Formerly the term was held to embrace not only all the islands off the Scottish western coast, including the islands in the Firth of Clyde, but also the peninsula of Kintyre, the Isle of Man and the Isle of Rathlin, off the coast of Antrim.
Sir Nial Campbell of Lochow, founder of the house of Argyll, secured shipping for him, and he reached a castle of Macdonald of Islay (Angus Og), his ally, at Dunaverty in Kintyre.
His mother was Ineen Dubh, daughter of James MacDonnell of Kintyre; his sister was the second wife of Hugh O'Neill, 2nd earl of Tyrone.
The circumstances which enabled the Scots to succeed in occupying Kintyre and Islay cannot now be ascertained.
He added Kintyre to his domain by having a galley portaged across the isthmus at Tarbert, Loch Fyne.