The population development on Shetland has through the times been affected by deaths at sea and epidemics. Smallpox afflicted the islands in the 17th and 18th centuries, but as vaccines became common after 1760 the population increased to 40,000 in 1861. The population increase led to a lack of food and many young men went away to serve in the British merchant fleet. 100 years later the islands' population was more than halved. This decrease was mainly caused by the large number of Shetlandic men being lost at sea during the two world wars and the waves of emigration in the 1920s and 1930s. Now more people of Shetlandic background live in Canada, Australia and New Zealand than in Shetland.The Shetland Islands Council provide services in the areas of Environmental Health, Roads, Social Work, Community Development, Organisational Development, Economic Development, Building Standards, Trading Standards, Housing, Waste, Education, Burial Grounds, Fire Service, Port and Harbours and others.The political composition of the Council is 22 Independents.In Shetland there are a total of 34 schools: two High Schools, seven Junior High Schools with primary and nursery departments, and 25 Primary Schools. The High Schools are Anderson High School and Brae High School. Shetland is also home to the North Atlantic Fisheries College.The Shetland NHS is the local Scottish health service in the Shetland Islands.Roy Grönneberg founded the local chapter of the Scottish National Party in 1966 and was active in the struggle for Shetland autonomy. In 1969 he designed the flag of Shetland in cooperation with Bill Adams to mark the 500 year anniversary of the transfer of Shetland from Norway to Scotland. The reasons behind the design was the desire to illustrate the Shetland had been a part of Norway for 500 years and a part of Scotland for 500 years. The colours are identical to the ones in Flag of Scotland, but shaped in the Nordic cross and is the same design Icelandic republicans used in the early 20th century known in Iceland as Hvítbláinn, the white-blue.In the early 1970s, oil and gas were found off Shetland. The East Shetland Basin is one of the largest petroleum sedimentary basins in Europe and the oil extracted there is sent to the terminal at Sullom Voe / Solheimavagr.Sullom Voe terminal opened in 1978 and is the largest oil export harbour in the United Kingdom with a volume of 25 million tons per year.Income from oil and related economies has reduced emigration and vastly improved infrastructure throughout Shetland.As a result of the oil revenue and the cultural links with Norway, a small independence movement developed briefly. It saw as its model the Isle of Man, as well as its closest neighbour, the Faroe Islands, an autonomous dependency of Denmark. Sheep farming also plays a big part in Shetland today as does fishing.In 1975 when the new Shetland Islands Council came into being Grönneberg wanted his proposed flag to become the official flag of Shetland, but was unsuccessful. A plebiscite in 1985 also failed to give it official status. Finally, in 2005 the Lord Lyon King of Arms approved the flag as the official flag of Shetland.

• published: 04 May 2010
• views: 1663