Kingdom of Scotland R矛oghachd na h-Alba  (Gaelic) Royaume d'脡cosse  (French) Kinrick o' Scotland  (Scots)
鈫�   鈫�   鈫�   鈫� 843鈥�1707 鈫�
Flag Royal Coat of arms
Motto In My Defens God Me Defend (Scots) (often shown abbreviated as IN DEFENS)
Location of the Kingdom of Scotland in Europe.
Capital	Scone (before 1452) Edinburgh (after 1452)
Language(s)	Gaelic, Scots, Norse, Pictish, Cumbric, French[1], English[2]
Government	Monarchy
Monarch
- 843鈥�58	Kenneth I (first)
- 1306鈥�29	Robert I
- 1702鈥�07	Anne (last)
Legislature	Parliament of Scotland
History
- United	843
- Lothian and Strathclyde incorporated	1124 (confirmed Treaty of York, 1237)
- Galloway incorporated	1234/5
- Hebrides, Isle of Man and Caithness incorporated	1266 (Treaty of Perth)
- Orkney and Shetland annexed	1472
- Union with England	1 May 1707
Population
- 1500 est.	500,000
- 1600 est.	800,000
- 1700 est.	1,000,000
Currency	Pound Scots (Pund)
Today part of	United Kingdom ( Scotland)
^ The Pictish and Cumbric languages went extinct during the 10th and 11th centuries.[3][4] French was widely spoken in Scotland at the height of the Auld Alliance.[5] English began to have increased influence in Scotland from the mid-16th century.

The Kingdom of Scotland (Gaelic: R矛oghachd na h-Alba, Scots: Kinrick o Scotland) was a sovereign state in Northern Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England. In 1603, James VI of Scotland became King of England, joining Scotland with England in a personal union. In 1707, the two kingdoms were united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, under the terms of the Acts of Union. Since the final capture of the Royal Burgh of Berwick by the Kingdom of England in 1482 (following the annexation of the Northern Isles from the Kingdom of Norway in 1472) the territory of the Kingdom of Scotland has corresponded to that of modern-day Scotland, bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. Apart from the mainland, the Kingdom of Scotland consisted of over 790 islands.

Edinburgh, the capital, was preceded by the towns of Scone, Dunfermline and Stirling as the country's capital. The population of the Kingdom of Scotland in 1701, six years before the passing of the Acts of Union, was approximately 1.1 million.^[1]

History[link]

The Kingdom of Scotland was united in 843 by 锘縆ing Cin谩ed I of Scotland,^[2] who unified the territories of the Scots and the Picts,^[3] establishing his kingdom as the territory north of the Clyde and Forth. Other nearby parts remained independent from Scotland, such as the Kingdom of Strathclyde ruled by the Brython. In addition to this, the area which is today known as the Lothian and Borders, including Edinburgh belonged from around 638 to the Angles of the kingdom of Bernicia, then the Kingdom of Northumbria, and then the Kingdom of England. According to William of Malmesbury, king Edgar of England ceded Lothian to Scotland in exchange for a renewed oath of fealty,^[4] expanding the Kingdom of Scotland as far south as the River Tweed. This remains the south-eastern border to this day (except around Berwick-upon-Tweed).

Coronation of Alexander III on Moot Hill, Scone, the ancient capital and coronation site of Scottish kings. He is greeted by the ollamh r铆gh, (royal poet), who addresses him with the proclamation "benach De re albanne" ("Beannachd D茅 R铆gh Alban","God Bless the King of Scotland"); the poet then recites Alexander's genealogy.

Scotland and others[link]

In 1263, Scotland fought Norway for control over the Western Isles at the Battle of Largs. The battle was indecisive^{[citation needed]}, but the campaign proved once and for all that the Norse were unable to retain effective control over the distant Isles^{[citation needed]}. In 1266, the Norwegian king Magnus VI of Norway signed the Treaty of Perth, which acknowledged Scottish suzerainty over the islands. Despite the treaty the practical independence of the Lord of the Isles continued^{[citation needed]}.

Auld Alliance[link]

The Auld Alliance was an important alliance between Scotland and France. It dates from the treaty signed by John Balliol and Philip IV of France in 1295. It played a varying but sometimes large^{[citation needed]} role in Franco-Scottish affairs, until 1560. In 1512 under a treaty extending the Auld Alliance, all nationals of Scotland or France also became nationals of the other country, a status not repealed in France until 1903 and which may never have been repealed in Scotland^{[citation needed]}.

King of Scots[link]

Scotland's kings placed great importance on the strategic stronghold of Stirling, leading to the battles of Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn during the Wars of Scottish Independence, when the historic figures of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce emerged. In 1320 a remonstrance to the Pope from the nobles of Scotland (the Declaration of Arbroath) finally convinced Pope John XXII to overturn the earlier excommunication and nullify the various acts of submission by Scottish kings to English ones so that Scotland's sovereignty should again be recognised by the major European dynasties.

The Northern Isles[link]

In 1468 the last great acquisition of Scottish territory occurred when James III married Margaret of Denmark, receiving the Norwegian territories of Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands in payment of her dowry and in 1493 his son, James IV, successfully ended the quasi-independent rule of the Lord of the Isles, bringing the Western Isles under effective^{[citation needed]} Royal control for the first time.

Edinburgh, described by the chronicler Froissart as 'the Paris of Scotland', c.1385

James IV[link]

James IV's reign is often considered to be a period of cultural flourishing^[who?], and it was around this period that the European Renaissance began to infiltrate Scotland^{[citation needed]}. Scotland advanced markedly in educational terms during the fifteenth century with the founding of the University of St Andrews in 1413, the University of Glasgow in 1450 and the University of Aberdeen in 1494, and with the passing of the Education Act 1496.

16th Century[link]

John Knox

During the 16th century, Scotland underwent a Protestant Reformation. In the earlier part of the century, the teachings of first Martin Luther and then John Calvin had little influence in Scotland and James V condemned them.^[5] However the heavy handed execution of a number of Protestant preachers aroused sympathy amongst the general public. The most notable executions were of the Lutheran influenced Patrick Hamilton in 1527 and later the Calvinist George Wishart in 1546 who were burnt at the stake in St Andrews for heresy. The executions made the men martyrs and stimulated the growth of such ideas. Cardinal Beaton was assassinated shortly after the execution of George Wishart.

The eventual Reformation of the Scottish Church, was carried out by Parliament from 1560 (during the minority of Mary, Queen of Scots) when most^{[citation needed]} Scots adopted Calvinism. The most influential^{[citation needed]} figure was that of John Knox, who had been a disciple of both John Calvin and George Wishart. Roman Catholicism was not totally eliminated, and remained strong particularly in parts of the highlands.

Union of the Crowns[link]

Scottish arms as used by the Stuart monarchs from the Union of the Crowns in 1603 to the Acts of Union in 1707 (the motto Nemo me impune lacessit being added by Charles II).

In 1603 James VI King of Scots, became King James I of England. Thus, Scotland entered into a personal union with England and Ireland. The seventeenth century saw a period of unrest in Scotland, religious Confrontation in Scotland with Charles I, who attempted to impose English-style prayer books on the Scottish church, led to the setting up of the National Covenant, and later to the Bishops' Wars, the Scottish Civil War and Wars of the Three Kingdoms. From 1651鈥�60, Scotland was occupied by a Cromwellian army under George Monck.

Claim of Right[link]

In 1689, the Prince and Princess of Orange became King William II and Queen Mary II of Scotland. Whilst the "Glorious Revolution" was primarily an English event, it had a great impact on Scottish history. The Scottish Parliament offered William and Mary the Crown of Scotland which they accepted under the conditions of the Claim of Right (an important document in the evolution of the rule of law and the rights of subjects similar to the English Bill of Rights).

