Page "Gàidhealtachd" Paragraph 2

The term the Gàidhealtachd is not truly interchangeable with the term highlands, as it refers to the language and not to the geography.

Also, many parts of the highlands no longer have substantial Gaelic-speaking populations, and some parts of what is now thought of as the Highlands have long been Scots-speaking or English speaking areas: Caithness, Cromarty, Grantown-on-Spey, Campbeltown etc.

Conversely, several Gaelic-speaking communities lie outwith the Highland, Argyll and Bute and Western Isles council areas, for example Arran and parts of Perth and Kinross.

For this reason, the Gàidhealtachd also increasingly refers to the regions in Scotland, Nova Scotia and other communities in Canada such as Glengarry County where Scottish Gaelic is spoken as the native language by most or some part of the population.