Inverness-shire or the County of Inverness (Siorrachd Inbhir Nis in Gaelic) is one of the registration counties of Scotland. Until 1975 it was a local government county.
The registration county is made up of the historic districts of Inverness (without Nairn), parts of Lochaber and Badenoch. The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, established a uniform system of county councils and burgh councils in Scotland and restructured many of Scotland’s counties.
The former county covered a large mainland area and various island areas off the west coast. The mainland area had coastline in both the east and the west and included the towns of Kingussie, Fort William and Mallaig. The island areas included North Uist, South Uist, and Harris in the Outer Hebrides, and Skye and Eigg in the Small Isles in the Inner Hebrides. Until 1891 the mainland area was somewhat fragmented (but much less so than some other county areas in Scotland). In that year changes were made following recommendations of the boundary commissioners appointed under the 1889 Act. From 1891 onwards Inverness-shire had neighbouring counties as follow: Ross and Cromarty to the north, Nairnshire, Moray, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire to the east, and Perthshire and Argyll to the south. The county town was Inverness.
Today the former county area is divided between the unitary council areas of Highland, Na h-Eileanan Siar (the Western Isles) and Moray.
In 1972, the Isle of Rockall Act was passed, formally incorporating the tiny island of Rockall into Scotland as part of the Isle of Harris, Inverness-shire (Harris is not part of the modern registration county).
