The Hebrides

The Hebrides is a big archipelago off of the west coast of mainland Scotland. It consists of two groups of islands: the Inner and Outer Hebrides.  The place is very wide and considered to be quite mystical. It has a long history of ocupation and has been ruled by Mesolithic, Celtic, Norse and English speaking people.  This place has been settled for so long by various cultures that some of the Islands have names from prehistoric times.

This area of Scotland has small farm operations known as crofiting, fishing and tourism to support. Oil is also mined off the Isladn shores. Seals are also very visible along the coasts. It is also home to many rare seabirds.

The main attraction is the geology of the area that are some of the oldest visible rocks from the PreCambrain era in europe.  The Inner Islands are closer to the mainland and consist of Islay, Jura, Skye, Mulraasay, Staffa and the Samll Isles.  The group of Inner Islands consists of 36 inhabited islands.  The Outer Hebrides are a chain of more than 100 Ialands and Skerries just west of mainland Scotland.  They are sometimes called the Long Isle. These islands include Barra, Benbecula, Bereray, Harris, Lewis, North Uist, South Uist and St Kidlan.  The entire scenic area covers about 2,800 square miles.  The population is small and consists of 44,4759.

This is a cold place with the winter having an average temperature of 44 degrees Farenheit in the summer and 14 degrees Farenheit in the winter.  There are many uninhabited islands in the area because the seas are so choppy.

The Island is of interest to scholars and tourists because it has ruins from the Mesolithic area which was around 6500 BC or earlier.  One of the finest examples of this is the standing stones at Callanish.

In 872 the Islands were invaded by Vikings and taken over after the Battle of Hafrsfjord. Under Nordic rule they were known as Kingdom of the Isles. The Islands were returned to Scotaland as a result of the 1266 Treatyof Perth and then taken over by Gaelic speaking clan Ceivs including the clans of the MacLeods, Donald and MacNeil. In 1598 King James VI civilized the feuding clans in the Isles and it became part of the new Kingdom of Great Britain.

Many artists have resided in this Island including Felix Mendelssohn who wrote Fingal’s Cave, a famous overture, while living near a famous cave in Staffa.