Hebrides
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/* The Hebrides under Norwegian control */ removing nonesense. At this point in time the Hebrides were ruled by Norse-Gaels and thus were Norse and Gelic in culture...
{{seealso|Hebrides (disambiguation)}}
[[Image:Hebridesmap.png|thumb|The Hebrides]] The '''Hebrides''' (HEB-ri-deez, [[Scottish Gaelic language|Gaelic]]: ''Innse Gall'') comprise a widespread and diverse [[archipelago]] off the west coast of [[Scotland]], and in [[geology|geological]] terms are composed of the oldest rocks in [[Europe]]<ref>http://www.visitscotland.com/aboutscotland/Geography/geology Oldest rocks in Europe</ref>. They can be divided into two main groups:
* [[Inner Hebrides]], including [[Islay]], [[Jura, Scotland|Jura]], [[Isle of Skye|Skye]], [[Isle of Mull|Mull]], [[Raasay]], [[Staffa]] and the [[Small Isles]]
* [[Outer Hebrides]], including [[Barra]], [[Berneray, North Uist, Scotland|Berneray]], [[Harris]], [[Lewis]], [[North Uist]], [[South Uist]], and [[St Kilda, Scotland|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 [[list of islands of Scotland|Scottish islands]], but other groups include the [[Islands of the Clyde|islands of the Firth of Clyde]], [[Islands of the Forth]] and the [[Northern Isles]]. The islands in the Clyde, especially [[Isle of Arran|Arran]], are sometimes mistakenly called Hebrides too.
The Hebrides lie in the [[Sea of the Hebrides]]; see map [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sea_of_hebrides.jpg].
''[[Hebrides Overture|The Hebrides]]'', also known as ''[[Hebrides Overture|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]].
==Language==
The majority of native [[Scottish Gaelic]] speakers live on, or come from, the Hebrides. The Scottish Gaelic college, [[Sabhal Mòr Ostaig]], is based on Skye and Islay.
==Name==
In [[English language|English]], until the 18th Century, people used to call only a part of the Hebrides with the common name ''[[Western Isles]]'' (i.e. "[[Outer Hebrides]]"). '''''The Hebrides''''' is an 18th Century rediscovery and misunderstanding of the classical [[Latin language|Latin]] name '''''Hebudes''''', where ''u'' was misread ''ri''. The classical Latin forms ''Hebudes'' or ''Hæbudes'' were used by the Roman writers [[Pliny the Elder]], [[Pomponius Mela]] and [[Solinus]]. In [[Ancient Greek]] the archipelago was called '''''Αἱβοῦδαι = Haiboudai''''' by [[Ptolemy]]<ref>Louis DEROY & Marianne MULON, 1992, ''Dictionnaire de noms de lieux'', Paris: Le Robert, article "Hébrides"</ref>.
The old [[Old Norse language|Old Norse]] name, during the [[Viking]] occupation, was '''''Súðreyar''''', which means "Southern Isles" (see also [[Sodor]]). It was given in contradistinction to ''Norðreyjar'', or the "[[Northern Isles]]", i. e. [[Orkney]] and [[Shetland]].
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 foreigners" which has roots in the time when they were under [[Norse]] occupation and colonisation, and in reference to the [[Norse-Gaels]], known in [[Gaelic]] as the ''Gall Gaidhel'' (meaning ''Foreign Gaels'').
== History of the Hebrides ==
=== Prehistory ===
The Hebrides were settled early on in the settlement of the British Isles, perhaps as early as the [[Mesolithic|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 culture|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 [[Pomponius Mela]], a Roman-Spanish geographer of the first century, who refers to a group of seven islands which he gave the name ''Haemodae''. [[Pliny the Elder]]'s [[Natural History (Pliny)|Naturalis Historia]] of 77AD gives the name as ''Hebudes''.<ref>[http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/features/featurefirst1635.html] Scottish Gazetteer from the University of Edinburgh's Department of Geography.</ref> Other ancient writers such as 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.<ref>In 55 BC the Greek historian [[Diodorus Siculus]] 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. This may have been a reference to the stone circle at Callanish. See for example Haycock, David Boyd. [http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/texts/viewtext.php?id=OTHE00024&mode=normalized "Much Greater, Than Commonly Imagined."] The Newton Project. Retrieved [[14 March]] [[2008]].</ref>
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 [[Norsemen|Norse]] control and settlement already before the [[9th century]], known as ''Suðreyar'' or southern islands in [[Old Norse language|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-Gael kinsman of both [[Lulach]] and the Manx royal house.
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 Mann 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 of Norway|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 Orkney. After arriving in [[Kirkwall]], Haakon decided to winter in [[Bishop's Palace, Kirkwall|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 in December of the same year. The death of Haakon left the crown to his son [[Magnus VI of Norway|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 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 of the Isle of Man|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]]
* [[Timeline of prehistoric 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 ==
* [http://www.virtualhebrides.com Hebrides/Western Isles Guide]
== References ==
===Footnotes===
{{Reflist}}
===Literature===
* Ross, David (2005) ''Scotland - History of a Nation''
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[[Category:Archipelagoes]]
[[Category:Former Norwegian colonies]]
[[Category:Islands of Scotland]]
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