Picts are known to have been the original inhabitants of the islands, before the Norse conquest and subsequent colonisation in the Early Middle Ages. Humans have lived in Shetland since the Mesolithic period. The archipelago has an oceanic climate, complex geology, rugged coastline, and many low, rolling hills. It is one of 16 inhabited islands in Shetland. The largest island, known as " the Mainland", has an area of 967 km 2 (373 sq mi), and is the fifth-largest island in the British Isles. The islands' administrative centre and only burgh is Lerwick, which has been the capital of Shetland since 1708, before which time the capital was Scalloway.
The local authority, the Shetland Islands Council, is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. The islands comprise the Shetland constituency of the Scottish Parliament. Their total area is 1,466 km 2 (566 sq mi), and the population totalled 22,920 in 2019. They form part of the border between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The islands lie about 80 km (50 mi) to the northeast of Orkney, 170 km (110 mi) from mainland Scotland and 220 km (140 mi) west of Norway.
It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying at a confluence between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway.