Hype for the Future 74/284: The North of Scotland

Introduction

Though the vast majority of the Scottish population lives nearer the English border, the northern regions of Scotland are actually more attuned to Nordic customs for over a millennium, as much of the northern region was previously connected—quite strongly—to Norwegian control and subject to instability more than the regions even slightly further to the south, such as by the Urquhart Castle near Inverness.

The Counties

The Nordic regions of Scotland are largely determined by the Viking settlements of the region, most prominently associated with the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands, Caithness, Sutherland, and the Inner and Outer Hebrides, from north to south. Each of the regions listed contains distinctive characteristics that set the respective counties apart from one another, and the Shetland Islands in particular are located in relative proximity to the Faroe Islands of Denmark to the northwest and the Orkney Islands to the south. The Shetland Islands are also within reach of the mainland of Norway.

Hype for the Future 73I: The Nordic Cross in Scotland

Introduction

Even though Scotland itself is not a Nordic country, portions of the territory now claimed by Scotland have historically been identified as Norwegian territory in particular. Following the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway and associated unions, most notably the Kalmar Union with Sweden, the Kingdom of Denmark would continue to claim the Faroe Islands, Iceland (now a sovereign state), and Greenland, in order from southeast to northwest.

Norse Heritage

While not all of Scotland is particularly notable for providing claim to Norse territory, particular counties have provided insights and interest into the Nordic crosses associated with select counties in the northern Scottish Highlands, including the Orkney Islands, the Shetland Islands, and select counties claiming the Hebrides.

Today, the flag of the Shetland Islands is a Nordic bicolor flag, with white on the inside and blue on the outside, effectively the inverse of the Finnish flag, except with a lighter blue color. For the Orkney Islands to the south, the order of the colors is blue on the inside, yellow on the outline, and red on the outside, effectively identical to the Norwegian flag except with a yellow outline in place of the white outline.

Further south, now on the Scottish mainland, the Counties of Caithness and Sutherland are also identified as Nordic counties following Norse rule for over a millennium prior. Regionally within the County of Caithness, the galley is identified as the county symbol and is depicted in addition to the Nordic cross design, with the galley in red and yellow. Overall, however, the flag design is a Nordic tricolor, with blue on the inside, yellow on the outline, and black on the outside. Even further south and west, Sutherland, named for the “southern land” relative to the Orkney Islands from Viking control, is depicted with a Nordic cross combined with a Scottish-style saltire, with the intersection of the black saltire and cross on a white background forming an eight-pointed star symbolizing the southern land, the East Coast sunrises, and the West Coast sunsets on the county.

Hype for the Future 73D: L’Anse aux Meadows

Introduction

The Vikings and the associated settlements, though largely identified as having originated within the region now known as Northern Europe and Scandinavia, have since expanded from the modern nations of Norway and Sweden east into Finland and Russia, though only barely so, but more importantly, south and west into Denmark, Scotland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and, finally, Newfoundland.

Old World or New World?

Prior to 1492, the regions that the Vikings had settled had likely been referred to simply by more local names, such as “Vinland” or “Greenland” in North America. Since the concept of the “New World” had not been established prior to the expeditions of Christopher Columbus, the entirety of the Viking territory would have been considered “Old World” territory, yet the regions had later been redefined as included within the “New World” by way of being transatlantic, even though the regions settled by the Vikings have been surprisingly sequential and not necessarily across the lengthy reaches of the Atlantic.

Today, the definition of the “New World” defines the continents almost entirely by plate tectonics; however, all of Iceland, including the North American side of the island, remains identified as a European power nonetheless, for instance. Even though the closest distance from Norway to Newfoundland may require lengthy Atlantic travel, the Viking journey between the two had likely involved the aforementioned stepping stones of Denmark, Scotland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland prior to the final settlement of Vinland by the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland in present-day Canada. For Scotland, the specific regions to be settled by the Vikings had largely corresponded with the Orkney Islands, the Shetland Islands, Caithness, Sutherland, and the Inner and Outer Hebrides, including the Uist Islands and the Isles of Skye and Barra.