Mainland

Largest of the Orkney Islands, situated about 30 km/19 mi off the north coast of Scotland, population (2001) 15,300. Extending over an area of 380 sq km/146 sq mi, it is divided from the southern islands of Hoy, Flotta, and South Ronaldsay by Scapa Flow. Agriculture, trout-fishing, and sea-fishing are the principal occupations. The main harbour towns are Kirkwall, the island capital, and Stromness.

The terrain is hilly, with extensive lowland tracts and lochs, and the climate windy but relatively frost-free (unlike the western Highlands, Mainland benefits from the warm North Atlantic Drift ocean current, which keeps frost to a minimum).

Evidence of prehistoric settlement includes the Neolithic (Stone Age) village of Skara Brae on the Bay of Skaill, 13 km/8 mi from Stromness, and the megalithic monuments of the Ring of Brodgar, Stenness Standing Stones, and Maes Howe burial chamber. This last contains a wealth of later Viking runic inscriptions.

Occasionally the island is referred to as Pomona, arising from the misreading of a Latin text by the 16th-century Scottish humanist George Buchanan.