Scottish Highlands: Difference between revisions

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| name = Highlands

| native_name = {{native name|gd|A' Ghàidhealtachd}}<br />{{native name|sco|HielansHielands}}

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The '''Highlands''' ({{lang-sco|the Hielans}}, {{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|i|.|l|ə|n|zHielands}}; {{lang-gd|A’a' Ghàidhealtachd}} {{IPA-gd|ə ˈɣɛːəl̪ˠt̪ʰəxk|}}, '{{lit|the place of the [[Gaels]]'}}) is a historic[[historical region]] of [[Scotland]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Highlands-region-Scotlandencyclopedia |title=Highlands {{!}} region, Scotland, United Kingdom |workencyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Highlands-region-Scotland |access-date=10 May 2017}}</ref>{{failed verification|reason=term "historical region" not mentioned|date=July 2022}} Culturally, the Highlands and the [[Scottish Lowlands|Lowlands]] diverged from the later [[Late Middle Ages]] into the [[modern period]], when [[Scots language|Lowland Scots]] language replaced [[Scottish Gaelic]] throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the [[Highland Boundary Fault]], although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The [[Great Glen]] divides the [[Grampian Mountains]] to the southeast from the [[Northwest Highlands]]. The [[Scottish Gaelic]] name of ''{{lang|gd|[[A' Ghàidhealtachd]]}}'' literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the [[Western Isles]] and the Highlands.[[File:'Scottish Highlands'.jpg|thumb|The Scottish Highlands are renowned for their natural beauty and are a popular subject in art (here depicted by [[Henry Bates Joel]])|249x249px]]

===Culture= History ==

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the [[Scottish Lowlands|Lowlands]] in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the ''{{lang|gd|[[Gàidhealtachd]]}}'',<ref>{{citeCite book |author1last1=Martin Ball |author2=James Fife |title=The Celtic Languages |yearlast2=1993James Fife |publisher=Routledge |pageyear=1361993 |isbn=9780415010351978-0-415-01035-1 |page=136}}</ref> because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to [[The Hebrides]]. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. [[Scottish English]] (in its [[Highland English|Highland form]]) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent.<ref>{{citeCite book |authorlast=Charles Jones |title=The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=1997 |pages=566–567 |isbn=978-07486075490-7486-0754-9 |pages=566–67}}</ref> Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern [[Caithness]], Orkney and [[Shetland]], from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.<ref>{{citeCite web |title=The Highland Line |url=http://ladysue.webs.com/thescotsirish.htm |titleurl-status=Thedead Highland Line|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808033552/http://ladysue.webs.com/thescotsirish.htm |publisherarchive-date=Sue8 &August Marilyn2017 |accessdateaccess-date=8 March 2013 |publisher=Sue & Marilyn}}</ref><ref>{{citeCite web |url=http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/geog/ |title=Historical Geography of the Clans of Scotland |publisherurl=Electricscotlandhttp://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/geog/ |accessdateaccess-date=8 March 2013 |publisher=Electricscotland.com}}</ref>

Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the [[Scottish clan|clan]]. Scottish kings, particularly [[James VI and I|James VI]], saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the [[Union of the Crowns]], James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the [[Statutes of Iona]] which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by [[Scottish Agricultural Revolution|agricultural improvement]] that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved [[Highland clearances|clearance]] of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in [[crofting]] communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were intendedexpected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".<ref name="Dodgshon">{{citeCite book |last1last=Dodgshon |first1first=Robert A. |title=From Chiefs to Landlords: Social and Economic Change in the Western Highlands and Islands, c. 1493–1820 |date=1998 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |location=Edinburgh |isbn=0 -7486 -1034 -0 |location=Edinburgh}}</ref>{{rp|105-107105–07}}<ref name="Devine 1994">{{citeCite book |last1last=Devine |first1first=T M |title=Clanship to Crofters' War: The social transformation of the Scottish Highlands |date=1994 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-9076-9 |edition=2013}}</ref>{{rp|1-171–17,110-118 110–18}}<ref name="Devine 2018">{{citeCite book |last1last=Devine |first1first=T M |title=The Scottish Clearances: A History of the Dispossessed, 1600-19001600–1900 |date=2018 |publisher=Allen Lane |location=London |isbn=978-02413041050-241-30410-5 |location=London}}</ref>{{rp|37-4637–46, 65-7365–73, 132}}

Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the [[Jacobite rising of 1745]] the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the [[Scottish clan|clan system]], including [[Disarming Act|bans on the bearing of arms]] and the wearing of [[tartan]], and limitations on the activities of the [[Scottish Episcopal Church]]. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and [[Napoleonic Wars]] (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the [[kilt]] were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe.<ref name="Roberts2002pp193-4">{{citeCite book |authorlast=John Lenox Roberts |url=https://archive.org/details/jacobitewars00robe |title=The Jacobite Wars: Scotland and the Military Campaigns of 1715 and 1745 |year=2002 |publisher=Polygon at Edinburgh |pagesyear=193–1952002 |isbn=9781902930299978-1-902930-29-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jacobitewars00robe/page/n209 193]–95 |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref name="Sievers2007">{{citeCite book |authorlast=Marco Sievers |title=The Highland Myth as an Invented Tradition of 18th and 19th Century and Its Significance for the Image of Scotland |year=2007 |publisher=GRIN Verlag |pagesyear=22–252007 |isbn=9783638816519978-3-638-81651-9 |pages=22–25}}</ref> The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the [[Ossian]] cycle,<ref>{{citeCite book |author1last1=Deidre Dawson |author2=Pierre Morère |title=Scotland and France in the Enlightenment |yearlast2=2004Pierre Morère |publisher=Bucknell University Press |pagesyear=75–762004 |isbn=978-08387552660-8387-5526-6 |pages=75–76}}</ref><ref>{{citeCite book |authorlast=William Ferguson |title=The Identity of the Scottish Nation: An Historic Quest |year=1998 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |pageyear=2271998 |isbn=978-07486107160-7486-1071-6 |page=227}}</ref> and further popularised by the works of [[Walter Scott]]. His "staging" of the [[visit of King George IV to Scotland]] in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity.<ref>{{citeCite book |authorlast=Norman C Milne |title=Scottish Culture and Traditions |year=2010 |publisher=Paragon Publishing |pageyear=1382010 |isbn=978-18998207951-899820-79-5 |page=138}}</ref> This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of [[Balmoral Castle|Balmoral]] as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".<ref name="Sievers2007" />

=== Economy ===

Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West.<ref name="Richards 2013">{{cite book|last1=Richards|first1=Eric|title=The Highland Clearances People, Landlords and Rural Turmoil|date=2000|publisher=Birlinn Limited|location=Edinburgh|isbn=978-1-78027-165-1|edition=2013}}</ref>{{rp|415-416415–16}} Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of [[oatmeal|meal]] into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century.{{r|Richards 2013|p=48-4948–49}} Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, [[run rig]] based, communal farming that existed before [[Scottish Agricultural Revolution|agricultural improvement]] was introduced into the region.{{efn|It has been estimated that only 9% of the land in the Highlands is suitable for cultivation.{{r|Devine 2018|p=18}}}} Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed [[Scotch whisky#History|whisky]] that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way.<ref name="Devine 2018">{{cite book r|last1=Devine |first1=T M |title=The Scottish Clearances: A History of the Dispossessed, 1600–1900|date=2018 |publisher=Allen Lane |location=London |isbn=978-0241304105}}</ref>{{rp|pagep=24}} The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes.<ref name="Devine 1994">{{cite book|last1=Devine|first1=T M|title=Clanship to Crofters' War: The social transformation of the Scottish Highlands|date=1994|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=978-0-7190-9076-9|edition=2013}}</ref>{{rp|119–134119–34}}

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, [[Factor (Scotland)|factorfactors]]s, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of [[Adam Smith]] were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities.{{r|Devine 2018|p=141}} Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land.<ref name="Richards 1985">{{citeCite book |last1last=Richards |first1first=Eric |title=A History of the Highland Clearances, Volume 2: Emigration, Protest, Reasons |date=1985 |publisher=Croom Helm Ltd. |isbn=978-0-7099-2259-9 |location=Beckenham, Kent and Sydney, Australia|isbn=978-0709922599}}</ref>{{rp|417}} In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, [[enclosure]] of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips[[turnip]]s), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the [[Highland clearances]], of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.<ref name="Devine 1995">{{citeCite book |last1last=Devine |first1first=T M |title=The Great Highland Famine: Hunger, Emigration and the Scottish Highlands in the Nineteenth Century |date=1995 |publisher=Birlinn Limited |location=Edinburgh |isbn=1 -904607 -42-X X|location=Edinburgh}}</ref>{{rp|1-121–12}}

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created [[crofting]] communities, whilstwhile their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.{{r|Devine 1995|p=1-121–12}}

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected.<ref name="Lynch">{{citeCite book |last1last=Lynch |first1first=Michael |url=https://archive.org/details/scotlandnewhisto0000lync |title=Scotland, a New History |date=1991 |publisher=Pimlico|location=London |isbn=9780712698931978-0-7126-9893-1 |edition=1992 |location=London |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|370–371370–71}} This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, [[potato blight]] arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the [[Highland potato famine|famine]] struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. [[Tom Devine|T M Devine]] points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms.{{r|Devine 1995|p=93-9593–95}} Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.{{r|Devine 1995|p=146-166146–66}}

The unequal [[concentration of land ownership]] remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800.<ref>{{citeCite book |authorlast=Thomas Martin Devine |url=https://archive.org/details/scottishnation170000devi |title=The Scottish Nation |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1999 |publisherisbn=Penguin Books978-0-670-88811-5 |chapter=Chapter 18 |isbnurl-access=978-0670888115 registration}}</ref> Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This [[Evangelicalism|evangelical]] movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the [[Highland Land League]].<ref>{{citeCite journal |authorlast=James Hunter |year=1974 |title=The Emergence of the Crofting Community: The Religious Contribution 1798–1843 |journal=Scottish Studies |volume=18 |pages=95–116 }}</ref>

Violence erupted, starting on the [[Isle of Skye]], when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the [[Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886]] to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless.<ref>{{citeCite journal |authorlast=Ian Bradley |date=December 1987 |title='Having and Holding' – The Highland Land War of the 1880s |journal=History Today |volume=37 |issue=12 |pages=23–28 |url=http://www.historytoday.com/ian-bradley/having-and-holding-highland-land-war-1880s |accessdatejournal=History Today |volume=37 |issue=12 |pages=23–28 |access-date=8 March 2013 }}</ref> This contrasted with the [[Irish Land War]] under wayunderway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] gained their votes.<ref>{{citeCite journal |authorlast=Ewen A. Cameron |date=June 2005 |title=Communication or Separation? Reactions to Irish Land Agitation and Legislation in the Highlands of Scotland, c. 1870–1910 |journal=English Historical Review |volume=120 |issue=487 |pages=633–66 |doi=10.1093/ehr/cei124}}</ref>

===Religion= Whisky production ====

The [[Scottish Reformation]] achieved partial success in the Highlands. [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of [[Franciscan]] missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]]. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as [[Moidart]] and [[Morar]] on the mainland and [[South Uist]] and [[Barra]] in the southern Outer Hebrides.

