Orkney

views updated May 21 2018

Orkney. A group of islands lying at the north-east tip of Scotland. The islands are rich in archaeological monuments. Skara Brae is a well-preserved prehistoric village, Maes Howe the best of a series of impressive prehistoric burial cairns, and numerous brochs and settlements attest to the islands' Pictish and Viking periods. Orkney, together with Shetland, became part of Scotland in consequence of the marriage of Margaret of Denmark-Norway to James III of Scotland in 1469; the marriage settlement provided for a temporary transfer of the islands until a cash payment was completed, but the cash was never forthcoming and Orkney and Shetland remained Scottish. Orkney is mainly low lying and fertile, with agriculture, fishing, and food-processing, and now oil-related activity, significant sources of employment. It constitutes a county of Scotland, which remained a unitary local administrative authority throughout the Scottish 1973 and 1996 local government reorganizations.

Charlotte M. Lythe

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