Orkney and Shetland, known as “the Northern Isles”, are indeed the most northerly units of land in the British Isles. The lighthouse of Muckle Flugga, at a latitude of 61º, is the northernmost point of Shetland as well as of the whole of Britain, and Orkney is as far north as Bristol Bay in Alaska. Lerwick, the capital of Shetland, is equidistant from Aberdeen in Scotland, Bergen in Norway, and Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands.

The Shetland archipelago has a total area of 1,468 sq. km (to be compared with Orkney’s 976 sq. km) and consists of well over 100 islands, 15 of which are inhabited. In Shetland as well as Orkney the largest island is simply known as Mainland. Otherwise the names of the islands in both archipelagos can all be traced back to Norn, the Scandinavian variety once spoken in the area, e.g. Whalsay and Foula in Shetland, Westray and Egilsay in Orkney.

There are many similarities between Orkney and Shetland with regard to topography, history, population structure, culture and language but also some characteristic differences. Arable land, for example, amounts to a mere 3% of the total area in Shetland, whereas it is almost 40% in Orkney. It used to be said that the typical Shetlander is a fisherman who occasionally does a bit of farming, while the Orkneyman is a farmer who occasionally devotes himself to fishing. Other differences have to do with the fact that Orkney is much closer to the Scottish mainland (the southernmost point of South Ronaldsay is only about a mile north of Caithness). This is, among other things, reflected in language in that the Orkney dialect is less distinct from mainland Scots/Scottish English.

In spite of their peripheral location, Orkney and Shetland should not be seen as isolated communities, neither in the past nor today. The islands have always been at the crossroads of shipping and trade, and have been subjected to different kinds of immigration and impulses from various peoples: the Norse settlers first arriving in the 9th century, the Scots gradually taking over from the early Middle Ages onwards, and the Dutch and German tradesmen in the Hansa period. The Northern Isles today are modern British societies, with excellent educational establishments and a highly developed infrastructure. While traditional local industries live on, such as the production of cheese in Orkney, yarn and knitwear in Shetland, the last few decades have seen major changes in population growth, oc-cupation and life styles as a result of the activities related to North Sea oil. The real boom took place in the 1970s in connection with the construction work, but the population level is fairly stable and there is less unemployment than in Scotland as a whole. Shetland now has a population of about 23,000 (to be compared with 17,000 in the mid-sixties) and Orkney about 20,000.

Considering social stratification, Shetland and Orkney make the impression of being more egalitarian than most other regions in Britain. Erving Goffman, the renowned American social anthropologist, who did fieldwork for his Ph.D. thesis as a “participant observer” on Unst, Shetland’s northernmost island, was impressed by the general classlessness of the society. More than half of the working population work in services; the second largest category is self-employed, which could stand for running a spinning mill as well as home-based knitting. It is not uncommon for an individual to be employed in widely different spheres, as in the case of a Fair Islander who until recently (1) ran the local post office, (2) was a member of the crew of “The Good Shepherd” connecting Fair Isle with Shetland Mainland, (3) was the local butcher, (4) taught traditional fiddle music at the school, and (5) looked after hundreds of sheep. With regard to gender as a sociolinguistic factor, results from recent linguistic work suggest that it is not significant either. Orten (1991: 65) reports similar observations from Orkney.

In the 10th century Orkney and Shetland were invaded and settled by Vikings, probably coming from South West Norway, as described in the Orkneyinga Saga, Landnámabok and Historia Norvegiae. It is claimed that they defeated the Picts, who are believed to have been the indigenous inhabitants of the area but have left few traces. It is no coincidence that the name of the Icelandic saga documenting the early history of the Northern Isles is derived from Orkney – that is where the heart of the Viking earldom lay and other Scandinavian settlements such as Shetland and Caithness were seen from an Orkney perspective.

Orkney and Shetland remained all-Scandinavian, with a native language variety known as Norn, the first Germanic language to be spoken on the islands, until well into the 14th century, when the Scots began to come in, making the Scottish element in the joint earldom the dominant cultural influence extending northwards into the islands. In 1379 a Scotsman was appointed Earl of Orkney, which included the sovereignty of Shetland, and about a century later the islands became part of Scotland. A serious plea for reunion with Norway was put forward as late as 1905, in connection with the Sweden-Norway separation, but the islands have remained under Scottish and British rule. It should be pointed out, however, that the links with Scandinavia, especially Norway, were never broken, as so remarkably demonstrated through the support given to the Norwegian resistance movement during World War II (“the Shetland Bus”). The Scandinavian heritage is an integral part of Orkney and Shetland identity.