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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. |
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