Highland (Scottish Gaelic: Gàidhealtachd, pronounced [ˈkɛːəl̪ˠt̪əxk]; Scots: Hieland) is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the 2011 census. It has land borders with the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Moray and Perth and Kinross. The wider upland area of the Scottish Highlands after which the council area is named extends beyond the Highland council area into all the neighbouring council areas plus Angus and Stirling.

The Highland Council is based in Inverness, the area's largest settlement. The area is generally sparsely populated, with much of the inland area being mountainous with numerous lochs. The area includes Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles. Most of the area's towns lie close to the eastern coasts. Off the west coast of the mainland the council area includes some of the Inner Hebrides, notably the Isle of Skye.

Unlike the other council areas of Scotland, the name Highland is often not used as a proper noun. The council's website only sometimes refers to the area as being Highland, and other times as being the Highland Council Area or the Highlands. Road signs on the boundary of the council area say "Welcome to the Highlands" rather than "Welcome to Highland".

Although named after it, the Highland council area does not cover the whole of the uplands and cultural region known as the Scottish Highlands. There is no official definition for the wider area, but it is often described to also include parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling or West Dunbartonshire.^{[citation needed]}

The Highland Region was created in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which reformed local government across Scotland, replacing the counties, burghs and landward districts with a two-tier structure of upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts. Highland was one of the regions, and it was divided into eight districts: Badenoch and Strathspey, Caithness, Inverness, Lochaber, Nairn, Ross and Cromarty, Skye and Lochalsh and Sutherland.

Further local government reforms in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 saw the regions and districts created in 1975 abolished and replaced with single-tier council areas. The former Highland region became one of the new council areas, run by the Highland Council. The Highland Council has run various area committees since its creation. These were initially based on the abolished districts, but have been reviewed a number of times since.

The Highland Region was created covering the area in 1975 as part of a two-tier local government structure of upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts. The Highland Region had eight districts. Local government was reorganised again in 1996 into single-tier council areas, with the former region becoming one of the new council areas.

The Highland area covers the historic counties of Caithness, Inverness-shire, Nairnshire, Ross and Cromarty and Sutherland, with the exception of the parts of Inverness-shire and Ross and Cromarty in the Outer Hebrides. The area also includes an area around Ardnamurchan from the historic county of Argyll and the Grantown-on-Spey area from Moray, which were both transferred to the Highland region as part of the 1975 reforms.