Scottish Highlands
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- Highlanders redirects here; for the rugby union team from Otago, New Zealand, see Otago Highlanders.
The Scottish Highlands are the mountainous regions of Scotland north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault.
The area is generally sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region. Regional administrative centres include Inverness. The Highland Council is the administrative body for around 40% of this area; the remainder is divided between the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, Perth and Kinross, and Stirling. Although the Isle of Arran administratively belongs to North Ayrshire, its northern part is generally regarded as part of the Highlands.
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History
Culture
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Culturally the area is quite different from the Scottish Lowlands. Most of the Highlands fall into the region known as the Gaidhealtachd, pronounced roughly Gailtahk, which was, within the last hundred years, the Gaelic speaking area of Scotland. Highland English is also widely spoken.
See also boobrie.
Historical Geography
In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of a line drawn from Dumbarton to Stonehaven, including the Inner and Outer Hebrides and the County of Bute, but excluding Orkney and Shetland, Caithness, the flat coastal land of the Counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire and Banffshire, and all East Aberdeenshire. This Highland area differed from the Central Lowlands by language and tradition, better preserving Gaelic speech and customs. Even in a historical sense the Highlanders were a distinct people from the Lowlanders. The City of Inverness is usually regarded as the capital of the Highlands.
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Geology
The Highlands consist of an old dissected plateau, or block, of ancient crystalline rocks with incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and by ice, the resulting topography being a wide area of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have nearly the same height above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.
Towns and villages
- Aberfeldy, Altnaharra, Applecross, Aviemore
- Back of Keppoch, Ballachulish, Beauly, Blair Atholl, Braemar
- Cannich,Coldbackie,Crianlarich, Cromarty Culbokie
- Dalwhinnie, Dornie, Dornoch, Durness
- Fort Augustus, Fort William
- Gairloch, Glencoe, Glenelg, Galnafanaigh
- Inveraray, Invermoriston, Inverness (a city since 2001)
- Killin, Kingussie, Kinlochleven, Kinlochewe, Kinloch Rannoch, Kyle of Lochalsh
- Lochinver
- Mallaig
- Nairn, Newtonmore, North Ballachulish, Nethy Bridge
- Oban
- Plockton, Poolewe
- South Ballachulish, Strathpeffer, Strathy
- Taynuilt, Thurso, Tobermory, Tomintoul, Tongue, Torridon
- Ullapool
- Wick
Places of interest
- Castle Tioram
- Glencoe Ski Centre
- Glen Orchy
- Glen Spean
- Loch Linnhe
- Loch Lochy
- Rannoch Moor
- Tor Castle
- Glen Coe
- Glen Lyon
- Loch Rannoch
- Loch Katrine
- West Highland Way
- Eilean Donan
Historic names of areas in the Highlands include:
- Sutherland
- Assynt
- Coigach
- Kintail
- Knoydart
- Morar
- Moidart
- Sunart
- Ardnamurchan
- Morvern
- Ardgour
- Lochaber
- Appin
- Lorne
- Argyll
- Knapdale
- Cowal
- Strathspey
- Badenoch
- Rannoch
- Atholl
- Breadalbane
- Trossachs
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