Editing Shetland (section)

== History ==
{{main|History of Shetland}}

=== Scandinavian colonisation ===
[[File:Shetland (boxed) with surrounding lands.png|thumb|250px|right|Shetland (boxed) in relation to surrounding territories including [[Norway]] (to the east), the [[Faroe Islands]] (to the north west), and [[Orkney]] and the rest of the [[British Isles]] (to the south west).]]
[[File:Flateyjarbok Haraldr Halfdan.jpg|thumb|250px|alt=A page from an illuminated manuscript shows two male figures. On the left a seated man wears a red crown and on the right a standing man has long fair hair. Their right hands are clasped together.|14th-century ''[[Flateyjarbók]]'' image of [[Harald Fairhair]] (right, with fair hair), who took control of {{lang|nrn|Hjaltland}} c. 875.]]

The expanding population of [[Scandinavia]] led to a shortage of available resources and arable land there and led to a period of [[Viking expansion]], so the [[North Germanic peoples|Norse]] gradually shifted their attention from plundering to invasion.<ref>Graham-Campbell (1999) p. 38</ref> Shetland was colonised during the late 8th and 9th centuries,<ref>Schei (2006) pp. 11–12</ref> the fate of the existing indigenous Pictish population being uncertain. Modern Shetlanders still retain the Norse DNA with many family trees showing the Norse patronymic system (-sson/son, -dottir/daughter). Modern DNA studies such as the Viking Health Study are severely flawed as they account for only a tiny fraction of the population.<ref name="Gilbert">Gilbert, E ''et al'' (2019) [https://www.pnas.org/content/116/38/19064 "The genetic landscape of Scotland and the Isles"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103132314/https://www.pnas.org/content/116/38/19064 |date=3 November 2020 }}, Retrieved 11 September 2020</ref>

[[Viking]]s then used the islands as a base for [[pirate]] expeditions to Norway and the coasts of mainland Scotland. In response, Norwegian king [[Harald I of Norway|Harald Hårfagre]] ("Harald Fair Hair") annexed the [[Northern Isles]] (comprising Orkney and Shetland) in 875.{{#tag:ref|Some scholars believe that this story, which appears in the ''[[Orkneyinga Saga]]'' is apocryphal and based on the later voyages of [[Magnus III of Norway|Magnus Barelegs]].<ref>Thomson (2008) p. 24-27</ref>|group="Note"}} [[Rognvald Eysteinsson]] received the [[Earldom of Orkney]], which then included Shetland, from Harald as reparation for the death of his son in battle in Scotland, and then passed the earldom on to his brother [[Sigurd Eysteinsson|Sigurd the Mighty]].<ref>Thomson (2008) p. 24</ref> Sigurd went on to conquer further territory; by the time of his death in 892, the earldom of Orkney stretched from Shetland down to [[Caithness]] and [[Sutherland]] on mainland Britain.<ref name=Grant>{{cite book |last1=Grant |first1=Alexander |editor1-last=Cowan |editor1-first=Edward J. |editor2-last=McDonald |editor2-first=R. Andrew |title=Alba: Celtic Scotland in the Middle Ages |date=2000 |publisher=Tuckwell Press |location=East Linton |isbn=1-86232-151-5 |pages=98–110 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/albacelticscotla0000unse/page/98/mode/2up |access-date=28 August 2024 |chapter=The Province of Ross and the Kingdom of Alba}}</ref>

The islands converted to [[Christianity]] in the late 10th century. King [[Olaf I of Norway|Olaf I Tryggvasson]] summoned the ''[[earl|jarl]]'' [[Sigurd the Stout]] during a visit to Orkney and said, "I order you and all your subjects to be baptised. If you refuse, I'll have you killed on the spot and I swear I will ravage every island with fire and steel". Unsurprisingly, Sigurd agreed, and the islands became Christian at a stroke.<ref name="T69">Thomson (2008) p. 69 quoting the ''[[Orkneyinga Saga]]'' chapter 12.</ref>

The [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scottish crown]] claimed the overlordship of the Caithness and Sutherland area from Norway in 1098.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Crawford |first1=Barbara E. |editor1-last=Stringer |editor1-first=Keith J. |title=Essays on the Nobility of Medieval Scotland |date=2004 |publisher=John Donald |location=9781788853408 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0tWEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT48 |access-date=6 October 2024 |chapter=The Earldom of Caithness and the Kingdom of Scotland, 1150–1266|isbn=978-1-78885-340-8 }}</ref> The jarls thereafter owed allegiance to the Scottish crown for their territory on mainland Britain, which they held as the [[Mormaer of Caithness]], but owed allegiance to the Norwegian crown for Orkney and Shetland.<ref name=Grant/><ref>Crawford, Barbara E. "Orkney in the Middle Ages" in Omand (2003) p. 64.</ref>

