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Ross (Rois in Scottish Gaelic) is a region of Scotland and a former mormaerdom, earldom, sheriffdom and county. the Macleods Lewis, and, in the mainland, the district between Loch Maree and Loch Torridon; Geography
Ross lies south of Sutherland and the Dornoch Firth, west of the North Sea and the Moray Firth, north of the Beauly Firth and Inverness-shire and east of The Minch. There are also a number of small islands off the area's west coast, among which are:
The area of the mainland comprises 1,572,332acres (636,300ha). On the North Sea (eastern side) of the area the major firths are the Beauly Firth and the (Inner) Moray Firth, which mark off the Black Isle from Inverness-shire, the Cromarty Firth, which bounds the districts of Easter Ross and the Black Isle, the Moray Firth, separating Easter Ross from Nairnshire, and the Dornoch Firth, dividing north-east Ross from Sutherland. On the Atlantic (western) coastlinewhich has a length of nearly 311miles (501km)the principal sea lochs and bays, from south to north, include Loch Duich, Loch Alsh, Loch Carron, Loch Kishorn, Loch Torridon, Loch Shieldaig, Upper Loch Torridon, Gair Loch, Loch Ewe, Gruinard Bay, Loch Broom and Enard Bay. In the far north-west, 243ft (74m) above the sea, lies Loch Sionascaig, a loch of such irregularity of outline that it has a shore-line of 17miles (27km). Lochan Fada (the long loch), 1,000ft (300m) above the sea, is 4miles (6.4km) in length, and covers an area of 1,112acres (450ha), and is 42fathoms (77m) deep, with a mean depth of 17fathoms (31m). Other lochs are Fionn Loch (the white or clear lake), 8miles (13km) long by 1mile (1.6km) wide, famous for its herons, Loch Luichart towards the centre of the area (8 miles long and between 0.51 mile (0.81.6 km) wide), fringed with birches and having the shape of a crescent, the mountain-girt Loch Fannich (1 mile wide); The unconformity is well exposed on the shores of Gairloch, Loch Maree and Loch Torridon. Within the Torridonian tract the older Lewisian gneiss occupies large areas north of Coigach, on the east of Enard Bay, between Gruinard Bay and Loch Maree. Local government areas
The local government county was created under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, which also established elected county councils for all counties in Scotland. The county of Ross and Cromarty was nominally a merger of two older administrative counties, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire, but there were some alterations to boundaries. When counties and burghs were abolished as local government areas, in 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the area of the county was divided between two new areas, the Highland region and the Western Isles, and the Ross and Cromarty district of the region was created as one of eight districts of the new region. Also, the new Ross and Cromarty district excluded two other areas, which merged into other districts of the region. The new unitary authority, the Highland Council, then adopted the area of the former district as a council management area, and created area committees to represent it. The Ross and Cromarty area was divided between the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross area and the Ross, Skye and Lochaber area.
Isle Martin and Tanera More, of the Summer Isles group in the parish of Lochbroom
History of the Mackenzies, with genealogies of the principal families of the name at Project Gutenberg