The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the [[ScottishSociety SPCKin Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge|SSPCK]] missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the [[Battle of Culloden]] in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.<ref>{{citeCite journal |authorlast=George Robb |year=1990 |title=Popular Religion and the Christianisation of the Highlands in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries |journal=Journal of Religious History |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages= 18–34 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9809.1990.tb00647.x}}</ref>

For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, loyalbelonging to the [[Church of Scotland]]. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern [[Outer Hebrides]] islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant [[Free Church of Scotland (post 1900)|Free Church of Scotland]] or the [[Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland]]. The [[Outer Hebrides]] have been described as the last bastion of [[Calvinism]] in Britain<ref>{{citeCite web |last=Gerard Seenan |date=10 April 2006 |title=Fury at ferry crossing on Sabbath |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/apr/10/religion.world |title=Fury at ferry crossing on Sabbath |access-date=108 AprilMarch 20062013 |author=Gerard Seenan |workwebsite=The Guardian |accessdate=8 March 2013 }}</ref> and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either [[Church of Scotland|The Kirk]] or the [[Free Church of Scotland (post 1900)|Free Church of Scotland]]. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other Scottishparts citiesof Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.<ref>{{citeCite news |urllast=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-12847619Cook |first=James |date=29 March 2011 |title=Battle looms in Outer Hebrides over Sabbath opening |datework=29BBC March 2011News |lasturl=Cookhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-12847619 |first=James |work=''BBC News''|accessdateaccess-date=3 June 2014}}</ref>

== Historical geography ==

A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the [[Scotch Whiskywhisky]] industry. [[Highland Singlesingle Maltsmalts]] are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between [[Dundee]] and [[Greenock]],<ref>{{citeCite web |title=Whisky Regions & Tours |url=http://www.scotch-whisky.org.uk/understanding-scotch/whisky-regions-tours/ |titleurl-status=Whiskydead Regions & Tours|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180726201832/http://www.scotch-whisky.org.uk/understanding-scotch/whisky-regions-tours/ |publisherarchive-date=Scotch26 WhiskyJuly Association2018 |accessdateaccess-date=8 March 2013 |publisher=Scotch Whisky Association}}</ref> thus including all of [[Aberdeenshire]] and [[Angus, Scotland|Angus]].

[[Inverness]] is traditionally regarded as the capitalCapital of the Highlands,<ref>{{citeCite web |title=Inverness: Capital of the Scottish Highlands |url=http://www.scotland-inverness.co.uk/inverness.htm |titleaccess-date=Inverness:8 CapitalMarch of the Scottish Highlands2013 |publisher=Internet Guide to Scotland |accessdate=8 March 2013 }}</ref> although less so in the Highland parts of [[Aberdeenshire]], [[Angus, Scotland|Angus]], Perthshire and [[Stirlingshire]] which look more to [[Aberdeen]], Dundee, [[Perth, Scotland|Perth]], and [[Stirling]] as their commercial centres.<ref>{{Cite Underweb some of the wider definitions in use, [[Aberdeen]] could be considered the largest city in the|title=Scottish Highlands, althoughLandscape itand doesHistory not– shareScotland theInfo recentGuide Gaelic cultural history typical of the Highlands proper|url=https://www.{{citationscotlandinfo.eu/scottish-highlands/ needed|datewebsite=March 2019www.scotlandinfo.eu}}</ref>

=== Highland Council area ===

The [[Highland Council]] area, created as one of the local government [[Subdivisions of Scotland|regions of Scotland]], has been a [[unitary authority|unitary council]] area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area 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 the former ''[[Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service]]''. ''[[Northern Scotland|Northern]]'', as in ''[[Northern Constabulary]]'', is also used to refer to the area, coveredas byin the fireformer and''[[Northern rescue serviceConstabulary]]''. ThisThese areaformer consistsbodies ofboth covered the Highland council area and the [[Island council areas of Scotland|island council areas]] of [[Orkney]], Shetland and the Western Isles.