In 1194, when [[Harald Maddadsson]] was Earl of Orkney, a rebellion broke out against King [[Sverre Sigurdsson]] of Norway. The [[Eyjarskeggjar]] ("Island Beardies") sailed for Norway but were beaten in the [[Battle of Florvåg]] near [[Bergen]]. After his victory, King Sverre placed Shetland under direct Norwegian rule in 1195 as the 'Lordship of Shetland', removing it from the earldom of Orkney.<ref name="Sch13">Schei (2006) p. 13</ref><ref>Nicolson (1972) p. 43</ref><ref name=Crawford>{{cite journal |last1=Crawford |first1=Barbara E. |title=The Earldom of Orkney and Lordship of Shetland: A reinterpretation of their pledging to Scotland in 1468–70 |journal=Saga Book |date=1966 |volume=17 |page=157 |jstor=48613121 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/48613121 |access-date=8 October 2024}}</ref>

=== Increased Scottish interest ===
From the mid-13th century onwards Scottish monarchs increasingly sought to take control of the islands surrounding their seas. The process was begun in earnest by [[Alexander II of Scotland|Alexander II]] and was continued by his successor [[Alexander III of Scotland|Alexander III]]. This strategy eventually led to an invasion of Scotland by [[Haakon IV of Norway|Haakon IV Haakonsson]], King of Norway. His fleet assembled in Bressay Sound before sailing for Scotland. After the stalemate of the [[Battle of Largs]], Haakon retreated to Orkney, where he died in December 1263, entertained on his deathbed by recitations of the sagas. His death halted any further Norwegian expansion in Scotland and following this ill-fated expedition, the [[Kingdom of Mann and the Isles|Hebrides and Mann]] were yielded to the Kingdom of Scotland as a result of the 1266 [[Treaty of Perth]], although the Scots recognised continuing Norwegian sovereignty over Orkney and Shetland.<ref>Hunter (2000) pp. 106–111</ref><ref>Barrett (2008) p. 411</ref><ref>[http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/manxsoc/msvol04/v3p210.htm "Agreement between Magnus IV and Alexander III, 1266"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611112125/http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/manxsoc/msvol04/v3p210.htm |date=11 June 2011 }} ''Manx Society'' '''IV, VII & IX''', isleofman.com, Retrieved 23 March 2011</ref>

=== Absorption by Scotland ===

[[File:James III and Margaret of Denmark.jpg|thumb|250px|alt=A picture on a page in an old book. A man at left wears tights and a tunic with a lion rampant design and holds a sword and sceptre. A woman at right wears a dress with an heraldic design bordered with ermine and carries a thistle in one hand and a sceptre in the other. They stand on a green surface over a legend in Scots that begins "James the Thrid of Nobil Memorie..." (sic) and notes that he "marrit the King of Denmark's dochter".|[[James III of Scotland|James III]] and [[Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland|Margaret of Denmark]], whose betrothal led to Shetland passing from Norway to Scotland.]]

In the 14th century, Orkney and Shetland remained Norwegian possessions, but Scottish influence was growing. [[Jon Haraldsson]], who was murdered in [[Thurso]] in 1231, was the last of an unbroken line of Norse jarls,<ref>Crawford, Barbara E. "Orkney in the Middle Ages" in Omand (2003) pp. 72–73</ref> and thereafter the earls were Scots noblemen of the houses of [[Earl of Angus|Angus]] and [[Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney|St Clair]].<ref>Nicolson (1972) p. 44</ref> On the death of [[Haakon VI of Norway|Haakon VI]] in 1380,<ref>[http://snl.no/.nbl_biografi/H%C3%A5kon_6_Magnusson/utdypning "Håkon 6 Magnusson"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003102436/http://snl.no/.nbl_biografi/H%C3%A5kon_6_Magnusson/utdypning |date=3 October 2012 }}. Om Store Norske Leksikon, (Norwegian), Retrieved 19 January 2013</ref> Norway formed a [[Kalmar Union|political union]] with Denmark, after which the interest of the royal house in the islands declined.<ref name="Sch13"/> In 1469, both [[Orkney]] and Shetland was [[pledge (law)|pledged]] by [[Christian I of Denmark|Christian I]], in his capacity as King of Norway, as security against the payment of the [[dowry]] of his daughter [[Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland|Margaret]], betrothed to [[James III of Scotland]]. As the money was never paid, the connection with the Crown of Scotland became permanent.{{#tag:ref|Historians have expressed different views on whether Christian I and James III and their advisors actually expected the dowry would eventually be paid in money, or whether there was a tacit understanding between them that the transfer of the islands as the security was the more likely outcome.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crawford |first1=Barbara E. |title=The Pawning of Orkney and Shetland: A reconsideration of the events of 1460–9 |journal=The Scottish Historical Review |date=April 1969 |volume=48 |issue=145 |page=38 |jstor=25528787 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25528787 |access-date=9 October 2024}}</ref> Christian had apparently proceeded without the knowledge of the Norwegian {{lang|no|[[Rigsraadet]]}} (Council of the Realm), initially pawning Orkney for 50,000 Rhenish [[guilder]]s. On 28 May 1470, he also pawned Shetland for 8,000 Rhenish guilders.<ref>[http://www.ub.uib.no/avdeling/spes/diplom/1509.htm "Diplom fra Shetland datert 24.november 1509"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505033602/http://www.ub.uib.no/avdeling/spes/diplom/1509.htm|date=5 May 2011}}, Bergen University, (Norwegian), Retrieved 13 September 2009</ref> He had secured a clause in the contract which gave future kings of Norway the right to redeem the islands for a fixed sum of 210 kg of gold or 2,310&nbsp;kg of silver. Several attempts were made during the 17th and 18th centuries to redeem the islands, without success.<ref>[http://universitas.uio.no/Arkiv/1996/16okt96/norsk.htm "Norsken som døde"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724185409/http://universitas.uio.no/Arkiv/1996/16okt96/norsk.htm |date=24 July 2011 }}. Universitas, Norsken som døde, (Norwegian), Retrieved 13 September 2009</ref>|group="Note"}} In 1470, [[William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness]], ceded his title to James III, and the following year the Northern Isles were directly absorbed by the Crown of Scotland,<ref>Nicolson (1972) p. 45</ref> an action confirmed by the [[Parliament of Scotland]] in 1472.<ref>Thomson (2008) p. 204</ref> Nonetheless, Shetland's connection with Norway has proved to be enduring.{{#tag:ref|After Norway became [[Dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden|independent again in 1905]], the Shetland authorities sent a letter to King [[Haakon VII of Norway|Haakon VII]] in which they stated: "Today no 'foreign' flag is more familiar or more welcome in our voes and havens than that of Norway, and Shetlanders continue to look upon Norway as their mother-land, and recall with pride and affection the time when their forefathers were under the rule of the Kings of Norway".<ref name=Sch13/> |group="Note"}}

From the early 15th century onward Shetlanders sold their goods through the [[Hanseatic League]] of German merchantmen. The Hansa would buy shiploads of salted fish, wool and butter, and import [[salt]], [[cloth]], [[beer]] and other goods. The late 16th century and early 17th century were dominated by the influence of the despotic [[Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney|Robert Stewart]], Earl of Orkney, who was granted the islands by his half-sister [[Mary, Queen of Scots|Mary Queen of Scots]], and his son [[Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney|Patrick]]. The latter commenced the building of [[Scalloway Castle]], but after his imprisonment in 1609, the Crown annexed Orkney and Shetland again until 1643, when [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] granted them to [[William Douglas, 7th Earl of Morton]]. These rights were held on and off by the Mortons until 1766, when they were sold by [[James Douglas, 14th Earl of Morton]] to [[Sir Lawrence Dundas, 1st Baronet|Laurence Dundas]].<ref>Schei (2006) pp. 14–16</ref><ref>Nicolson (1972) pp. 56–57</ref>

=== 18th and 19th centuries ===
The trade with the North German towns lasted until the [[Acts of Union 1707|Act of Union 1707]], after which high salt duties prevented the German merchants from trading with Shetland. Shetland then went into an economic depression, as the local traders were not as skilled in trading salted fish. However, some local merchant-lairds took up where the German merchants had left off, and fitted out their own ships to export fish from Shetland to the Continent. For the independent farmers of Shetland this had negative consequences, as they now had to fish for these merchant-lairds.<ref name="Visit.Shetland.org history page">[http://visit.shetland.org/history "History"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722122101/http://visit.shetland.org/history |date=22 July 2011 }}, visit.shetland.org, Retrieved 20 March 2011</ref>

