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The Sutherland name dates from the era of norse rule over much of the Highlands and Islands, especially in the north and west, which was perhaps at its zenith in the early 11th century, when Sigurd the Stout was jarl of Orkney. Suğrland was then land to the south of, or in the south of, Norse Caithness. As a Scottish county, however, Sutherland also includes land which is to the west of the county of Caithness.