Grampian Region is an area in northeastern Scotland. During the 1970’s, Aberdeen, the leading city, became a center of the North Sea oil industry. Grampian Region covers an area of 3,359 square miles (8,700 square kilometers).
The region holds a number of folk festivals that originated in prehistoric times as customs marking the turn of the seasons. An example is the ritual fire festival held at Burghead on the last day of each year. A huge barrel of burning tar is taken in procession to a nearby hill. The custom is called burning of the clavie.
Economy.
Grampian Region’s main crops are barley, oats, and wheat. Fruits and vegetables are increasing in importance. Livestock are more important than crops in the region’s farming. The region is the home of the Aberdeen-Angus breed of cattle. Near Aberdeen are two of the United Kingdom’s leading institutes of agricultural research. The Macaulay Institute studies soil science, and the Rowett Institute specializes in animal nutrition.
The region has long had a forestry industry. It now has about 250,000 acres (100,000 hectares) of forest.
Service industries for the oil industry are important in Aberdeen and Peterhead. Ships from these ports take supplies to the rigs drilling for oil in the North Sea. Aberdeen is the main base for the North Sea oil industry.
The Aberdeen region has factories processing fish and meat. The area near the towns of Elgin, Forres, and Keith has many whiskey distilleries, which use local barley. Dufftown is another whiskey-producing center. High-quality paper is produced near Aberdeen. Aberdeen, Elgin, and Keith have woolen mills. Buckie and Macduff have a boatbuilding industry.
Land.
Grampian Region includes the largest area of land above 3,300 feet (1,000 meters) in the United Kingdom. This area, along the southwestern rim of the region, consists of the Cairngorm Mountains. The highest peaks in the Cairngorms are Ben Macdui, 4,296 feet (1,309 meters), and Braeriach, 4,249 feet (1,295 meters). See Cairngorm Mountains .
The coastal area is lowland. Some of this lowland is plateau. Along much of the coast, the plateau ends at impressive sea cliffs. In some areas there are coastal stretches of spectacular sands.
The region’s rivers drain from the mountain areas of the southwest and west and run toward the coast. The most important rivers are the Dee, Deveron, Don, and Spey. The region has no large lakes.
History.
In the coastal lowlands are remains of small Roman camps. During the early Middle Ages, the region was part of Pictland. Grampian Region saw much fighting in the 1300’s, during Scotland’s struggle for independence from England.
The Reformation of 1560 and the English Civil War of the 1640’s brought further conflict to the region, and many local families supported the unsuccessful Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745. See Jacobite risings . Famous people connected with the region include the inventor Alexander Graham Bell, who taught at Elgin, and Ramsay MacDonald, Britain’s first Labour prime minister.
See also Aberdeen ; Dee, River ; Highland games
