Lewis and Harris

The island of Lewis and Harris ( Scottish Gaelic: Leodhas agus na Hearadh ) in the Outer Hebrides is the largest Scottish island and the third largest contiguous land mass of the British Isles after Great Britain and Ireland.

Geography

The island is 2178 km ². Between the island and the Scottish mainland lies the estuary The Minch.

Through the use of two names is often mistakenly believed that there were two separate islands of Lewis and Harris hot. In fact, it is the name given to one and the same island, of which the ( much larger ) northern part of the island " Lewis" is called and the southwestern part of " Harris ". The dividing line between the two parts of the island first runs in east-west direction, starting north of the island of Scarp through the hole Resort ( reasort ), along the western part of the Glen ( = valley ) Kentarvie, to the N / S separation of the hole Longavat and follows then in a southerly direction to the Loch Seaforth ( Shiphoirt ). By only 850 m narrow isthmus at Tabert ( Tairbeart ), consisting of alluvium, Harris is virtually subdivided into two parts.

The two naming probably result from the very different landscapes of the two parts of the island, the south towering without transition impassable mountain range forms a natural dividing line. So Harris is largely mountainous, with more than 30 peaks that are over 300 meters high, Lewis down to an area east of Loch Seaforth, which would likely belong to topographically Harris, comparatively flat.

Prehistory

It is possible to Callanish, when Diodorus of Sicily tells of a round temple and continued: ". From this island from the moon to a very small distance from the Earth to appear, even to some mountain-like protrusions visible on him "

Footnotes and References

Lewis and Harris
Island (Scotland )
Island ( Europe)
Island (Atlantic Ocean )
Island of the Outer Hebrides
Double island

Stornoway Berneray, North Uist St Kilda, Scotland

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