Shetland Islands

I

Introduction

Shetland Islands, also Shetland, archipelago and administrative region, Scotland, comprising more than 100 islands and islets located 210 km (130 mi) north-east of the Scottish mainland and 77 km (48 mi) north-east of the Orkney Islands. It is the most northerly region of the British Isles; the administrative centre, Lerwick, on the island of Mainland, lies on a similar latitude to Bergen in Norway. Shetland is bounded to the north, east, and south by the North Sea, and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean. The archipelago is coterminous with the Shetland Islands Council, the local government administrative area, which was established under the 1975 reforms of Scottish local government from the former county of Zetland. It has an area of 1,438 sq km (555 sq mi).

The islands are hilly and almost treeless, with deeply indented coastlines. Only 15 are inhabited. Mainland is the largest of the group. Other important islands are Yell, Unst, Fetlar, Whalsay, Bressay, Muckle Roe, Burra, and Fair Isle.

II

Land and Resources

Shetland is mainly composed of igneous and metamorphic rocks, very hard and similar in geology to the Highlands of Scotland. This lends itself to crofting, where each crofter has a small area of arable land and shares common land for grazing. Peat has been the traditional fuel. The larger islands are hilly and covered in heather moors. The hills run north to south, occasionally broken by deep, transverse valleys. Shetland ponies, once bred for use in the coal mines of the British mainland, roam the hills along with sheep, which include the black and brown native sheep.

The coastline is approximately 1,450 km (900 mi) long. Its topography is varied, ranging from sheltered inlets, or voes as they are known locally, to towering cliffs battered by heavy seas into arches, stacks, and deep fissures. The area is rich in bird life: skuas, gannets, fulmars, terns, and gulls are among the many other species to be found there. Fair Isle, owned by the National Trust for Scotland, is an important migratory station, where the Bird Observatory Trust was formed in 1948.

III

Climate

Despite being only 644 km (400 mi) south of the Arctic Circle the Shetland Islands have a comparatively mild climate. It is tempered by the flow of the warm Gulf Stream. The islands, however, do experience continuous strong winds and many storms. Temperatures average 3° C (37° F) in winter and 13° C (55° F) in summer. The oil tanker Braer was driven on to the rocks at the south end of Shetland during gales in 1993. Fortunately there was less damage to the environment than was originally feared.

IV

Population and Administration

Shetland has an estimated population of 21,988 (2001). Many people speak the local Shetland dialect, which is based on Norse. After the 1870s, lack of industry and high unemployment encouraged migration to the mainland of Great Britain, and the population of the Shetland Islands declined. It had fallen to just 17,000 in the mid-1960s. The discovery of oil in the North Sea near the islands provided a new source of jobs and wealth that reversed the population decline. Between 1971 and 1981 the population rose by 35 per cent, to 22,768. There was a slight decrease in the mid-1980s as oil construction activity came to an end, but by the late 1980s the population appeared to have stabilized; it was 22,522 at the 1991 census. This stability continued into the early 21st century.

Shetland is administered by an all-purpose unitary authority, the Shetland Islands Council, which was established under the local government reforms implemented in 1975. The unitary structure was confirmed under the administrative changes implemented on April 1, 1996, under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Bill 1994, which also introduced a unitary system of local government to the Scottish mainland. Lerwick is the largest settlement and has a population of 7,336 (1991) and is the main administrative centre of the islands. The police authority is the Northern Constabulary, which has its headquarters in Inverness. The unitary authority is under the jurisdiction of the Sheriffdom of Grampian Highland and Islands and there is a sheriff court at Lerwick.