Western Isles
Western Isles (administrative region), island area (administrative region), northwestern Scotland; Stornoway is the administrative center. The region was created in 1975 by the merger of parts of the former counties of Ross and Cromarty and Inverness-shire. It consists of the Outer Hebrides, a group of islands that is separated from the Inner Hebrides and the Scottish mainland by the Minch, a strait of the Atlantic Ocean (see Hebrides). Area, 2,900 sq km (1,100 sq mi); population (2001) 26,502.