Sutherland

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This article is about the Sutherland area of the highlands of Scotland. For other uses of the name, see Sutherland (disambiguation).

Template:Infobox Scotland traditional county Sutherland (Cataibh in Gaelic) is a committee area of the Highland Council, Scotland, a registration county, and a lieutenancy area.

Sutherland was formerly a local government county, until 1975. The county had its own county council from 1890 to 1975, and the name was used also for a district of the Highland region (1975 to 1996), and the Sutherland constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (1708 to 1918). The boundaries of Sutherland are not identical in all contexts.

The county had the county of Caithness to the north and east, and the county of Ross and Cromarty to the south.

In 1975 the county was divided between new administrative districts named Sutherland and Caithness, with an area around Strathnaver becoming a part of the Caithness district (which included also the area of the county of Caithness). However, shortly after its creation the boundary between the districts was redrawn to follow that between the counties, as shown on the map herewith.

The district belonged to a two-tier system of local government, with local government functions divided between the district council and the Highland regional council. In 1996 the region became a unitary authority and the district was abolished, but the unitary Highland council continues to use the name for a committee area.

The committe area consists, at present, of six wards, each electing one councillor. One ward, named for Tongue and Farr, includes the village of Reay, which is within the traditional county of Caithness. New boundaries are planned for the next round of local government elections, in 2007.

The constituency consisted of the county, minus the parliamentary burgh of Dornoch.

Sutherland (by any definition) is very sparsely populated. Its only burgh is the county town, Dornoch. Other settlements include Lairg, Brora, Durness, Tongue, Golspie, Helmsdale, Lochinver and Kinlochbervie.

1 Constituency
2 Footnotes
3 See also
4 External links

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Constituency

Main article Sutherland (UK Parliament constituency)

The Sutherland constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom represented the county from 1708 to 1918. At the same time however the county town of Dornoch was represented as a component of the Northern Burghs constituency.

In 1918 the Sutherland constituency and Dornoch were merged into the then new constituency of Caithness and Sutherland. In 1997 Caithness and Sutherland was merged into Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.

The Scottish Parliament constituency of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross was created in 1999 and now has boundaries slighly different from those of the House of Commons constituency. In the Scottish Parliament Sutherland is represented also as part of the Highlands and Islands electoral region.

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Footnotes

Template:Mnb Sutherland derives from a Norse perception of the land as 'southern' (Súðrland meaning "Southland"). The Norse referred similarly to the Western Isles as Súðreyjar (the "Southern Isles"), southern in relation to the "Northern Isles" of Orkneys, Shetlands and Faroes).

Template:Mnb Sutherland has two main names in the county's indigenous Scottish Gaelic: Cataibh may be used for the whole county, but tended historically to apply to the south east, and Dùthaich MhicAoidh (MacKay Country) which was used for the north west, sometimes referred to as Reay Country in English. Cataibh can be read as meaning land of the Cat people and the Cat element appears as Cait in Caithness. The Scottish Gaelic name for Caithness, however, is Gallaibh, meaning land of the foreigner or of the Norse.