If you squint your eyes a little, and really use your imagination, you can still see them. Huge wooden hulls built for long voyages in frigid, often-violent waters. Sail unfurled, perhaps snapping in a stiff wind. A long ship built to navigate what even today remain some of the world’s most difficult seas.
As I stood on a ridge, bundling against cold spring gusts, a whole subarctic world unfolded at my feet: rugged, windswept hills, dark with heather; stone towers and sturdy homes that lined the shores of the gunmetal-gray inlet; a moody sky above; and out there, in the vast beyond of the North Sea, the waves that brought the Vikings to this land.
But this isn’t Scandinavia—it’s Scotland. Set at 60 degrees north, here the furthest reaches of the United Kingdom sit at a latitude shared with Alaska, Greenland, and Siberia. It’s a place where worlds meet, historical quirks abound, and diverse cultures come together.
The Shetland Islands are almost always referred to in the singular, just “Shetland.” It’s an archipelago of about 100 islands, though only 16 of them are inhabited. They sit between the North Sea and the Atlantic, roughly halfway between mainland Scotland and the shores of Norway.
The Norse arrived here in the ninth century, and they settled. It was a hardy place, but the land and sea here provided everything they needed to farm and fish and survive. They spoke Norn, a language that survived afterward for centuries, right into the 1800s. Most of the place names still teach it.
In one of those historical hiccups that could never happen today, the islands changed hands as part of a rather remarkable wedding. Margaret, the daughter of Christian I, king of Denmark and Norway, was set to marry the King of Scots, James III. The only problem? He didn’t have the resources to pay her proper dowry.
Instead, he pawned the islands in May 1469. It was meant to be a temporary arrangement to get the cash he needed, to the tune of 8,000 Rhenish guilders. Christian arranged a buy-back option with James for a large sum of gold. He also secured assurances that the Norwegian language and culture would be retained until he had the scratch to do so.
But it never happened. James formally annexed Shetland to the Kingdom of Scotland in 1472. The Danes repeatedly, and for hundreds of years, attempted to get the islands back, but the Scots simply ignored them. They now form the northernmost tip of the United Kingdom.
But the connection with Scandinavia endures. While residents speak English with a particular sort of brogue, you won’t find kilts or clans here. People still identify strongly with their Norse roots. Even the flag looks like those of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark—a silver Nordic cross against a blue background.
Arriving, like the Vikings, on a ship (this one, however, was modern, outfitted in luxury for cruising), I only had time to visit one of those hundred islands. We landed in the harbor near Lerwick, the main town, which is home to between 7,000 and 8,000 people—about a third of the population of Shetland.
Settling into the back seat of a coach, we wound into the dark hills, passing the old stone walls of Fort Charlotte, which date to the 1600s. These five-sided fortifications saw action in a series of three almost-forgotten wars between the English and Dutch over 17th century trade routes. During the Third Anglo-Dutch War, its walls burned, but it was reconstructed later for the Napoleonic Wars.
In the heart of Lerwick, the guide pointed out a house whose fame is much more recent: the home of Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez. I heard a few oohs and ahhs from those around me, people who clearly had a subscription to Brit Box. Based on a novel by Ann Cleeves, the BBC One crime drama “Shetland” has become a global phenomenon, running seven seasons so far. A few minutes later, we passed the sheriff’s court, another building featured prominently on the show. “They were always walking out that black door there, and down the steps,” the guide explained.
Getting out into the countryside, just a few minutes later we spotted an even bigger star. “Everyone look to the left,” the guide said, a little excitement in her voice. “You’ll see our first Shetland ponies!”
Seeing the unmistakable mascot of these islands, everyone excitedly snapped photos through the windows of the coach. Soon enough we arrived at a pasture, and I was chatting with a farmer named Carol about her adorable little horses. She told me that despite their famously small size, they are deceptively powerful.
“They’re low, and strong,” she said. “They can actually pull twice their own weight.” Literally workhorses, they served as beasts of burden for a long time in local coal mines. These ponies are basically native to these islands, with one uncovered bone being dated back some 3,000 years. “They were here in the Bronze Age, perhaps even longer.” So before the Scots, and the Norse, and probably anyone else.
