It fell under the control of the Norse and the Lords of the Isles before becoming incorporated into modern Scotland and saw a variety of conflicts during the medieval period.

However a "community buy-out" in 2002 has transformed the island, which now has a growing population and a variety of new commercial activities to complement farming and tourism.

Czerkawaska (2006) also notes that the isle is called "Gug" in a charter of 1309 and also appears as "Gega" on some old maps and speculates that a possible pre-Norse derivation is from the Gaelic Sheela na Gig, a female fertility symbol.

[1] Although the most widespread pronunciation of the Gaelic name Giogha is [kʲi.ə], the Southern dialects preserve the fricative: [kʲiɣa] in Kintyre[15] and [kʲɯɣɑ] in Argyllshire.

Raised marine deposits cover parts of the island, a product of higher relative sea levels during the early Holocene.

[13][28] In the Early Historic Period The domain of the Cenél nGabraín appears to have been centred on Kintyre and Knapdale and may have included Arran, Jura and Gigha.

There is some evidence to show that the island might have been the seat of power for Conall mac Comgall, King of Dalriada, in the mid to late 6th century.

[34] In 1849, a Viking grave was found at East Tarbert Bay, which revealed a number of artefacts, including a bronze weighing balance dated to the 10th century.

In 1336, Edward confirmed the territories which the Islay lords had acquired in the days of Robert I and awarded John the lands of Kintyre, Knapdale, Gigha, Colonsay, Mull, Skye, Lewis, and Morvern, previously held by magnates still loyal to the Bruces.

Although Balliol's deposition and the restoration of the House of Bruce meant that the grants made to John were void, his pre-1336 possessions were confirmed by King David II in 1343.

This meant that John's dominions now included all of the Hebrides except Skye, and all of the western seaboard from Morvern to Loch Hourn.

[39] In 1449 Alexander, Lord of the Isles granted part of the island to Torquil MacNeill of Taynish, the remainder being owned by the monks of Paisley.

[40] By 1587, atrocities committed between warring West Highland clans had escalated to such an extent that Parliament devised what is known as the General Band in an effort to quell hostilities.

Despite the Governments actions to secure the peace, about this time Lachlan Mor MacLean of Duart ravaged the MacDonald islands of Islay and Gigha, slaughtering 500—600 men.

Supporting MacLean of Duart were the MacLeods of Harris and Dunvegan, MacNeils of Barra, MacKinnons of Strathrodle and the MacQuarries of Ulva.

There is a church in this island called Kilchattan, it has an altar in the east end, and upon it a font of stone which is very large, and hath a small hole in the middle which goes quite through it.

His son, Lieutenant-Colonel William James Scarlett, built the mansion house of Achamore and Gigha remained in the family's hands until 1919.

[7][50] The island briefly passed into the hands of Malcolm Potier, a property developer,[51] and subsequently to Derek Holt and his family prior to the sale to the Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust.

The money to pay this loan back was largely raised by selling Achamore House (but not the gardens) to Don Dennis, a businessman from California.

[57] An additional £200,000 was raised by the islanders through various fundraising ventures, allowing the loan to be paid back to the Scottish Land Fund on 15 March 2004.

A sign of the surge of people wanting to relocate to Gigha is that we are struggling to meet the demand for housing despite building 18 new homes."

[62] The Heritage Trust set up Gigha Renewable Energy Ltd. to buy and operate three Vestas V27 wind turbines, known locally as The Dancing Ladies or Creideas, Dòchas is Carthannas (Gaelic for Faith, Hope and Charity).

A Caledonian MacBrayne ferry service links the island's only village, Ardminish, to Tayinloan on the Kintyre peninsula of the Scottish mainland.

Attractions on the island include the 20.2 hectares (50 acres) Achamore Gardens, begun in 1945 by Sir James Horlick and known for its rhododendrons and azaleas, the many sandy beaches and the thirteenth-century St Catan's Chapel ruins.

[citation needed] Because it is set on the eastern shores of the Atlantic Ocean, Gigha attracts a wide variety of sea birds such as guillemot and eider, which breed on Eilean Garbh.

Inland, ducks such as mallard, teal, wigeon and pochard can be found along with heron, snipe, pheasant and red grouse.

In the mid-20th century Gigha had eight boats engaged in fishing for cod and lobster, but commercial activity ceased some time ago.

On 16 September 1940 the British steam liner Aska was bombed by a German aircraft south of Gigha whilst carrying French troops from Gambia.

In 1991 the Russian factory ship Kartli was hit by two freak waves off Islay and ran aground at Port Ban after the crew were evacuated.

[71] In 2008, Henri Macaulay of Gigha Gallery received funding from the Gaelic development body, Bord na Gàidhlig, to run a series of Gaelic-learning weekends on the island as a combined cultural-revival and tourism-development initiative.