Information about Hebrides

The Hebrides (Gaelic: Innse Gall) comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland, and in geological terms are composed of the oldest rocks in the British Isles. They can be divided into two main groups:

• Inner Hebrides, including Skye, Mull, Islay, Jura, Staffa and the Small Isles
• Outer Hebrides, including Lewis and Harris, Berneray, North Uist, South Uist, Barra and St Kilda

The Hebrides as a whole are sometimes referred to as the Western Isles, but this term is more accurately applied just to the Outer Hebrides, which were once known as The Long Island.

The Hebrides are probably the best-known group of Scottish islands, but other groups include the islands of the Firth of Clyde, Islands of the Forth and the Northern Isles. The islands in the Clyde, especially Arran, are sometimes mistakenly called Hebrides too.

The Hebrides lie in the Sea of the Hebrides; see map .

The Hebrides, also known as Fingal's Cave, is a famous overture written by Felix Mendelssohn while residing on these islands, while Granville Bantock wrote the Hebridean Symphony. The islands are the setting of the poem The Solitary Reaper, by William Wordsworth.

The majority of native Scottish Gaelic speakers live on, or come from, the Hebrides. Ironically, given the status of the Western Isles as the last Gàidhlig speaking stronghold in Scotland, the Gaelic language name for the islands - Innse Gall - means " Isles of the non-Gaels/foreigners " which has roots in the time when they were under Viking occupation. The Scottish Gaelic college, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, is based on Skye and Islay.

History of the Hebrides

Prehistory

The Hebrides were settled early on in the settlement of the British Isles, perhaps as early as the Mesolithic era, around 8500-8250 BC, after the climatic conditions improved enough to sustain human settlement. There are examples of structures possibly dating from up to 3000 BC, the finest example being the standing stones at Callanish, but some archaeologists date the site as Bronze Age. Little is known of the people who settled in the Hebrides but they were likely of the same Celtic stock that had settled Scotland. Settlements at Northton, Harris, have both Beaker & Neolithic dwelling houses, the oldest in The Western Isles, attesting to the settlement.

Celtic Era

The earliest written mention of the Outer Hebrides was by the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus in 55 BC. He wrote that there was an island called Hyperborea (which means "Far to the North") where a round temple stood from which the moon appeared only a little distance above the earth every 19 years, an apparent reference to the stone circle at Callanish. Pomponius Mela, a Roman-Spanish geographer of the first century, refers to a group of seven islands which he gave the name Haemodae (Hebrides???). Other ancient writers such as Pliny the Elder, the Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy, and Solinus (3rd Century AD) all seem to mention the Hebrides, attesting to some contact of the peoples there to the Roman world.

Little is known of the history of the peoples of the Hebrides before the 6th century as they, like the rest of Scotland, were in the depths of the Dark Ages. The first written records of the islands comes with the arrival of St. Columba in the 6th century AD. It was this Irish-Scottish saint who first brought Christianity to the islands in the 6th century, founding several churches.

The Hebrides under Norwegian control

The Hebrides began to come under Norwegian control and settlement already before the 9th century AD, known as Suðreyar or southern islands in Old Norse. The Norwegian control of the Hebrides was formalised in 1098 when Edgar of Scotland recognised the claim of Magnus III of Norway. The Scottish acceptance of Magnus III as King of the Isles came after the Norwegian king had conquered the Orkney Islands, the Hebrides and the Isle of Man in a swift campaign earlier the same year, directed against the local Norwegian leaders of the various islands. By capturing the islands Magnus III subdued the Norsemen who had seized the islands centuries earlier and imposed a more direct royal control.

The Norwegian control of both the Inner and Outer Hebrides would see almost constant warfare until being ultimately resolved by the partitioning of the Western Isles in 1156. The Outer Hebrides would remain under the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles while the Inner Hebrides broke out under Somerled, the Norse-Celtic kinsman of both Lulach and the Manx royal house. Although the Inner Hebrides, from 1156 known as the Kingdom of the Hebrides, still nominally was under the sovereignty of Norway, the leaders were Scottish in language and culture rather than Norse.

After his victory of 1156 Somerled went on to two years later seize control over the Isle of Man itself and become the last King of the Isle of Man and the Isles to rule over all the islands the kingdom had once included. After Somerled's death in 1164 the rulers of Mann would no longer be in control of the Inner Hebrides.

Scottish Control

In 1262 there was a Scottish raid on Skye and this caused Haakon IV, King of Norway, to set sail for Scotland to settle the issue. Late in 1263 Haakon headed for Scotland with a large invasion force consisting of 200 ships and 15,000 men. The storms around the coast of Scotland took their toll on the Norwegian fleet, which at one point meant dragging forty ships overland to Loch Lomond. In the end a minor skirmish took place at the Battle of Largs where the Norwegians and their Manx allies under Magnus III of the Isle of Man failed to achieve anything more than a minor tactical victory against the Scots led by Alexander Stewart. After the battle the bad weather forced the Norwegian-Manx fleet to sail back to the Orkneys. After arriving in Kirkwall, Haakon decided to winter in Bishop's Palace before resuming his campaign the following summer. This failed to occur as the king was struck by illness and died in his palace December the same year. The death of Haakon left the crown to his son Magnus the Lawmaker, who considered peace with the Scots more important than holding on to the Norwegian possessions off western Scotland and in the Irish Sea. The Treaty of Perth of 1266 left the Hebrides and the Isle of man to Scotland for 4000 marks and an annual payment of 100 marks. The treaty also included that Scotland confirmed Norwegian sovereignty over Shetland and Orkney. Still, Scottish rule over the Isle of Man was confirmed finally only after the Manx and their last Norse king, Godred VI Magnuson were decisively defeated in the 1275 Battle of Ronaldsway.

See also

• Outer Hebrides
• Inner Hebrides
• List of islands of Scotland
• Geology of Scotland
• Fauna of Scotland
• Somerled
• Kingdom of Mann and the Isles
• List of Kings of the Isle of Man and the Isles
• List of Kings of the Isle of Man

External links

• Hebrides/Western Isles Guide

References

• Ross, David (2005) Scotland - History of a Nation

•  • [ e] Islands of the Hebrides
Inner Hebrides	Ascrib Islands Canna Cara Coll Colonsay Crowlin Islands Eigg Gigha Iona Isay Islay Jura Kerrera Lismore Oronsay Muck Mull Raasay Rm Skye Slate Islands Soay Staffa Summer Isles Tiree Treshnish Isles Ulva
Outer Hebrides	Barra (Isles) Benbecula Berneray Eriskay Flannan Isles Great Bernera Harris and Lewis Monach Islands (Heisgeir) North Uist Rockall Scalpay Shiant Isles South Uist St Kilda

Coordinates: