The Rough Bounds (Scottish Gaelic: Na Garbh Chriochan), in the Scottish Highlands, is the area of West Inverness-shire bounded by Loch Hourn, Loch Shiel, and Loch Moidart, consisting of the districts of Knoydart, North Morar, Arisaig and Moidart. The area is famous for its wildness and inaccessibility and remains very sparsely populated.

An anonymous writer in 1750 commented that "all these countries viz. Knoydart, the Two Morrirs, Moydart, and Arisaig, are the most Rough Mountainous and impassible parts in all the Highlands of Scotland, and are commonly called by the Inhabitants of the Neighbouring countries the highlands of the Highlands."

The Re-alignment of a 6 km section of the A830 road in Arisaig led to archaeological investigations in 2000–2001 by the Centre for Field Archaeology (CFA), University of Edinburgh, and Headland Archaeology Ltd which found a Bronze Age kerb cairn, turf buildings and shieling huts. The shielings were repeatedly reused through the medieval and post-medieval periods but themselves were on top of Bronze Age remains. Analysis of peat cores revealed a history of continuous but gradual decline in woodland, starting in about 3200 BC and continuing to the present day.

Following raids by Vikings, the Rough Bounds became part of the Kingdom of the Isles, a Norwegian dependency. In the late 11th century, however, Malcolm III of Scotland made a written agreement with Magnus Barelegs, the Norwegian king, which moved the border to the coast; the area thus became Scottish.

In the early 12th century, Somerled, a Norse-Gael of uncertain origin, came into possession of the Rough Bounds and Lorn; no reliable record explains how this happened, but by the 1140s, David I of Scotland's control of the region had been eroded. In the middle of the century, Somerled launched a coup in the Kingdom of the Isles, which resulted in that kingdom joining his other possessions, as a single independent state. Upon Somerled's death, Norwegian authority was restored/established over the areas Somerled had ruled, but in practice the kingdom was divided; the portion containing the Rough Bounds, Uist, and the islands in-between (Eigg and Rhum), became Garmoran, and was ruled by the MacRory, a faction among Somerled's heirs.

Following the 1266 Treaty of Perth, Garmoran became a Scottish crown dependency - the Lordship of Garmoran. At the turn of the century, William I had created the position of Sheriff of Inverness, to be responsible for the Scottish highlands, which theoretically now extended to Garmoran. Most of the remainder of the Kingdom of the Isles had become the Lordship of the Isles, ruled by the MacDonalds (another group of Somerled's descendants).

The Lordship of Garmoran remained under the rule of the MacRory, and their descendants - the Siol Gorrie and Clan Ranald. However, violent disputes between the latter two groups lead, in 1427, to king James I executing the leader of the Siol Gorrie, and declaring the Lordship of Garmoran forfeit. This, and the violence, brought the Siol Gorrie to the brink of extinction and they played no further part in regional history.

In 1469, James' grandson (James III) granted Lairdship of the lands of mainland Garmoran and North Uist to John of Ross, the Lord of the Isles. In turn, John passed it to his own half-brother, Hugh of Sleat; the grant to Hugh was confirmed by the king in a 1493 charter. Clan Ranald disputed and fought against the charter.