The Gàidhealtachd ([kɛːəlˠ̪t̪əxk] , English: Gaeldom), sometimes known as A' Ghàidhealtachd (Eng: the Gàidhealtachd), usually refers to the Scottish highlands and islands, and especially the Scottish Gaelic culture of the area. The corresponding Irish word Gaeltacht however refers strictly to an Irish speaking area. The term is also used to apply to the Gaelic-speaking areas of Nova Scotia, Canada.
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 communites in Canada such as Glengarry County where Scottish Gaelic is spoken as the native language by most or some part of the population.
Galldachd (Gall-dom, Gall referring to a non-Gael) is often used for the Lowlands, although it is also notable that the Hebrides are known as Innse Gall due to the historical presence of Norsemen.
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Until a few centuries ago, the Gàidhealtachd would have included much of modern day Scotland north of the Firth of Forth and Galloway (up until the 18th century, and maybe later), excepting the Northern Isles, as evidenced by the prevalence of Gaelic derived place names throughout Scotland, and contemporary accounts. These include Dundee from the Gaelic Dùn Deagh, Inverness from Inbhir Nis, Argyll from Earra-Ghàidheal, Galloway from Gall-Ghaidhealaibh and possibly Stirling from Sruighlea (though the etymology is uncertain, see article). Gaelic speakers from what would be considered traditionally English speaking/non-Gaelic regions today included George Buchanan from Stirlingshire, and Robert the Bruce and Margaret McMurray from Galloway and Ayrshire.
For historical reasons, including the influence of a Scots-speaking royal court in Edinburgh, and the plantation of merchant burghs in much of the south and east, the Gàidhealtachd has been reduced massively to the present region of the Western Isles, and the North-West Highlands, Skye and Lochalsh and Argyll and Bute, with small Gaelic populations existing in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Another factor attributed to the decline of Gaelic in Scotland was the demographic shift; not too many centuries ago half of all Scots lived in the traditionally Gaelic-speaking Highlands,[1] but the Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries drastically reduced the percentage.
Scottish Gaelic has also survived among communities descended from immigrants in parts of Nova Scotia (especially Cape Breton Island), Glengarry County in present day Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland (although Newfoundland had a Irish Gaelic-speaking population) in eastern Canada and those areas where Gaelic is spoken can also be said to be Gàidhealtachdan.
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