Overview
Inverness (Scottish Gaelic: Inbhir Nis) is a city in northern Scotland. The city is the administrative centre for the the Highland council area, and it is promoted as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland. Inverness is unusual in that although there are letters patent, dating from 2001, the city has no statutory boundaries. Tourism is important to the city's economy, as are service industries and healthcare.

The city lies where the River Ness enters the Moray Firth and is a natural hub for various transport links. A settlement was established by sixth century AD, the first royal charter being granted in the thirteenth century. It lies near the site of the eighteenth century Battle of Culloden.

Inverness has a population of 55,000 and is represented in both the Holyrood and Westminster parliaments and is also twinned with three other European cities. The city is home to numerous sporting and cultural groups and events, including the annual Highland Games and football club Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C., who play in the Scottish Premier League as well as Clachnacuddin F.C. who play in the Highland League. Inverness College is the hub campus for the UHI Millennium Institute. City status was granted in 2001.

History
Inverness was one of the chief strongholds of the Picts, and in AD 565 was visited by St Columba with the intention of converting the Pictish king Brude, who is supposed to have resided in the vitrified fort on Craig Phadrig (168 m), 2.4 km west of the city. A church or a monk's cell is thought to have been established by early Celtic monks on St Michael's Mount, a mound close to the river, now the site of the Old High Church and graveyard. The castle is said to have been built by Máel Coluim III of Scotland, after he had razed to the ground the castle in which Mac Bethad mac Findláich had, according to much later tradition, murdered Máel Coluim's father Donnchad, and which stood on a hill around 1 km to the north-east.

Inverness had four traditional fairs, one of them being Legavrik (leth-gheamradh).

William the Lion (d. 1214) granted Inverness four charters, by one of which it was created a royal burgh. Of the Dominican friary founded by Alexander III in 1233, only one pillar and a worn knight's effigy survive in a secluded graveyard near the town centre. On his way to the Battle of Harlaw in 1411, Donald, Lord of the Isles, harried the city, and sixteen years later James I held a parliament in the castle to which the northern chieftains were summoned, of whom three were executed for asserting an independent sovereignty.

In 1562, during the progress undertaken to suppress Huntly's insurrection, Queen Mary was denied admittance into Inverness Castle by the governor, who belonged to the earl's faction, and whom she afterwards therefore caused to be hanged. The Clan Fraser and Clan Munro took the castle for her. The house in which she lived meanwhile stood in Bridge Street until the 1970s, when it was demolished to make way for the second Bridge Street development. The city's Marymass Fair, on the Saturday nearest August 15th, (a tradition revived in 1986) is said to commemorate Queen Mary as well as the Virgin Mary.

Beyond the then northern limits of the town, Oliver Cromwell built a citadel capable of accommodating 1000 men, but with the exception of a portion of the ramparts it was demolished at the Restoration. The only surviving modern remnant is a clock tower. In 1715 the Jacobites occupied the royal fortress as a barracks. In 1727 the government built the first Fort George here, but in 1746 it surrendered to the Jacobites and they blew it up.

Culloden Moor lies nearby, and was the site of the Battle of Culloden in 1746, which ended the Jacobite Rising of 1745-1746.

On September 7, 1921, the only UK Cabinet meeting to be held outside London took place in the Town House, when David Lloyd George, on holiday in Gairloch, called an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Ireland. The Inverness Formula composed at this meeting was the basis of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

Culture
Inverness is an important centre for bagpipe players and lovers, since every September the city hosts the Northern Meeting, the most prestigious solo piping competition in the world. The Inverness cape, a garment worn by pipers the world over in the rain, is not necessarily made in Inverness.

Another major event in calendar is the annual City of Inverness Highland Games. In 2006 Inverness hosted Scotland's biggest ever Highland Games over two days in July, featuring the Masters' World Championships, the showcase event for heavies aged over 40 years. 2006 was the first year that the Masters' World Championships had been held outside the United States, and it attracted many top heavies from around the world to the Inverness area.

Inverness has a blossoming music scene which offers lots of young, new bands exciting opportunities. The current music scene within Inverness generally leans towards an emo/punk style, but there are also bands who show features of different genres such as rock, metal, pop, classical, grunge, industrial and traditional Scottish music. There is also a small Hip Hop scene featuring unsigned artists. Inverness is currently celebrating its Highland Year of Culture, in which Inverness is displaying the wide range of talent around.

The city is home to two football clubs. Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. was formed in 1994 from the merger of two Highland League clubs, Caledonian F.C. and Inverness Thistle. 'Caley Thistle' play at The Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, and are currently in the Scottish Premier League and lay claim to have the longest name for any football club in the world. The other football club Clachnacuddin F.C., play in the Highland League. Inverness Citadel F.C. was another popular side which are now unfortunately defunct. Bught Park, located in the centre of Inverness is the finishing point of the annual Loch Ness Marathon and home of Inverness Shinty Club.

In 2007, the city is set to play host to Highland 2007, a celebration of the culture of the Highlands, and will also host the World Highland Games Heavy Championships (21 & 22 July) and European Pipe Band Championships (28 July).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverness