Shetland Islands: geography, people, economy and history

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Shetland has been inhabited since the 3rd millennium BC. The inhabitants practiced agriculture and animal husbandry and built stone tombs (e.g. Gillaburn, Islesburgh Cairn, Ronas Hill, Punds Water or Vementry).

In the 2nd millennium BC (Bronze Age) the climate became wetter and colder, so the inhabitants settled closer to the coast. In the Iron Age, brochs, round stone towers that can still be visited today were built here: for example Clickhimin, the Broch of Culswick, the Jarlshof and Broch of Mousa, but also blockhouses, ring forts, rampart forts, earthhouses souterrains and wheelhouses or temples such as Stanydale characterise the image of the archipelago.

What language was spoken on the islands until the arrival of the Vikings is largely unclear. It may have been Pictish, a now extinct - probably Celtic - language. In the 9th century, this language was supplanted by Old Norse, spoken by the Scandinavian immigrants, which evolved into the Norse dialect of Norn in Shetland. Norn was spoken in the islands until the 18th century, with its extinction it was replaced as the vernacular by Scots. However, the influence of Norn is still noticeable in a number of grammatical peculiarities (such as the formation of tenses with "ta be" instead of "tae hae" = "I am been" instead of "I hae been" or "I wis been" instead of "I haed been") and a large number of words borrowed from Norn. This makes the Shetland island dialect a distinctive variety of Scottish English, or more precisely "North Insular Scots".

Antiquity to the present

The Skoten, whose raids are reported by the Romans, originally came from Ireland. At the time of the kingdom of Dalriada they extended from County Antrim in Northern Ireland to Argyll in Western Scotland. In the rest of Scotland and the Northern Isles lived the Picts ("the Painted Ones") first mentioned in Roman accounts in 297 AD. In the 9th century, the Vikings landed here and named the islands Hjaltland. They established new laws of their own and, above all, their own language, which developed into Norn. In the 10th century they were Christianized. Around 1195, the islands were placed directly under the crown of Norway for some time. The Shetlands also belonged to Norway later on. In the 14th century Norway (with its possessions) united with Sweden and Denmark. The hoard on St Ninian's Isle dates from the Viking Age.

The Norwegian-Danish crown estate in the Shetland Islands, i.e. the land in question and the rights accruing from the land, came under the control of Scotland as security for the dowry of the daughter of the Danish King Christian I, Margaret, in 1469, when she married King James III of Scotland. Shetland was subsequently annexed by the Kingdom of Scotland but, unlike Orkney, was not immediately incorporated into the general administration of the realm but was placed under the Royal Scottish Privy Council. From then on, Scottish influence over the islands grew. Old Norn as a commonly spoken language died out in the 19th century. Nevertheless, to this day, especially on the northernmost island of Unst, there are still a few old people who remember the old sagas and stories.

From the 15th to the end of the 17th century, lively trade relations developed between the Hanseatic League and Shetland, which required numerous imported goods.

During the Second World War, Shetland played a role in supporting the Norwegian resistance and escaping from occupied Norway. Commando operations were carried out and agents smuggled in from here. Crossing between Shetland and the entire Norwegian coast was accomplished with mainly Norwegian fishing boats, which was only possible during the winter season. The actions became known as the "Shetland Bus", of which the most famous were probably the attacks on the German battleship Tirpitz in 1942 and on the heavy water plant of Norsk Hydro at Rjukan in the Norwegian Telemark.

Geology and morphology

The archipelago was formed at the beginning of the Paleozoic era during the Caledonian mountain building. It is composed of different sedimentary rocks. Shetland's surface is rocky. The archipelago is also called "The old rock" because it is dominated by hard sediments that are among the oldest rocks on earth. Shetland-Mainland, Yell and the west of Unst are composed of crystalline shales and gneisses. North Mainland is composed mainly of granite. Gabbro and serpentine form the east of Unst and Fetlar. Sandstone is found only on the western and eastern edges of the archipelago. The glaciers of the ice age are responsible for the relief there. The landscape here resembles that of Orkney, while the rest of Shetland is rugged. The soil layer is thin, boulders, bogs and acid meadows, numerous small lakes and ponds are present. The hard rocks of Mainland offered enormous resistance to the ice masses. These followed the weak zones in the earth's crust, the fold and fracture lines from the time of mountain building or the valleys filled with limestone deposits. Thus were formed the mighty glacial valleys and the long and deep Voes: Bowland, Clousta, Culbinsbourgh, Footabrough, Leiraness, Papil, Quarf, Scalloway, Scatsta, Setter, Snarraness, Sound, Sullom and Tresta. Picturesque shapes that characterise the west-facing coastal panorama were created by the interaction of westerly winds and surf that undermined the rocks. Gloups developed as holes broke into the too-thin cover of sea caves. Crevices cutting into the land widened into what are known as geos.

The Geos and Gloups and the rock gate of Dore Holm off the west coast of Esha Ness offer the most impressive sight in the north-west of Mainland. The Catpund-burn, with steatite, serpentinite and shale layers, runs eastwards into the sea at Cunningdburgh for about a kilometre.

Climate

Shetland is generally very mild and humid (1000 mm rainfall annually), determined by the Gulf Stream. Winter on the islands is usually quite mild with only occasional frost and rather rare snowfall, although the winter half-year is also the wettest time of the year. In summer, temperatures can easily rise to 15 °C or more. However, storms, heavy rain and fog are common and can make the weather relatively uncomfortable even in summer.

Climate table Lerwick