=== Highlands and Islands ===

=== Historical crossings ===

There have been [[trackway]]s from the Lowlands to the Highlands since [[prehistoric]] times. Many traverse the [[Mounth]], a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the [[North Sea]] slightly north of [[Stonehaven]]. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the [[Causey Mounth]], [[Elsick Mounth]],<ref>{{citeCite web |urllast=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sidC Michael Hogan |date=1803722 November 2007 |title=Elsick Mounth – Ancient Trackway in Scotland in Aberdeenshire |dateurl=22 November 2007http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18037 |authoraccess-date=C8 MichaelMarch Hogan2013 |publisher=The Megalithic Portal |accessdate=8 March 2013 }}</ref> [[Cryne Corse Mounth]] and [[Cairnamounth]].<ref>{{citeCite web |last=W. Douglas Simpson |date=10 December 1928 |title=The Early Castles of Mar |url=http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_063/63_102_138.pdf |title=The Early Castles of Mar |access-date=108 DecemberMarch 1928 |author=W. Douglas Simpson2013 |publisher= Proceedings of the Society |accessdate=8 March 2013 }}{{dead link|date=December 2016}}</ref>

=== Courier delivery ===

Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside [[Northern Ireland]], the [[Isle of Man]], and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. WhilstWhile the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication,<ref name="CABcouriers">{{citeCite web |date=25 January 2012 |title=3,000 angry Scots respond to CAB survey on rural delivery charges |url=http://www.cas.org.uk/news/3000-angry-scots-respond-cab-survey-rural-delivery-charges|title=3,000 angry Scots respond to CAB survey on rural delivery charges |access-date=2531 JanuaryJuly 20122013 |publisher=2012 [[The Scottish Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux]] – Citizens Advice Scotland (Scottish charity SC016637) |accessdate=31 July 2013}}</ref> and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges.<ref name="CABcouriers" /> [[Royal Mail]] is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its [[Parcelforce]] division.

== Geology ==

[[File:Liathach from Beinn Eighe.jpg|thumb|[[Liathach]] seen from [[Beinn Eighe]]. With the Munro "Top" of Stuc a' Choire Dhuibh Bhig 915 &nbsp;m (3,001 ft) in the foreground and the two Munro summits in the background.]]

[[File:mainMain ridge of the cuillin in skye arp.jpg|thumb|The main ridge of the [[Cuillin]]]]

These foundations are interspersed with many [[igneous]] intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain [[massif]]s such as the [[Cairngorms]] and the [[Cuillin]] of [[Skye]]. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of [[Old Red Sandstone]] found principally along the [[Moray Firth]] coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The [[Jurassic]] beds found in isolated locations on [[Skye]] and [[Applecross]] reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much [[North Sea oil]]. The [[Great Glen]] is formed along a [[transform fault]] which divides the [[Grampian Mountains]] to the southeast from the [[Northwest Highlands]].<ref name="Keay">{{citeCite book |authorlast=John Keay, Julia Keay |url=https://archive.org/details/collinsencyclopa00john |title=Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland |yearpublisher=1994HarperCollins |publisheryear=HarperCollins1994 |isbn=9780007103539978-0-00-710353-9 |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{citeCite book |authorlast=William Hutchison Murray |title=The islands of Western Scotland: the Inner and Outer Hebrides |year=1973 |publisher=Eyre Methuen |isbnyear= 1973}}</ref>

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the [[Pleistocene]] ice ages, save perhaps for a few [[nunatak]]s. The complex [[geomorphology]] includes incised valleys and [[loch]]s 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.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Highlands, The|volume=13|pages=455–456}}</ref>

== Places of interest ==

* [[An Teallach]]

* [[Aonach Mòr]] (Nevis Range ski centre)

* [[Arrochar Alps]]

* [[Balmoral Castle]]

* [[Balquhidder]]

* [[Battlefield of Culloden]]

* [[Beinn Alligin]]

* [[Beinn Eighe]]

* [[Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station]]

* [[Ben Lomond]]

* [[Ben Macdui]] (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

* [[Ben Nevis]] (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

* [[Cairngorms National Park]]

* [[Cairngorm Mountain ski resort|Cairngorm Ski centre]] near [[Aviemore]]

