Thus Lochaber could be the "loch of swamps", a historic water feature that existed on the Blàr Mòr, where the area's High School and Health Centre are situated today.

[8] Placename evidence also suggests the presence of Viking settlements in the Morvern and Ballachulish areas, but nowhere north and east of Fort William.

[11] Lochaber was one of the territories that King Robert the Bruce gave to his friend, Angus Òg Macdonald, Lord of the Isles, who fought by his side during the First Scottish War of Independence, including the successful Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

In turn, John of Islay's son, Reginald, (first Chief of Clanranald and Glengarry), through his first marriage of Amie MacRuari, were given charter to the old lands of Clann Ruaidhrí in Lochaber.

[13] Some historians argue the late seventeenth-century Scottish Highlands were more peaceful than often suggested, in part because chiefs could be fined for crimes committed by their clansmen.

The exception was Lochaber, identified as a refuge for cattle raiders and thieves by government officials, other chiefs and Gaelic poets.

[14] In September 1688, James VII outlawed the Keppoch MacDonalds for attacking his troops at the Battle of Mulroy, shortly before he was deposed by the November 1688 Glorious Revolution.

John and Charles Farquarson, ran a highly successful vicariate in both Lochaber and Strathglass for the strictly illegal and underground Catholic Church in Scotland.

[16] Many local residents took part in the Jacobite Rising of 1745, and the reprisals inflicted by government troops after the Battle of Culloden is still referred to in the Highlands and Islands as Bliadhna nan Creach, or "Year of the Pillaging".

In 1900, his son Canadian Gaelic poet Alasdair a' Ridse MacDhòmhnaill wrote, "They say the best singers and Seanachies left Scotland.

"[18] According to John Watts, after the estate clearances ordered by Laird Ranald George Macdonald at the height of the Highland Potato Famine and their assisted passage to Australia through the Highland and Island Emigration Society, Little River and Belmont were the main population centers in the Colony of Victoria for Roman Catholic Scottish Gaels from Lochaber and Moidart.

[19] The Gaels of Little River were joined in 1857 by their former parish priest from Scotland, Fr Ronald Rankin (c.1785-1863),[20][21] who is best known as the author of the Scottish Gaelic Christmas carol Tàladh Chrìosda.

The committee comprises the councillors representing the two wards of Fort William and Ardnamurchan and Caol and Mallaig, which together cover broadly the same area as the pre-1996 Lochaber District.

[35] The council was initially based at Tweeddale, before moving to the neighbouring Lochaber House in 1979, both being adjoining 1970s office buildings with shops on the ground floor on the High Street in Fort William.

The phrase "Lochaber no more" is borrowed by The Proclaimers as the start of the bridge in their hit song about the Scottish clearances "Letter From America".

[44] In 2023 exploratory work began to replace the hospital, with construction expected to begin in the Blar Mhor area near Cao in 2025, with an estimated completion date of 2028.