Coll (/ˈkɒl/; Scottish Gaelic: Cola)[7] is an island located west of the Isle of Mull and northeast of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland.

Quaternary sediments include raised beach deposits which are frequent around Coll's coastline whilst stretches of alluvium occupy some low inland areas.

There are considerable areas of blown sand in the west and along stretches of the north coast and of peat southwest from Arinagour.

The highest point on Coll is Ben Hogh in the mid-west of the island, which is a ridge with two tops running northwest to southeast.

[5] Arinagour (Scottish Gaelic: Àirigh nan Gobhar),[10] is the main settlement on the island located at the head of Loch Eatharna, on the east coast.

[27] Richard Coates has proposed that the name may be related to Greek kolossós and may have referred to a humanoid standing stone located on the island, like those still seen on North Uist and Lewis.

In the 6th century, an Irish invasion led to the establishment of the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata, which included Coll.

Dál Riata was divided into four kin-groups, of which the Cenél Loairn ruled Coll, Mull, and the adjacent mainland, which together consequently became known as Lorn, after them.

[citation needed] The 1266 Treaty of Perth transferred the Norwegian crown dependency to the Scottish king[note 1].

[1] However, the collapse in the kelp market after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, followed by the Highland Potato Famine, caused a great deal of hardship on the island.

By the mid 19th century, much of the population had chosen to leave, many of them moving to Australia, Canada, or South Africa in a process referred to as the Scottish diaspora.

Agriculture, primarily land owned farming as opposed to crofting is one of the major employment areas on the island.

[46] Owned and managed by the community-led organisation Development Coll, the new facilities were built to provide much needed amenities on the island and a social hub for the local community.

[55] There is also a small population of sand lizards, as much of 39 individuals were introduced by scientists to test whether they can survive so far north in the 1970s and are still thriving today.

[56] Mairi Hedderwick, the illustrator and author, used to live on Coll and has used the island as the setting for her Katie Morag series of children's books.

[57][3] In Alexander McCall Smith's The Charming Quirks of Others the protagonist, Isabelle Dalhousie, discusses Coll as a place for a honeymoon.