* [[Cairngorm Mountains]]

* [[Caledonian Canal]]

* [[Cape Wrath]]

* [[Carrick Castle]]

* [[Castle Stalker]]

* [[Castle Tioram]]

* [[Chanonry Point]]

* [[Conic Hill]]

* [[Culloden Moor]]

* [[Dunadd]]

* [[Duart Castle]]

* [[Durness]]

* [[Eilean Donan]]

* [[Fingal's Cave]] ([[Staffa]])

* [[Fort George, Scotland|Fort George]]

* [[Glen Coe]]

* [[Glen Etive]]

* [[Glen Kinglas]]

* [[Glen Lyon, Scotland|Glen Lyon]]

* [[Glen Orchy]]

* [[Glenshee Ski Centre]]

* [[Glen Shiel]]

* [[Glen Spean]]

* [[Glenfinnan]] (and its [[Glenfinnan railway station|railway station]] and [[Glenfinnan Viaduct|viaduct]])

* [[Grampian Mountains]]

* [[Hebrides]]

* [[Highland Folk Museum]]- – The first open-air museum in the UK.

* [[Highland Wildlife Park]]

* [[Inveraray Castle]]

* [[Inveraray Jail]]

* [[InvereweInverness GardenCastle]]

* [[IonaInverewe AbbeyGarden]]

* [[Isle ofIona staffaAbbey]]

* [[KilchurnIsle of CastleStaffa]]

* [[KilmartinKilchurn GlenCastle]]

* [[LiathachKilmartin Glen]]

* [[Lecht Ski CentreLiathach]]

* [[LochLecht Ski AlshCentre]]

* [[Loch ArdAlsh]]

* [[Loch AweArd]]

* [[Loch EarnAwe]]

* [[Loch EtiveAssynt]]

* [[Loch FyneEarn]]

* [[Loch GoilEtive]]

* [[Loch KatrineFyne]]

* [[Loch Leven (Highlands)|Loch LevenGoil]]

* [[Loch LinnheKatrine]]

* [[Loch LochyLeven (Highlands)|Loch Leven]]

* [[Loch LomondLinnhe]]

* [[Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National ParkLochy]]

* [[Loch LubnaigLomond]]

* [[Loch MareeLomond and the Trossachs National Park]]

* [[Loch MorarLubnaig]]

* [[Loch MorlichMaree]]

* [[Loch NessMorar]]

* [[Loch NevisMorlich]]

* [[Loch RannochNess]]

* [[Loch TayNevis]]

* [[LochranzaLoch Rannoch]]

* [[LussLoch Tay]]

* [[Lochranza]]
* [[Luss]]
* [[Meall a' Bhuiridh]] (Glencoe Ski Centre)

* [[Rannoch Moor]]

* [[Cuillin#The Red Hills|Red Cuillin]]

* [[A83 road#Rest and be Thankful|Rest and Be Thankful]] stretch of A83

* [[River Carron, Wester Ross]]

* [[River Spey]]

* [[River Tay]]

* [[Ross and Cromarty]]

* [[Smoo Cave]]

* [[Stob Coire a' Chàirn]]

* [[Stac Polly]]

* [[Strathspey Railway (preserved)|Strathspey Railway]]

* [[Sutherland]]

* [[Tor Castle]]

* [[Torridon Hills]]

* [[Urquhart Castle]]

* [[West Highland Line]] (scenic railway)

* [[West Highland Way]] (Long -distance footpath)

* [[Wester Ross]]

== Gallery ==

<gallery mode="packed">

== See also ==

* [[HighlandBen 2007Nevis]]

* [[HighlandBuachaille LandEtive LeagueMòr]]

== Notes ==

==Further readingReferences ==

* Kermack, William Ramsay. ''The Scottish Highlands: a short history, c. 300-1746300–1746'' (1957)

== External links ==

[[Category:Natural regions of Europe]]