Created using Wordclouds.com by Julie Goucher January 2020

Amazingly, there are 790 Scottish Islands, divided into four groups

• Shetland
• Orkney
• Herbrides
  • Inner
  • Outer

As I researched this section I was astounded that there are so many islands. Then I pondered on the practical aspects, such as post and deliveries. No daily Amazon deliveries for sure!

There were also some quite amazing snippets that I came across.

• The Island of Jura is in the Inner Hebrides and in the 2011 Census, there was 196 residents.
• The Island of Rum, also in the Inner Hebrides has no “Indigenous residents“. The population of 22, are largely employees of Scottish Natural Heritage, who have owned the Island since 1957.
• Farne Islands is located 200 miles north of Scotland and is an autonomous territory of Denmark.
• Island of Rockall was declared by of Scotland by the Island of Rockall Act 1972. The legality of it is disputed by the Republic of Ireland, Denmark and Iceland which is likely to be unenforceable in International Law.
• Flannan Isles was the location where three lighthouse keepers vanished in December 1900. I am fairly sure that I saw a film about this not too long ago, which used some degree of artistic license, since we do not actually know the fate of the three men who vanished.
• Isle of Muck is a small island on the west coast and together with Eigg, Rum and Canna, forms the Small Isles. Muck measures 2 miles long by 1 mile wide and the island is home to approximately 40 people. The Island has been occupied since the Bronze Age. In 1821, the population was 320, fifteen years later many of the population had migrated to other parts of Scotland or emigrated completely to other countries. In 1836, sheep were introduced to the island, possibly in an attempt to provide work and food to the island. There is no mains electricity even today.

The Highland and Islands Emigration Society records have been released and are FREE to view on the ScotlandsPeople site HERE, though you do need to login (or create an account) to see the records. You can read some background reading, including all the Record Guide HERE