The island does not have a one-word name in either English or Scottish Gaelic, and is referred to as 'Lewis and Harris', 'Lewis with Harris', 'Harris with Lewis' etc. Rarely used is the collective name of "the Long Island", although that epithet is sometimes applied to the entire Outer Hebrides, including the Uists and Barra.
Lewis–Harris boundary
The boundary between Lewis and Harris runs for about where the island narrows between Loch Resort on the west and Loch Seaforth on the east Until 1975, Lewis belonged to the county of Ross and Cromarty and Harris to Inverness-shire. The boundary was originally between the lands of Clan MacLeod of Harris and Clan MacLeod of Lewis, the latter selling to Colin Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Seaforth. A dispute over between Alexander Hume Macleod and Francis, Lord Seaforth led to Court of Session inquiries in 1805 and 1850 and ended with Lord Chief Justice Campbell traversing the boundary on foot. As thus determined, it runs southeast from Loch Resort up Clàr Beag to Loch Chleistir, then east along Bealach na h-Uamha to the River Langdale, then northeast through the peaks of Tom Ruisg, Mullach a' Ruisg, and Mullach Bhìogadail, east to Amhuinn a Mhuil, and downstream to where it enters Loch Seaforth at Ath Linne under the A859, the only road connecting Lewis and Harris. Seaforth Island was considered part of both Harris and Lewis; for statistical purposes half its area was assigned to each.
Harris
Most of Harris is very hilly, with more than thirty peaks above ; the highest peak, Clisham, is a Corbett. Harris has an area of, which equates to slightly under 1% of the area of Great Britain. It is from the nearest point of the mainland, from which it is separated by the Minch.
Lewis
Lewis is comparatively flat, save in the south-east, where Ben More reaches, and in the south-west, where Mealasbhal is the highest point. Lewis contains the deepest lake on any offshore island in the British Isles, Loch Suaineabhal, which has a maximum depth of and an overall mean depth of.
Nearby smaller islands
Other nearby inhabited islands in the Lewis and Harris group are Great Bernera and Scalpay, Outer Hebrides. Taransay and Scarp, Scotland, now uninhabited, are islands close to the shore of Harris. On the map to the right, the entire Western Isles are coloured red. This includes the islands of North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist and Barra, just to the south of South Uist.
Population
Lewis/Harris is the most populous of the Scottish islands, and had just over 21,000 residents in 2011, a rise of 5.6% from the 2001 census total of 19,918. Stornoway is the main town of the island, and the civil parish of Stornoway, including the town and various nearby villages, has a population of about 12,000.
The island is the ancestral homeland of the HighlandClan MacLeod, with those individuals on Harris being referred to as from the Clan MacLeod of Harris or MacLeod of MacLeod, and those on Lewis being referred to as from the Clan MacLeod of Lewis. Lewis is also the ancestral home of Clan Morrison. The Lewis chessmen is a famous collection of 12th-century chess pieces, carved from walrus ivory and mostly in the form of human figures, which were discovered in Uig in 1831.
Economy
A major industry on the island is the production of Harris tweed fabric, which is handmade on the island; by law only fabric produced in the Outer Hebrides can be called Harris tweed.
