Shetland Islands: History

Pre-20th-Century History

The first humans to explore Shetland were seasonal visitors from the nearby Orkneys drawn to the islands by the abundance of fish and seals. More permanent settlers started arriving around 5000 BC and found well forested Shetland a safe and fertile haven for grazing sheep. These resources were soon depleted. By 3000 BC the islands were almost totally deforested, aside from the hardiest trees growing in the most inaccessible places. The remote location of the islands meant that technology and conquest often passed them by - when the Iron Age took hold elsewhere in the north, the Shetlands lingered in the Stone Age. When the Iron Age eventually arrived, Shetland flourished. The islands are dotted with evidence of this period: standing stone circles, burial cairns and early stone housing. These are all well preserved by the relative lack of agriculture that has destroyed such sites elsewhere. The most notable structures of the period are the brochs - morterless towers of roughly hewn, carefully stacked stone - built between 100 BC-AD 100, and used as easily defendable strong points in times of conflict. The most well preserved broch is on the isle of Mousa and stands 13m tall from a base of 15m, and still contains an internal stairway of stone slabs.

The Shetland Islands were known to the Romans but not conquered - probably due to the fiercely un-Mediterranean weather - and the islands remained a stronghold of Celtic language and culture up until the 8th century AD. Several memorial stones inscribed with Celtic runic script and the St Ninian's Isle treasure hoard (now in the National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh) are reminders of Shetland's Celtic past. This Celtic period ended when the Norwegian Vikings arrived and settled during the 9th century - completely replacing the earlier Celtic culture of Shetland with their own language, farming techniques and system of rule. Virtually no place names remain from the Celtic era whereas the Shetland language still contains many words of Viking origin. After 600 years of rule by the Norwegians, Shetland was bequeathed as a dowry payment to the Scottish crown in 1479. Slowly Scottish law and language mingled with the Norwegian, and the estates still controlled by Norwegian nobles throughout the 16th and 17th centuries passed to their Scottish rivals. Even so, the Viking legacy remained in the Shetland language and can be seen at sites such as Jarlshof, where traces of habitation from the Stone Age to medieval times have been uncovered.

It's worth noting that the language of Shetland was never the Gaelic of the highlands; it was the Norse-derived Norn tongue until replaced by the Lowland Scots of their ruling lords.

Throughout the latter Norwegian era, and through to today, fishing has been at the heart of the Shetland economy. Boats from Northern Europe have been visiting the islands for the herring catch for hundreds of years, though today the fishing grounds are depleted and the catch strictly controlled.

Modern History

Shetland's close association with the sea is central to its history. Many Shetlanders served in the Royal Navy, sometimes after being 'press ganged' (forcibly recruited). King and country aside, the many inlets and coves of the islands also made them an attractive location for smugglers. From the 1500s up to the 1860s, various cargoes were smuggled through the isles - gin, tea and tobacco from cities such as Rotterdam and Bergen, as well as others across northern Europe. Smuggling reached such a high level that, at times, Shetland ran short of coin because all the cash had been spent on contraband. When earning an honest living on the islands became difficult, due to harsh conditions imposed by Scottish landlords, many served in the merchant navy or emigrated. Notable among these is Arthur Anderson who, after serving in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars (along with 3000 fellow Shetlanders), co-founded the Peninsular and Orient Steam Navigation Company in 1833 (P&O), which remains a global player in the shipping and port operations industries to this day. During WWII Shetland was home to up nearly 20,000 British troops and was an important base for naval and covert operations. The supply line linking Shetland to occupied Norway, known as 'The Shetland Bus', was particularly significant. Initially using fishing boats, and later swift naval vessels, supplies and personnel were smuggled into Norway - mostly at night through the brutal North Sea - to aid the Norwegian resistance to their Nazi occupiers.

Recent History

The most significant event in recent years was the discovery of oil in the North Sea near Shetland in the early 1970s. As a result, a major oil terminal was built at Sullom Voe and the islands are now at the centre of the region's oil distribution network. However, the wealth derived from oil has come at a price, as the 1993 wreck of the oil tanker Braer attests. More recently, oil revenue has dropped significantly and this, coupled with the delicate condition of the fishing industry, has placed the Shetland economy under great pressure. Even traditional textile industries are under threat and many of the younger people from the islands are leaving in search of work.

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