Orkney Islands, group of about 90 islands and islets, northern Scotland, constituting Orkney Island Area (an administrative region), separated from the northern coast of the Scottish mainland by the Pentland Firth. The administrative center and largest town is Kirkwall, on Mainland (or Pomona), the largest of the islands. Other major islands include Hoy, Sanday, Westray, Stronsay, and South Ronaldsay. The islands are generally low-lying and treeless, and fewer than 30 are inhabited. Soils are fertile, and agriculture, the chief economic activity, is productive. Many of the islands have brochs (Pictish stone towers) and other relics of prehistoric habitation. The sea basin Scapa Flow, which was a British naval base during World War I and World War II, is located here.
KIRKWALL is Orkney's capital and it does have one great feature - its sandstone cathedral , without doubt the finest medieval building in the north of Scotland. Part of the reason for Kirkwall's disappointing waterfront is that today's harbour is a largely modern invention; in the mid-nineteenth century, the shoreline ran along Junction Road, and before that it was flush with the west side of Broad Street. Nowadays, the town is very much divided into two main focal points: the busy harbour , at the north end of the town, where ferries come and go all year round, and the flagstoned main street , which changes its name four times as it twists its way south from the harbour past the cathedral.