Skye
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Skye. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
after Lewis, the largest of the Scotch islands, and the most N. of the Inner Hebrides, is included in Invernessshire; area, 547 square miles. Separated from Ross-shire in the N. W. by the Sound of Rona, and from Inverness in the S. W. by the Sound of Sleat, it approaches within half a mile of the mainland between these two channels at Kyle Rhea. It is very irregular in shape, and is so cut up by inlets that no part of it The is more than 4 miles from the sea. chief inlets, all toward the W. and N., are Lochs Eishort, Slapin, Scavaig, Bracadale, Follart, and Snizort; the principal headlands are Aird Point, Ru-Huinish, Dunvegan Head, and Vaternish Point, which are extremities of the peninsulas of Duirinish, Vaternish, and Trotternish in the N., and Sleat Point in the S. Its extreme length from Aird Point to Sleat Point is 47 miles; its greatest breadth, from Portree to Copnahow Head, 22 miles. Skye is a wild, highland country, and its rocky mountains and pale headlands are shrouded in the mists of the Atlantic. The S. portion, however, is "comparatively soft and green," the long promontory of Sleat being ing the "best wooded, the sunniest, and the most carefully cultivated" part of Skye, with its larch plantations and trim hedgerows. The inhabitants are mainly Celtic, and universally speak Gaelic, though the use of English is gradually increasing. There is a strong Norse infusion, and the names of the N. headlands are Norwegian, not Gaelic. The chief families in Skye are the Macdonalds of Sleat, who trace their descent to the Lords of the Isles, and the Macleods, originally Norsemen, who still occupy old Dunvegan Castle. The island is historically interesting as the home of Flora Macdonald and the refuge of Prince Charles. At the old house of Kingsburgh Flora entertained Dr. Johnson and Boswell in 1773. The grave of Flora in the churchyard of Kilmuir, was marked by the erection of an Iona cross, a granite monolith 28 feet high, in November, 1871. Pop. about 13,000.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
ski. See Hebrides.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote this in 1921 the island had about 13,000 people who "universally speak Gaelic"; today the resident population is roughly 10,000 and Gaelic is a minority tongue, spoken by well under half of islanders, though Sleat now hosts Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Gaelic-medium college founded in 1973. The half-mile crossing at Kyle Rhea and the Kyleakin ferry were superseded in 1995 by the Skye Bridge, whose unpopular tolls were abolished in 2004, ending Skye's status as an island reached only by boat. The Cuillin, the sea lochs and the headlands Collier's lists are unaltered, but they now draw large numbers of tourists rather than crofters. Dunvegan Castle remains in MacLeod hands and is open to visitors, and Flora Macdonald's Iona cross still stands at Kilmuir.
Written for this edition, 2026.