Orkney Islands

The islands are separated from the main part of Scotland by the Pentland Firth Strait. Mainland is located approximately in the middle of the archipelago, and the rest can be divided into two groups - northern (Westray, Sunday, Idea, Rauzy, Shapinsay, Stronsay, etc.) and southern (Hoi, South Ronaldsay, Flotta, Barrey, etc.). In the east, the islands are predominantly flat, in the west - hilly (Hoy, Rousey, the western part of Mainland). The highest point is Ward Hill on Hoa, 479 m. Forests on the islands do not grow.

In the southern part of Orkney, south of the island of Mainland, is Scapa Flow Harbor with an area of ​​360 km². The harbor is protected from the sea by several islands, has a depth of up to 50 m and a sandy bottom. It has sufficient capacity to accommodate a large number of large ships and is considered one of the most convenient natural harbors in the world, the former British Navy base.

Climate

The climate of the islands is cool but mild, influenced by the Gulf Stream . The average temperature is around +8 ° C, in winter +4 ° C, in summer +12 ° C. In winter, the temperature rarely drops below 0 ° C. The average annual rainfall is about 900 mm. The climate is characterized by high humidity with a constantly blowing westerly wind. A relentless wind is a feature of the local climate. One of the natives of the Orkney Islands Magnus Spence, in his work on the weather of the archipelago, argued: "With regard to the frequency and fury of the winds, no British region can compete with the Orkney Islands." Even the sunniest summer days can be quite chilly due to the continuous assertive breeze. Strong winds carrying sea salt have a significant impact on the local flora (therefore, forests on the islands do not grow). In the winter months they bring a large amount of rainfall. The total duration of storms in winter is on average 52 hours, at which time the wind speed can reach 145 km / h (during the Great Storm that erupted in January 1953, it increased to 200 km / h).

Numerous monuments suggest that the Orkney Islands have been inhabited at least since the Neolithic . Four of them in Mainland - the Meishau funeral chamber, the standing Stennes Stones , the Brodgar Circle stone ring and the Skara Bray settlement - are a UNESCO World Heritage Site Neolithic Monuments in Orkney . Other monuments include Ansten , Barnhouse and Kwonterness also on Mainland, the Tomb of the Eagles on South Ronaldsay, Dwarf Stein on Hoe, Nep of Howard on Papa Westray and Midhau on Rousey.

During the Iron Age, the islands were influenced by the Roman Empire and the Celtic Dal Riad , in the middle of the 1st millennium A.D. e. the islands were part of the Pictish kingdom . After the Scots came to Scotland (arrived from Ireland in the 5th century A.D. and gradually conquered the Picts ), the islands were annexed to Scotland for a short while. The legends mention King Lot I of Orkney (according to another transcription - Lloyd or Llud ), a participant in the Round Table of the British Knights Arthur and his personal friend (VI century A.D. ), married to his sister Anna (or Morgause , a hero of numerous legends about him and King Arthur ). Subsequently, the son of King Lot I and his heir, Sir Gawain, recognized his uncle, King Arthur Pendragon as overlord, and annexed the islands to the kingdom of the Britons.

In 875, the islands were conquered by the Vikings, king (king) Harald I the Fair-haired. It forms the county of Orkney , which also includes the Shetland Islands , the Hebrides , the Faroe Islands and the north of the main part of Scotland - Caithness and Sutherland . These territories were formally subordinate to the Scandinavian kings.

The baptism of the Orkney Islands took place in 995. Having stopped on one of the islands of the archipelago on the way from Ireland to Scandinavia, the Scandinavian king Olaf I Tryggvasson ordered the jarl (Jarl - duke) Sigurd, who ruled the islands, to accept Christianity. At first, Sigurd refused, but when the king threatened to kill his son, he agreed. Orkney parishes became part of the Nidaros diocese (modern Trondheim ).

In the history of the Orkney Islands, this period became the time of the emergence and formation of a new culture. Based on the archipelago and partially replacing the indigenous ethnic group, the Vikings made sorties to Norway and neighboring Scottish regions. The final accession of the Orkney Islands to Scotland took place in 1468, and to the United Kingdom in 1707.

In 1468, the King of Scandinavia and Denmark, Christian I, married his daughter Margaret to the King of Scotland, Jacob (James) III. Experiencing serious financial difficulties, Christian I was unable to provide her dowry. Without the knowledge of the Council of State (Denmark), on September 28, 1468, he signed an agreement with the Scottish monarch, under which he received 50,000 Rhine guilders, and the Orkney Islands were transferred to Scotland as collateral for this amount. The contract was executed in the form of a mortgage (debt receipt, bill of exchange). Since the dowry was never paid, the islands became the property of King James III and were thus annexed to Scotland.

Subsequently, the Danes repeatedly made attempts to redeem the mortgage, but they did not succeed ^[12] , although Christian I left a bill on the possibility of redeeming the islands (including the nearby Shetland Islands ) for a fixed amount of 210 kg of gold or 2310 kg of silver. Currently, only the Faroe Islands remained under the rule of the Danish crown.

Since 1707, with the signing of the Union between England and Scotland and the formation of the state of Great Britain, the islands are ruled by the British Crown.

