This article pertains to the geographic region of the Scottish Highlands. See Highlands and Highlander for alternate meanings

The Scottish Highlands (A' Ghàidhealtachd in Gaelic) include the rugged and mountainous regions of Scotland north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Highlands are popularly described as one of the most scenic regions of Europe.

The area is generally sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region. Before the 19th century however the Highlands was home to a much larger population, but due to a combination of factors including the outlawing of the traditional Highland way of life following the Second Jacobite Rising, the infamous Highland Clearances, and mass migration to urban areas during the Industrial Revolution, the area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. The average population density in the Highlands and Islands is lower than that of Sweden, Norway, Papua New Guinea and Argentina.

The administrative centre of the Highlands is Inverness. The Highland Council is the administrative body for around 40% of this area; the remainder is divided between the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, Perth and Kinross, and Stirling. Although the Isle of Arran administratively belongs to North Ayrshire, its northern part is generally regarded as part of the Highlands.

• Highland Clearances
• Highland Land League

Culture

Culturally the area is quite different from the Scottish Lowlands. Most of the Highlands fall into the region known as the Gàidhealtachd, which was, within the last hundred years, the Gaelic-speaking area of Scotland. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Highland English is also widely spoken.

Some similarities exist between the culture of the Highlands and that of Ireland: examples include the Gaelic language, sport (shinty and hurling), and Celtic music.

Religion

The Scottish Reformation, which began in the Lowlands, achieved only partial success in the Gaelic-speaking Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in much of the Highlands, aided by Irish Franciscan missionaries who regularly came to the area to perform Mass, as they shared a similar language. The Highlands are often described as the last bastion of Roman Catholicism in Great Britain, with significant strongholds such as Moidart, Morar, South Uist and Barra. The Scottish Highlanders' strong Catholicism led to much of their historical antipathy towards the Protestant English. This was in contrast to the Lowland Scots, most of whom converted to Protestantism and thus were more willing to unite with the English to create the United Kingdom. On the other hand, some Outer Hebrides islands (like Lewis and Harris) have large populations belonging to the Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

Historical geography

In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of a line drawn from Dumbarton to Stonehaven, including the Inner and Outer Hebrides, parts of Perthshire and the County of Bute, but excluding Orkney and Shetland, the northeast of Caithness, the flat coastal land of the Counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire and Banffshire, and most of East Aberdeenshire. This Highland area differed from the Lowlands by language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicization of the latter; the result of which led to a growing perception of a divide with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. The City of Inverness is usually regarded as the capital of the Highlands. However, there are several definitions of the Highland line, which create further confusion.

Highland council area

The Highland council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large chunk of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, is also used to refer to the area covered by the fire and rescue service. This area consists of the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

Highland council signs in the Pass of Drumochter, between Glen Garry and Dalwhinnie, saying "Welcome to the Highlands", are still regarded as controversial.

Highlands and Islands

Much of the Scottish Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.

Geology

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the north west are up to 3,000 million years old and amongst the oldest found anywhere on Earth. These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and Skye Cuillins. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstones found principally along the Moray Firth coast. The Great Glen is a rift valley which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. ^[1][2]

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.

Towns and villages

• Aberfeldy, Aboyne, Alness, Altnaharra, Applecross, Arisaig, Arrochar, Aultbea, Aviemore
• Back of Keppoch, Ballachulish,Ballater, Banavie, Banchory, Beauly, Blair Atholl, Braemar Bridge of Orchy
• Cannich,Carrbridge, Coldbackie, Cookney, Corpach, Crianlarich, Cromarty, Culbokie
• Dalmally, Dalwhinnie, Dingwall, Dornie, Dornoch, Durness
• Fort Augustus, Fort William, Fortrose
• Gairloch, Glencoe, Glenelg, Grantown-on-Spey Glenfinnan
• Inveraray, Invermoriston, Inverness (a city since 2001)
• Killin, Kingussie, Kinlocheil, Kinlochleven, Kinlochewe, Kinloch Rannoch, Kyle of Lochalsh
• Lochailort Lochcarron, Lochinver, Lochgoilhead, Lochearnhead,Lochgilphead
• Mallaig Morar,
• Nairn, Netherley, Newtonmore, North Ballachulish, Nethy Bridge
• Oban
• Peterculter, Plockton, Poolewe, Portmahomack
• Rosemarkie
• Shieldaig, South Ballachulish, Strathpeffer, Strathy, Strontian, Stornoway
• Tain, Tarbet, Taynuilt, Thurso, Tobermory, Tomintoul, Tongue, Torridon, Tullich, Tyndrum
• Ullapool
• Wick

Other places of interest

• Balmoral Castle
• Carron River
• Castle Tioram
• Chanonry Point
• Crathes Castle
• Glencoe Ski Centre
• Glen Orchy
• Glen Spean
• Inverewe Garden
• Loch Linnhe
• Loch Lochy
• Glen Coe
• Glen Lyon
• Loch Rannoch
• Loch Katrine
• West Highland Way
• Eilean Donan
• Grampian Mountains
• Loch Ness
• Loch Goil
• Muchalls Castle
• Loch Fyne
• Loch Earn
• Western Isles
• Glen Kinglas
• Hebrides
• Loch Tay
• River Tay
• Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore
• Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station
• Arrochar Alps
• Loch Lomond
• Loch Morar
• Loch Nevis
• Nevis Range ski centre
• Glen Shee ski centre
• The Lecht ski centre
• Strathspey Railway
• Glenfinnan train station
• Cairngorm mountains
• Cairngorm National Park
• Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park
• Loch Lubnaig
• Loch Alsh
• Whales off the Isle of Mull
• Lochranza
• Loch Ard
• Loch Fyne Whisky distillery
• Luss
• Conic Hill
• Ben Lomond
• Ben Nevis (The biggest mountain in Great Britain (and therefore Scotland))
• Loch Morlich
• Ben Macdui (Scotland's second biggest mountain)
• River Spey
• Caladonian Canal
• Oban Sealife centre at Loch Crean
• Inverary Castle
• Inverary Jail
• Duart Castle
• Kilchurn Castle
• Carrick Castle
• Iona Abbey
• Isle of Staffa
• Standing Stones
• Battlefield of Culloden
• Rannoch Moor
• Red Cullins
• Rest and be thankful
• Tor Castle
• Castle Stalker
• Glenfinnan Viaduct
• Glen Etive
• Loch Etive
• Glenfinnan

Gallery of Images

Loch Gairloch	The Kyle of Durness.	Eilean Donan Castle, at Dornie near Kyle of Lochalsh.	Lochan Stones on Rannoch Moor.
Loch Long	A Single Track Road, near Aultivullin.	Blaven.	Inverness
The islands of Loch Maree.	The interior of Smoo Cave, Sutherland.	Cape Wrath Lighthouse in the far NW of the Highlands.	The Glenfinnan Viaduct from below.
The Saddle.	Loch Scavaig, Isle of Skye.

See also

• List of fauna of the Scottish Highlands
• Fauna of Scotland
• Highland 2007

References

External links

• Am Baile - Highland History & Culture in English and Gaelic
• Community portal site - EU and local authority supported
• Walking guide - National Lottery supported
• Highland Bridges - Historical Bridges in the Highlands

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