Welcome to Aberdeenshire!
Aberdeenshire is a county in the north east of Scotland. It's a long way north (the coastline around Fraserburgh is further north than Newfoundland) but it's mostly lowland, fertile and productive, having more in common with the central belt of Scotland than with the Highlands. To the west rise the Grampian Mountains, with the scenic River Dee flowing out.
This page describes the historic or traditional county, but as elsewhere in Britain, administrative boundaries have chopped and changed. The City of Aberdeen now forms its own metropolis, with a population in 2016 of 489,815. The rest is the local government county of Aberdeenshire, with a 2019 population of 261,470 - yet its county seat is still the city itself.
Aberdeenshire (Scots: Aiberdeenshire, Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially different boundaries. The Aberdeenshire Council area includes all of the area of the historic counties of Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire (except the area making up the City of Aberdeen), as well as part of Banffshire. The county boundaries are officially used for a few purposes, namely land registration and lieutenancy.Aberdeenshire Council is headquartered at Woodhill House, in Aberdeen, making it the only Scottish council whose headquarters are located outside its jurisdiction. Aberdeen itself forms a different council area (Aberdeen City). Aberdeenshire borders onto Angus and Perth and Kinross to the south, Highland and Moray to the west and Aberdeen City to the east.
Traditionally, it has been economically dependent upon the primary sector (agriculture, fishing, and forestry) and related processing industries. Over the last 40 years, the development of the oil and gas industry and associated service sector has broadened Aberdeenshire's economic base, and contributed to a rapid population growth of some 50% since 1975. Its land represents 8% of Scotland's overall territory. It covers an area of 6,313 square kilometres (2,437 sq mi).