The '''Shetland''' Islands are the most northerly county of the [[British Isles]]. Lying to the north of the [[Orkney]] Islands, the group comprises the large Mainland or Zetland, Yell, Unst, Fetlar and Whalsay, the isolated outlying islands of Foula and Fair Isle, and many smaller stacks and skerries.
The islands are on the whole low-lying, windswept, waterlogged and desolate. There is a conspicuous absence of trees. Only a few of the islands are inhabited. The capital is at [[KirkwallLerwick]] on Mainland, and other important settlements are at Sumburgh, Scalloway, Otterswick and Baltasound.
The name Zetland was until the early 20th century applied to the county as a whole; and survives in the truncated form of the postcode (US: zip code) prefix for the islands, which is ZE. It is also the origin of the given name Zeta, popular for Shetland girl children and still sometimes encountered, for example in the film actress Catherine Zeta Jones, from [[Swansea]], [[Wales]], whose maternal grandmother was a Shetlander.