The Isle of Skye is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Resident numbers declined from over 20,000 in the early 19th century to just under 9,000 by the closing decade of the 20th century. The main industries are tourism, agriculture, fishing and forestry.
About Isle of Skye in brief
The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. At 1,656 square kilometres, Skye is the second-largest island in Scotland after Lewis and Harris. Resident numbers declined from over 20,000 in the early 19th century to just under 9,000 by the closing decade of the 20th century. About a third of the residents were Gaelic speakers in 2001, and although their numbers are in decline, this aspect of island culture remains important. The main industries are tourism, agriculture, fishing and forestry. The island’s largest settlement is Portree, which is also its capital, known for its picturesque harbour. There are links to various nearby islands by ferry and, since 1995, to the mainland by a road bridge. The abundant wildlife includes the golden eagle, red deer and Atlantic salmon. The local flora are dominated by heather moor, and there are nationally important invertebrate populations on the surrounding sea bed. Skye has provided the locations for various novels and feature films and is celebrated in poetry and song. The first written references to the island are Roman sources such as the Ravenna Cosmography, which refers to Scitis and Scetis, which can be found on a map by Ptolemy.
One possible derivation comes from skitis, an early Celtic word for winged, which may describe how the island’s peninsulas radiate out from a mountainous centre. In 1549 Donald Munro, High Dean of the Isles, wrote of \”Skye is callit Ellan Skiannach in Irish, that is to say in Inglish the wyngit Ile, be reason it has monyWyngis and pointis lyand furth fra it, throw the dividing of thir foirsaid Lochis. \” but the meaning of this Gaelic name is unclear. Malcolm Slesser suggested its shape out of the west coast of northern Scotland like a lobster ready to snap at the bone of the fish bone of Lewis and Lewis and W. H. Murray, commenting on its irregular coastline, stated that there are black and white stones, which in the same place are marcasites, resembling silver ore, near the village of Sartle: there are also black, white, and white village, which are in bigness, nutmegs, & cgs, which in turn resemble the place where the stones are found. Skye was also referred to by the Norse as Skuy, Skýey or Skuyö. In the Norse sagas Skye is called Skíð, for example in the Hákonar saga, and a skaldic poem in the Heimskringla from c. 1230 contains a line that translates as \”the hunger battle-birds were filled in Skye with blood of foemen killed\”.
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This page is based on the article Isle of Skye published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 03, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
