Shetlanders - Settlements



From the Neolithic period to the present day, the Shetlands have always been sparsely settled. Although clustered settlements were present from the early times, dispersed Homesteads were and remain the norm. Most farmsteads and settlements were and are on small bays or sheltered coastal sites. This has given the inhabitants easy access to both arable land and rich coastal fishing sites. The town of Lerwick was founded by the Norsemen. Its excellent sheltered harbor is still a major fishing and fish-processing port. Scalloway, the provincial capital in the early 1600s, is now a village. Shetland is famous for its prehistoric sites (e.g., Mousa Brock, Clickimin Brock [near Lerwick], and Jarlshoff, with its Neolithic, Bronze-Age, Iron-Age, and Viking settlement continuum).


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