Population increased to a maximum of 31,670 in 1861. However, British rule came at a price for many ordinary people as well as traders. The Shetlanders' nautical skills were sought by the [[Royal Navy]]. Some 3,000 served during the [[Napoleonic wars]] from 1800 to 1815 and [[impressment|press gangs]] were rife. During this period 120 men were taken from Fetlar alone, and only 20 of them returned home. By the late 19th century 90% of all Shetland was owned by just 32 people, and between 1861 and 1881 more than 8,000 Shetlanders emigrated.<ref>[http://shetlopedia.com/Ursula_Smith Ursula Smith"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716054848/http://shetlopedia.com/Ursula_Smith|date=16 July 2011}}, Shetlopedia, Retrieved 12 October 2008</ref><ref name="Sch16">Schei (2006) pp. 16–17, 57</ref> With the passing of the [[Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886]] the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] prime minister [[William Ewart Gladstone|William Gladstone]] emancipated crofters from the rule of the landlords. The Act enabled those who had effectively been landowners' serfs to become owner-occupiers of their own small farms.<ref>[http://visit.shetland.org/history "A History of Shetland"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722122101/http://visit.shetland.org/history |date=22 July 2011 }}, Visit.Shetland.org, Retrieved 16 January 2013</ref> By this time fishermen from [[Holland]], who had traditionally gathered each year off the coast of Shetland to fish for [[herring]], triggered an industry in the islands that boomed from around 1880 until the 1920s when stocks of the fish began to dwindle.<ref>Hutton Guthrie, (2009), ''Old Shetland'', Catrine Ayrshire, Stenlake Publishing, {{ISBN|9781840334555}} p. 3</ref> The production peaked in 1905 at more than a million barrels, of which 708,000 were exported.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scottishherringhistory.uk/statistics/AnnualExport.html|title=Annual Statistics|website=scottishherringhistory.uk|access-date=28 April 2016|archive-date=8 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508173546/http://www.scottishherringhistory.uk/statistics/AnnualExport.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== 20th century ===

[[File:Wind Bound Lerwick around 1880.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Full-rigged ship ''Maella'', of [[Oslo]], in Bressay Sound, around 1922]]

During [[World War I]], many Shetlanders served in the [[Gordon Highlanders]], a further 3,000 served in the Merchant Navy, and more than 1,500 in a special local naval reserve. The 10th Cruiser Squadron was stationed at Swarbacks Minn (the stretch of water to the south of Muckle Roe), and during a single year from March 1917 more than 4,500 ships sailed from Lerwick as part of an escorted convoy system. In total, Shetland lost more than 500 men, a higher proportion than any other part of Britain, and there were further waves of emigration in the 1920s and 1930s.<ref name="Sch16"/><ref name="N94">Nicolson (1972) pp. 91, 94–95</ref>

[[File:Leif Larsen.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[Leif Larsen|Leif "Shetland" Larsen]], Norwegian leader of the [[Shetland Bus]] operations in World War II, the most highly decorated [[Allies of World War II|allied]] naval officer of the war.<ref name=scotsatwar/>]]

During [[World War II]], a Norwegian naval unit nicknamed the "[[Shetland bus]]" was established by the [[Special Operations Executive]] in the autumn of 1940 with a base first at [[Lunna House|Lunna]] and later in Scalloway to conduct operations around the coast of Norway. About 30 fishing vessels used by Norwegian refugees were gathered and the Shetland Bus conducted covert operations, carrying intelligence agents, refugees, instructors for the resistance, and military supplies. It made over 200 trips across the sea, and [[Leif Larsen]], the most highly decorated [[Allies of World War II|allied]] naval officer of the war, made 52 of them.<ref name="scotsatwar">[http://www.scotsatwar.org.uk/AZ/shetlandbus.htm "The Shetland Bus"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623134752/http://scotsatwar.org.uk/AZ/shetlandbus.htm|date=23 June 2011}}, scotsatwar.org.uk, Retrieved 23 March 2011</ref><ref>[http://www.kulturnett.no/hordaland/kulturminner/kulturminne.jsp?id=T8461534&lang=no_NO "Shetlands-Larsen — Statue/monument"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629071950/http://www.kulturnett.no/hordaland/kulturminner/kulturminne.jsp?id=T8461534&lang=no_NO|date=29 June 2011}}, Kulturnett Hordaland, (Norwegian), Retrieved 26 March 2011</ref> Several RAF airfields and sites were also established at Sullom Voe and several lighthouses suffered enemy air attacks.<ref name="N94"/>

Oil reserves discovered in the later 20th century in the seas both east and west of Shetland have provided a much-needed alternative source of income for the islands.<ref name=":0" /> The [[East Shetland Basin]] is one of Europe's prolific petroleum provinces. As a result of the oil revenue and the cultural links with Norway, a small [[Shetland Movement|Home Rule movement]] developed briefly to recast the [[constitutional position of Shetland]]. It saw as its models the [[Isle of Man]], as well as Shetland's closest neighbour, the [[Faroe Islands]], an autonomous dependency of Denmark.<ref>Tallack, Malachy (2 April 2007) [http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/malachy-tallack/2007/04/shetland-scotland-independence Fair Isle: Independence thinking] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130423193600/http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/malachy-tallack/2007/04/shetland-scotland-independence |date=23 April 2013 }}, London, ''[[New Statesman]]''</ref>

The population stood at 17,814 in 1961.<ref name="shetland.gov.uk">{{cite web|url=https://www.shetland.gov.uk/OIOF/documents/CensusbyArea.pdf|title=Population of Shetland by Area based on Census|website=shetland.gov.uk|access-date=22 July 2019|archive-date=5 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805180622/https://www.shetland.gov.uk/OIOF/documents/CensusbyArea.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

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