The Highlands and Islands are sometimes defined as the area to which the Crofters' Act of 1886 applied. This area consisted of the areas of seven of the counties of Scotland:
In the Scottish Parliament election held on 3rd May 2007, the Highlands and Islands Region was the last to declare its regional votes, which were the decisive results in determining that the Scottish National Party overtook the Scottish Labour Party to obtain the largest representation in the Scottish Parliament. [1]
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To the southern inhabitants of Scotland, the state of the mountains and islands is equally known with that of Borneo and Sumatra: of both they have only heard a little, and guess the rest.Samuel Johnson, 1703.