What is Inner Hebrides?
[[File:Inner Hebrides.png|thumb|right|The Inner Hebrides of Scotland.]] [[Image:Staffa beside 14624.JPG|thumb|[[Basalt]] columns: Am Buchaille on Staffa]] [[File:Tiree, Balephuil Bay.jpg|thumb|right|Looking west to Balephuil Bay, [[Tiree]] across the [[Machair (geography)|machair]].]] [[File:Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland - Jan 2011.jpg|thumb|[[Eilean Donan]] Castle]] The '''Inner Hebrides''' is an [[archipelago]] off the west coast of [[Scotland]], to the south east of the [[Outer Hebrides]]. Together these two island chains form the [[Hebrides]], which enjoy a mild oceanic [[climate]] because the [[Gulf Stream]] runs past them. There are 36 inhabited islands and a further 43 uninhabited Inner Hebrides with an area greater than {{convert|30|ha|acres}}. The main commercial activities are [[tourism]], [[croft]]ing, [[fishing]], and [[Scotch whisky|whisky distilling]]. Combined, the islands have an area of approximately {{convert|415800|ha|sqmi|0}}, and had a population of 18,257 people in 2001.<ref name=GRO>General Register Office for Scotland (28 November 2003) ''[http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/census/censushm/occpapers/occasional-paper-10.html Occasional Paper No 10: Statistics for Inhabited Islands] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122154733/http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/census/censushm/occpapers/occasional-paper-10.html |date=2011-11-22 }}''. (pdf) Retrieved 22 Jan 2011.</ref> The population density is therefore a little over 4 persons per km<sup>2</sup> (11 persons per square mile). There are various important prehistoric structures, many of which pre-date the first written references to the islands by [[Classical antiquity|Roman and Greek]] authors. In the historic period the earliest known settlers were [[Pict]]s to the north and [[Gael]]s in the south. The islands became part of the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles, the ''Suðreyjar'' kingdom of the [[Norse]]. The Norsemen ruled for over 400 years until [[sovereignty]] was transferred to Scotland by the [[Treaty of Perth]] in 1266.