More than twenty thousand people lived in Orkney in 2011 with an average population density of 21 people. per km², of which on the main island of Mainland - about 17 thousand. They are inhabited by Orcs (see above) - descendants of the Scandinavian Viking conquerors who are forced to constantly wear warm clothes because of the climate, speaking the Orkney dialect of Anglo-Scottish (or, as the islanders themselves say, the Orkadian dialect of the British ), which has a large admixture of Old Norse words. The status of the city has two settlements of the archipelago - the capital of Kirkwall with a population of over eight thousand people and Stromness with a population of more than two thousand. Both of these cities are on Mainland.

The main airport of the islands is Kirkwall , from which flights are operated to Edinburgh , Glasgow International , Aberdeen , Inverness and Samboro outside Orkney, as well as to the small airports of Idea , North Ronaldsay , Papa Westray , Sunday , Stronsay and Westray .

The following ferry routes connect Orkney to the outside world:

• Gills Bay - St. Margarets Hope (on South Ronaldsay),
• John o'Groats - Berik (on South Ronaldsay, passengers only)
• Lerwick - Kirkwall ,
• Aberdeen - Kirkwall ,
• Terso - Stromness .

All inhabited islands are connected by local ferries.

South Ronaldsay is connected via Barray to the Mainland Dam, built during World War II to protect Scapa Flow, and now used as a road.

In the European Parliament elections, the Orkney Islands are part of a constituency coinciding with the borders of Scotland. In the elections held in 2009, Scotland sent 6 representatives to parliament: two from the Scottish National Party , two Labor, one liberal Democrat and one conservative ^[13] .

Orkney and Shetland Islands are combined into one constituency in the elections to the House of Commons of Great Britain . For the third time in a row, starting in the 2001 elections, island residents elect a candidate from the liberal democratic party, Alistair Carmichael ^[14] .

Residents of the Orkney Islands run for Parliament in Scotland . In 2011, in the single-member Orkney Islands constituency, for the second time in a row since 2007, a candidate from the Liberal Democratic Party of Scotland, Liam MacArthur, was elected ^[15] . In the multi-member Highland and Islands constituency, which includes the Shetland Islands, three candidates from the Scottish National Party , two from the Scottish Labor Party and two from the Conservative Unionist Party, won ^[16] .

The Orkney Islands Council consists of 21 deputies elected in 6 multi-member constituencies ^[17] :

• East Mainland, South Ronaldsay and Barray
• Kirkwall East
• Kirkwall, West and Orfir
• Northern Islands
• Stromness and the South Islands
• West Mainland

The British monarch appoints to the islands his personal representative - Lord Lieutenant of the Orkney Islands, who performs mainly ceremonial functions and does not play a big role in local government, since 2007, Anthony Trickett has been playing this role.

The Orkneyinger’s Saga, written about 1250 in Iceland, tells the story of the conquest of the islands by the Vikings and the subsequent internecine struggle among the ruling elite (dukes) ^[18] .

Islands in Popular Culture

Among other things, the computer role-playing game The Bard's Tale takes place in Orkney, where the player can visit cities such as Kirkwall, Finstown or Stromness.

The British group recorded the album Orkney: Symphony Of The Magnetic North, entirely dedicated to the Orkney Islands, where one of the band’s members was born.

• Dotto of Orkney ( VI century ) - abbot of the monastery, later named after him, the Holy Catholic Church .
• Conran ( 7th century ) - Bishop of Orkney, Holy Catholic Church .
• Magnus of Orkney († 1108 ) - Holy Catholic Church .
• Rögnwald of Orkney (1100–1158) - Holy Catholic Church .

• GVA (Total Per capita Gross Income): £ 36,637 (2004).
• Land industry: food, textile, electric power.
• Agriculture: crop production, meat and milk and wool animal husbandry.
• Marine industry: fishing, seafood mining.
• Services: tourism, transport.

The endless fields serving as beautiful pastures have made the islands the center of cattle breeding, from here they supply the best Scottish lamb and beef. Industry based on the use of renewable natural resources is gaining momentum - on the islands it is primarily wind energy: large and small wind turbines are everywhere. The second on the list of “natural workers” is the ebb and flow. The Scottish company Aquamarine Power has created a device for converting wave energy into electricity and plans to create entire parks of wave catchers here. They engage in fishing on an industrial scale at the largest crab mining and processing enterprise in the UK. A large oil refining complex is also based on Flotta Island. A special place in the industry and culture of these islands is occupied by the tradition of making jewelry dating back to Celtic times. She was delighted to be picked up by designers of the 20th century who glorified the Orkney Islands in the fashion world: the founder of the revival of traditional Scottish crafts, Ola Gorie, who has been working in jewelry since the 1960s, the sixties innovator Malcolm Gray, and the designer Sheila Fleet. They, like all the inhabitants of the islands in general, believe that all the best and most beautiful is in Orkney.

• History Museums in Kirkwall and Stromness
• Peers Art Gallery in Stromness.
• Ethnographic Museum in Harrey near Stromness, reproducing the appearance of a typical 19th century agricultural farm.
• Factory for the production of Scotch whiskey, ale (dark beer), with the possibility of tasting Highland Park Distillery in Kirkwall.
• St. Magnus in Kirkwall , as well as the nearby ruins of the episcopal and ducal castles. The very Cathedral of St. Magnus according to legend was built on the site of the ruins of the castle of King Orcs of Lot I.

• Orkney Islands Council , the local authority website
• Vision of Britain - Groome Gazetteer entry for Orkney
•   Orkney Islands Travel Guide at Wikiguide
• Orkney landscapes
• Map of the community council areas
• Map of civil parishes