish Gaelic, Creiginis) is a peninsula in Argyll, on the west coast of Scotland. It lies around south of Oban, and north-west of Lochgilphead. The peninsula is around long, and is aligned along a north-east to south-west orientation, in common with much of the landform of coastal Argyll. To the south is Loch Craignish, which contains several small islands. To the north are the Slate Islands, with the island of Shuna closest. Jura is only west of Craignish Point, the southern tip of Craignish.
SaddellSaddell (Saghadal, ˈs̪a.ət̪əl̪ɣ) is a small Scottish village situated on the east side of the Kintyre Peninsula of Argyll and Bute, overlooking the Kilbrannan Sound and the Isle of Arran, from Campbeltown on the B842 road to Carradale. The name Saddell is derived from the Norse for sandy dale. Saddell Abbey Saddell is home to the ruins of a Cistercian Abbey. This was founded around 1160 by Somerled, and completed by his son, whose descendants became the Clan MacDonald and eventual Lords of the Isles.
Highlands and IslandsThe Highlands and Islands is an area of Scotland broadly covering the Scottish Highlands, plus Orkney, Shetland, and the Outer Hebrides (Western Isles). The Highlands and Islands are sometimes defined as the area to which the Crofters' Act of 1886 applied. This area consisted of eight counties of Scotland: Argyll Caithness Inverness Nairn Orkney Ross and Cromarty Shetland Sutherland Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) uses a broader definition also used at Eurostat's NUTS level 2, and there has been a Highlands and Islands electoral region of the Scottish Parliament since 1999.