River Spey in the context of "Badenoch"

Invercargill (/ˌɪnvərˈkɑːrɡɪl/ IN-vər-KAR-ghil, Māori: Waihōpai) is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of the Southland Plains to the east of the Ōreti or New River some 18 km (11 miles) north of Bluff, which is the southernmost town in the South Island. It sits amid rich farmland that is bordered by large areas of conservation land and marine reserves, including Fiordland National Park covering the south-west corner of the South Island and the Catlins coastal region.

Many streets in the city, especially in the centre and main shopping district, are named after rivers in Scotland. These include the main streets Dee and Tay, as well as those named after the Tweed, Forth, Tyne, Esk, Don, Ness, Yarrow, Spey, Eye and Ythan rivers, amongst others.

The Cairngorms (Scottish Gaelic: Am Monadh Ruadh) are a mountain range in the eastern Highlands of Scotland closely associated with the mountain Cairn Gorm. The Cairngorms became part of Scotland's second national park (the Cairngorms National Park) on 1 September 2003. Although the Cairngorms give their name to, and are at the heart of, the Cairngorms National Park, they only form one part of the national park, alongside other hill ranges such as the Angus Glens and the Monadhliath, and lower areas like Strathspey.

The Cairngorms consists of high plateaux at about 1,000–1,200 m (3,300–3,900 ft) above sea level, above which domed summits (the eroded stumps of once much higher mountains) rise to around 1,300 m (4,300 ft). Many of the summits have tors, free-standing rock outcrops that stand on top of the boulder-strewn landscape. In places, the edges of the plateau form steep cliffs of granite and they are excellent for skiing, rock climbing and ice climbing. The Cairngorms form an arctic-alpine mountain environment, with tundra-like characteristics and long-lasting snow patches. This area is home to bird species such as ptarmigan, dotterel, snow bunting, curlew and red grouse, as well as mammals such as mountain hare. The plateau also supports Britain's only herd of reindeer (albeit semi-domesticated). Surrounding the central massif are many remnants of the Caledonian forest in straths and glens of the Rivers Spey and Dee. These forests support many species that are rare elsewhere in Britain, including red squirrels, pine marten, wood ants, Scottish crossbill, capercaillie and crested tit.

The Grampian Mountains (Scottish Gaelic: Am Monadh) is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. The Grampian range extends northeast to southwest between the Highland Boundary Fault and the Great Glen. The range includes many of the highest mountains in the British Isles, including Ben Nevis (whose peak contains the highest point in the British Isles at 1,345 m or 4,413 ft above sea level) and Ben Macdui (whose peak contains second-highest at 1,309 m or 4,295 ft).

A number of rivers and streams rise in the Grampians, including the Tay, Spey, Cowie Water, Burn of Muchalls, Burn of Pheppie, Burn of Elsick, Cairnie Burn, Don, Dee and Esk. The area is generally sparsely populated.

The River Tay (Scottish Gaelic: Tatha, IPA: [ˈt̪ʰa.ə]; probably from the conjectured Brythonic Tausa, possibly meaning 'silent one' or 'strong one' or, simply, 'flowing') is the longest river in Scotland and the seventh-longest in Great Britain. The Tay originates in western Scotland on the slopes of Ben Lui (Scottish Gaelic: Beinn Laoigh), then flows easterly across the Highlands, through Loch Dochart, Loch Iubhair and Loch Tay, then continues east through Strathtay (see Strath), in the centre of Scotland, then southeasterly through Perth, where it becomes tidal, to its mouth at the Firth of Tay, south of Dundee. It is the largest river in the United Kingdom by measured discharge. Its catchment is approximately 2,000 square miles (5,200 square kilometres), the Tweed's is 1,500 sq mi (3,900 km) and the Spey's is 1,097 sq mi (2,840 km).

The river has given its name to Perth's Tay Street, which runs along its western banks for 830 yards (760 metres).

Glenlivet (Gleann Lìobhait) is a glen in the Highlands of Scotland through which the River Livet flows.

The river rises high in the Ladder Hills and flows past several distileries and hamlets and then onto the Bridgend before joining the River Avon, one of the main tributaries of the River Spey. Glenlivet is known for the Glenlivet Estate and the whisky The Glenlivet. The Battle of Glenlivet was fought on the hillsides of the glen in 1594.

Strathspey (Scottish Gaelic: Srath Spè, [s̪t̪ɾa ˈs̪peː]) is a region of the Scottish Highlands comprising part of the valley of the Spey. It includes the towns of Aviemore, Boat of Garten, Grantown-on-Spey, and Aberlour.

Strathspey, as traditionally defined, stretches from Upper Craigellachie (near Aviemore) to Lower Craigellachie (near the village of the same name). Above it is Badenoch and below it is the low-lying region of Speyside. The region is administratively divided between Moray and the Highland council area.

Moray (Middle Irish: Muréb; Medieval Latin: Moravia; Old Norse: Mýræfi) was a province within the area of modern-day Scotland, that may at times up to the 12th century have operated as an independent kingdom or as a power base for competing claimants to the Kingdom of Alba. It covered a much larger territory than the modern council area of Moray, extending approximately from the River Spey in the east to the River Beauly in the north, and encompassing Badenoch, Lochaber and Lochalsh in the south and west.

Moray emerged in the 10th century as a successor to the dominant Pictish kingdom of Fortriu. The status of its rulers was ambiguous: being described in some sources as mormaers, in others as Kings of Moray, and in others as Kings of Alba. The ruling kin-group of Moray, sometimes called the House of Moray, attained the throne of Alba between 1040 and 1058 in the person of Mac Bethad mac Findláich (Shakespeare's Macbeth) and his stepson Lulach. After Lulach was killed and succeeded by Máel Coluim mac Donnchada of the House of Dunkeld, Lulach's son Máel Snechtai and grandson Óengus continued to rule Moray and challenge the kings to the south until Óengus' defeat and death at the Battle of Stracathro in 1130.

Provincial lordships is a modern term used by historians to describe large feudal landholdings created in Scotland during the 12th and 13th centuries. These landholdings were granted by kings to their supporters to secure royal control of territories outside the core of the Kingdom of Alba, which during this period was considered to extend only between the River Forth and the River Spey to the east of the Highlands, but which controlled territory well beyond this.

As the term "provincial lordship" is a modern description rather than a formal contemporary status there are no strict criteria for assigning landholdings to the category, and lists of them differ.