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Scotland has over 790 offshore islands, most of which are to be found in four main groups: Shetland, Orkney, and the Hebrides, sub-divided into the Inner Hebrides and Outer Hebrides. Many of these islands are swept by strong tides, and the Corryvreckan tide race between Scarba and Jura is one of the largest whirlpools in the world.〔The Corryvreckan is regularly cited as the third largest whirlpool of the world - see for example ("Corryvreckan Whirlpool " ) Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 19 September 2009. Some sources suggest it is the second largest after the Moskstraumen.〕 Other strong tides are to be found in the Pentland Firth between mainland Scotland and Orkney, and another example is the "Grey Dog" between Scarba and Lunga.〔 The geology and geomorphology of the islands is varied. Some, such as Skye and Mull are mountainous, while others like Tiree and Sanday are relatively low lying. Many have bedrock made from ancient Archaean Lewisian Gneiss which was formed 3 billion years ago; Shapinsay and other Orkney islands are formed from Old Red Sandstone, which is 400 million years old; and others such as Rùm from more recent Tertiary volcanoes.〔McKirdy, Alan Gordon, John & Crofts, Roger (2007) ''Land of Mountain and Flood: The Geology and Landforms of Scotland''. Edinburgh. Birlinn.〕 The largest island is Lewis and Harris which extends to 2,179 square kilometres, and there are a further 200 islands which are greater than 40 hectares in area. Of the remainder, several such as Staffa and the Flannan Isles are well known despite their small size.〔 Some 94 Scottish islands are permanently inhabited, of which 89 are offshore islands and between 2001 and 2011 Scottish island populations as a whole grew by 4% to 103,702.〔("Scotland's 2011 census: Island living on the rise" ). BBC News. Retrieved 18 August 2013.〕 The culture of the islands has been affected by the successive influences of Celtic, Norse and English speaking peoples and this is reflected in names given to the islands. Most of the Hebrides have names with Scots Gaelic derivations, whilst those of the Northern Isles tend to be derived from the Viking names. A few have Brythonic, Scots and even perhaps pre-Celtic roots.〔 A feature of modern island life is the low crime rate and they are considered to be amongst the safest places to live in Britain. Orkney was rated as the best place to live in Scotland in both 2013 and 2014 according to the Halifax Quality of Life survey.〔Harrison, Jody (20 December 2014) ("Orkney best for quality of life" ). Glasgow. ''The Herald''. Retrieved 20 December 2014.〕 Rockall is a small rocky islet in the North Atlantic which was declared part of Scotland by the Island of Rockall Act 1972.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=House of Lords Hansard )〕 However, the legality of the claim is disputed by the Republic of Ireland, Denmark and Iceland and it is probably unenforceable in international law.〔MacDonald (2006) pp. 627–647.〕 ==Demographics== The 2011 census records 94 Scottish islands as having a usually resident population of which 89 are offshore islands. There are however various complications with both the definitions of an "island" and occasional habitation and the National Records of Scotland also list a further 17 islands that were inhabited in 2001 but not 2011, or are "included in the NRS statistical geography for inhabited islands but had no usual residents at the time of either the 2001 or 2011 censuses".〔National Records of Scotland (2013) pp. 11-13〕 There are a small number of other islands that are evidently inhabited but which are not recorded in this list. The local government council areas with the most inhabited islands are Argyll and Bute with 23, Orkney with 20, Shetland with 16 and Highland and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar with 14 each. There are also three in North Ayrshire and one each in Fife, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire. The last three named plus two islands in Argyll and Bute are freshwater rather than offshore.〔 In the past many smaller islands that are uninhabited today had permanent populations. Losses were severe in many areas during the 19th century when islands such as Pabbay and Fuaigh Mòr were subject to forcible evictions during the Highland Clearances.〔Haswell-Smith (2007) pp. 269, 306-07〕 Mass emigration from the Hebridean islands was at its height in the mid-19th century but it commenced as early as the 1770s in some areas.〔Symonds (1999) p. 101〕 The crofting counties held 20% of Scotland's population in 1755 but by 1961 this figure had declined to 5%.〔Turnock (1969) p. 190〕 Other examples include Mingulay, Noss and the St Kilda archipelago, which were abandoned during the course of the 20th century. Declines have been particularly significant in the more remote outlying islands, some of which remain vulnerable to ongoing losses.〔Wenham, Sheena "Modern Times" in Omand (2003) p. 110.〕 The following table shows population trends for the ten most populous islands as of the last census. The overall trends are typically growth in populations in the early part of the modern period, followed by declines from the mid 19th century onwards. In every case except Orkney the highest population was recorded prior to 1932 and the lowest post-industrial revolution figure after 1960. Subsequently there has been modest growth overall, although some islands are continuing to show a decline. Between 1991 and 2001, the population of the islands as a whole fell by 3% to 99,739, although there were 35 islands whose population increased.〔General Register Office for Scotland (2003)〕 By contrast, between 2001 and 2011 Scottish island populations as a whole grew by 4% to 103,702.〔 The Scottish Community Alliance noted that "the largest rate of increase has been in the Western Isles (6%) where local people now own approximately 60% of the landmass. Where populations have fallen (Bute, Arran and Islay) community ownership is virtually non-existent."〔("Increase in islands’ population" ). Scottish Community Alliance. Retrieved 7 September 2013.〕 The following table compares the populations of the main Scottish archipelagos with that of the Faroe Islands for a similar time frame to the above. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「List of islands of Scotland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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