Islay played its part in the evolution of a united Scotland and also in resisting it. From the ruling group of Scottish Dalriada, of which Islay would have been one of the richest parts, came the first king of a united nation in the 9th century. Later, though, especially from the 13th to the 15th centuries, the centralising Scottish state was very effectively resisted by the MacDonald Lords of the Isles - by then practically an independent kingdom. Their power base was at Finlaggan, which thus has an historical significance that demands a visit. In between times, as elsewhere along the western seaboard, Islay underwent a series of viking raids.
Evidence survives in numerous placenames of norse origin.
The southern clan MacDonald made periodic attempts to revive the Lordship of the Isles until well into the 16 th century, but, despite winning a last great clan battle against the MacLeans at Gruinart in 1598, their power in Islay slipped away, to be replaced, in the early 17 th century, by Campbell domination, which continued, in more peaceful form, into the 19 th century. Modern Islay is a land of farms and of beautiful and distinctive planned villages whose whitewashed houses are a particularly attractive feature. These characteristics, differentiating the island from others in the Hebrides, are partly the result of its geology, topography and relative fertility, but also partly of the management policies of a succession of landowners. Chief among these was Walter Frederick Campbell, laird between 1816 and 1848, who did much to reorganise landholding patterns and to establish planned settlements. They were very often established on poorer land while wealthier farming tenants got the best.