Jacobitism[link]

Many Scots supported William, but many (particularly in the Highlands and substantial support in the Lowlands^[6]) remained sympathetic to James VII. His cause, which became known as Jacobitism from the Latin 'Jacobus', meaning 'James', spawned a series of uprisings. An initial Jacobite rising under John Graham, 1st Viscount of Dundee (Bonnie Dundee) defeated William's forces at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689, but Dundee was slain in the fighting, and the Jacobite army was soon defeated at the Battle of Dunkeld. The complete defeat of James VII in Ireland by William at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, followed by the Massacre of Glencoe in 1692, succeeded in finally persuading those remaining Highland Clan Chieftains reluctant to pledge allegiance to William to reconsider their positions.

17th century[link]

The late 17th century was economically difficult for Scotland. The bad harvests of the seven ill years or lean years in the 1690s led to severe famine and depopulation. English protectionism kept Scottish traders out of the new colonies, and English foreign policy disrupted trade with France. As a result many Scots emigrated to Ulster (the Ulster-Scots). The Parliament of Scotland of 1695 enacted a number of remedies for the desperate economic situation, including setting up the Bank of Scotland. The Act for the Settling of Schools established a parish-based system of public education throughout Scotland. The Company of Scotland received a charter to raise capital through public subscription to trade with Africa and the Indies. By the early eighteenth century, Scotland was a kingdom in crisis. Her economy had been severely weakened by a series of major harvest failures beginning. The lean years of the 1690s were compounded by the catastrophic failure of the Darien Scheme due to poor planning and leadership, lack of demand for trade goods, devastating epidemics of disease, and increasing shortage of food, as well as being deliberately sabotaged by the combined efforts of the East India Company, the international financial markets at Amsterdam and King William. It is estimated that almost 25% of Scotland's total liquid capital was lost in the Darien venture.

Government[link]

Celtic Kingship[link]

The political structure of Scotland was historically complex. During most of the existence of the Kingdom of the Scots, however, a single monarch or High King was recognized. Under the suzerainty of the High King, there were chieftains, and petty kings, and offices filled through selection by an assembly under a system known as tanistry, which combined an hereditary element with the consent of those ruled. Usually, the candidate was nominated by the current office holder on the approach of death, and his heir-elect was known as the tanist, from the Scottish Gaelic t脿naiste.

Feudal Monarchy[link]

After Macbeth was overthrown by M谩el Coluim III in 1057, and during the reign of King David I, the influence of Norman settlers in Scotland saw primogeniture adopted as the means of succession in Scotland, as in much of Western Europe, and witnessed the development of a 'hybrid kingdom', one part of which was governed by a mixture of a feudal government, the other following traditional Celtic customary law. These early assemblies cannot be considered 'parliaments' in the later sense of the word.

Originally, Scots owed their allegiance primarily to their Clan chieftain, or to the laird, thus the High King consistently had to keep them of favorable disposition, or else risk armed conflict.

Parliament of Scotland[link]

Parliament Square, Edinburgh

The Parliament of Scotland was the legislature. The members were collectively referred to as the "Three Estates" for nearly all of the parliament's history. It was composed of the first estate of prelates (bishops and abbots), the second estate of lords (dukes, earls, parliamentary peers and lay tenants-in-chief), and the third estate of burgh commissioners. From the sixteenth century, the second estate was reorganised by the selection of shire commissioners. This has been argued to have created a 'fourth estate', while a 'fifth estate', composed of royal office holders, has also been identified. These identifications remain highly controversial among parliamentary historians^{[by whom?]}. Regardless of these distinctions and controversial demarcation lines with the body, the term used for the assembled members continued to be 'the Three Estates'^{[dubious 鈥� discuss]}. The Parliament was a unicameral assembly.

The Scottish parliament is first found on record during the early thirteenth century, and the first meeting for which reliable evidence survives (referred to, like the English parliament, as a colloquium in the surviving Latin records), was at Kirkliston, in 1235, during the reign of Alexander II.

The two most powerful periods of the Scottish Parliament's existence can be defined as 1639-51 and 1689-1707. During the era of Covenanting control, the Scottish Parliament emerged as a mature political and institutional forum, and was one of the most powerful assemblies in Europe. Drawing on the Scottish Constitutional Settlement of 1640-41, a programme of constitutional reform was renewed from 1689, when it passed the Claim of Right, onwards. The last session sat on 25 May 1707, after which the Parliament of Great Britain assumed responsibility for Scottish affairs, under the terms of the Acts of Union, with effect from 1 May 1707.

Union with England[link]

James VI King of Scots, King of England and King of Ireland

Scotland's monarch, James VI, King of Scots, succeeded to the throne of the Kingdom of England in 1603, becoming King James I of England, after the death of Queen Elizabeth I of England. This was merely a personal union: the two nations shared a head of state but retained their own separate parliaments and administration.

While there had been three earlier attempts (in 1606, 1667 and 1689) to politically unite the two countries by Acts of Parliament, these were the first Acts which had the will of both political establishments behind them, albeit for rather different reasons. In the English case, the purpose was to establish the Royal succession along Protestant lines in the same manner as provided for by the English Act of Settlement 1701 rather than that of the Scottish Act of Security. In the Scottish case, the purpose was partly to use English subsidies to recover from the financial problems caused by the failure of the Dari茅n scheme and partly to remove English trade sanctions put in place through the Alien Act to force the Scots Parliament into compliance with the Act of Settlement.

A major feature of British politics from 1702 to 1707 was the necessity of securing the Hanoverian Succession. The death of King William in 1702 resulted in the succession of Queen Anne to the crowns of England and Scotland. Anne's last surviving child had died in 1700 and the English Act of Settlement had passed the English Succession over to the Protestant House of Hanover. Since it was unthinkable^[who?] that Scotland and England should again have separate monarchs, the securing of the Hanoverian Succession in Scotland became the primary objective in British strategic thinking towards Scotland. By 1703 the Anglo-Scottish dynastic union, the Union of the Crowns, was in crisis. The Scottish Parliament was pursuing both an independent dynastic and foreign policy and the Scottish Act of Security allowed for the Scottish Parliament to choose a different monarch to succeed to the Scottish crown from that of England, if it so wished. Many in Scotland saw this as a desirable position given that the Parliament of England had executed King Charles I during the English Civil War without any reference to the Scottish Parliament, despite Charles also being King of Scots. This meant that the Act allowed for the Scottish Parliament to initiate an independent foreign policy during an era of major European warfare like the War of the Spanish Succession and the Great Northern War. From the English political perspective, this opened up the possibilities of the restoration of a Jacobite on the Scottish throne or a Scottish trading and/or military alliance with another power in Europe like France or the Dutch Republic. Such an alignment could result in attacks from Scotland, Ireland and the continent and compromise England's interests abroad. Equally, the Darien scheme left Scotland badly in need of investment. Hence the political union was pursued by both parliaments, albeit for different reasons.

The Kingdoms of Scotland and England ceased to exist on 1 May 1707, following passage of the Acts of Union, which merged Scotland with England thereby creating the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Acts incorporated provisions for Scotland to send representative peers from the Peerage of Scotland to sit in the House of Lords. It guaranteed that the Church of Scotland would remain the established church in Scotland, that the Court of Session would "remain in all time coming within Scotland" and that Scots law would "remain in the same force as before". Other provisions included the restatement of the Act of Settlement 1701 and the ban on Roman Catholics from taking the throne. It also created a customs union and monetary union. The Act provided that any "laws and statutes" that were "contrary to or inconsistent with the terms" of the Act would "cease and become void." So the Scottish parliament succeeded in getting a number of concessions.

Flags[link]

Sculpture of Saint Andrew, Freemasons Hall, Edinburgh

According to legend, the Christian apostle and martyr Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, was crucified on an X-shaped cross at Patras, (Patrae), in Achaea.^[7] Use of the familiar iconography of his martyrdom, showing the apostle bound to an X-shaped cross, first appears in the Kingdom of Scotland in 1180 during the reign of William I. This image was again depicted on seals used during the late 13th century; including on one particular example used by the Guardians of Scotland, dated 1286.^[7] Use of a simplified symbol associated with Saint Andrew which does not depict his image, namely the saltire, or crux decussata, (from the Latin crux, 'cross', and decussis, 'having the shape of the Roman numeral X'), has its origins in the late 14th century; the Parliament of Scotland decreed in 1385 that Scottish soldiers wear a white Saint Andrew's Cross on their person, both in front and behind, for the purpose of identification.^[8]

The earliest reference to the Saint Andrew's Cross as a flag is to be found in the Vienna Book of Hours, circa 1503, where a white saltire is depicted with a red background.^[8] In the case of Scotland, use of a blue background for the Saint Andrew's Cross is said to date from at least the 15th century,^[9] with the first certain illustration of a flag depicting such appearing in Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount's Register of Scottish Arms, circa 1542.^[10] In heraldic language, it may be blazoned Azure, a saltire argent.

Following the Union of the Crowns in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, commissioned new designs for a banner incorporating the flags of the Kingdom of Scotland and Kingdom of England. In 1606, a Union Flag was commissioned, combining the crosses of Saint George, (the Flag of England), with that of Saint Andrew. Historical evidence suggests that a Scottish version of this flag existed, in which the cross of Saint Andrew overlayed the cross of St George. This design may have seen limited, unofficial use in Scotland until 1707, when the English variant of the same, whereby the cross of St George overlayed that of St Andrew, was adopted as the flag of the unified Kingdom of Great Britain.

First used by King William I in the 12th century, a register in the College of Arms in London describes the Royal Coat of Arms of Scotland, or alternatively the arms of the Kyng of Scottz, as being Or, a lion rampant within a double tressure flory counter-flory Gules. The Royal Standard of Scotland, also known as the Lion Rampant, is therefore the banner of these arms. Following the Union of the Crowns in 1603, the Royal Standard of Scotland was incorporated into the quartered Royal Standard, displaying the royal emblems of the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Ireland. This quartered design was to evolve to become that now styled the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom. The standard displaying only the Lion rampant and Royal Tressure, known as the Royal Standard of Scotland, remains the personal banner of the monarch and use of this flag is restricted under the Act of the Parliament of Scotland 1672 cap. 47 and 30 & 31 Vict. cap. 17. Its correct use is now restricted to only a few Great Officers who officially represent the monarch, and at royal residences in Scotland when the monarch is not present.

• 

  The Flag of Scotland; Azure, a saltire argent

• 

  The Scottish Union Flag used, technically unofficial, between 1606 and 1707.^[11]

• 

  The Royal Standard of Scotland

• Royal Standard of Great Britain in Scotland (1603-1649).PNG

  The Royal Standard of Scotland used, with minor variations, between 1603 and 1707.

References[link]

• Williams, Peter N. "Chapter 2: The Kingdom of Scotland." Britannia's Guide To Scotland. 1 14 Feb. 2008 <http://www.britannia.com/celtic/scotland/scot3.html>.
• "Discover the Flag of Scotland ." Scotland.com. 1 5 Mar. 2008 <http://www.scotland.com/flag/>.

See also[link]

• Origins of the Kingdom of Alba
• List of monarchs of Scotland
• List of monarchs of Scotland in Gaelic
• Scottish monarchs family tree
• Royal Consorts of Scotland
• Parliament of Scotland
• Royal Scottish Navy
• Honours of Scotland
• Linlithgow Palace
• Falkland Palace
• Bank of Scotland
• Scottish Term Day
• Pound Scots
• Obsolete Scottish units of measurement

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Scotland  (English/Scots) Alba  (Scottish Gaelic)
Flag Royal Standard
Motto: In My Defens God Me Defend (Scots) (often shown abbreviated as In Defens)
Anthem: None (de jure) Various de facto 鈥� see National anthem of Scotland and note 1
Location of  Scotland  (dark green) 鈥� in the European continent  (light green & dark grey) 鈥� in the United Kingdom  (light green)
Capital		Edinburgh 55掳57鈥睳 3掳12鈥瞁锘� / 锘�55.95掳N 3.2掳W锘� / 55.95; -3.2
Largest city		Glasgow
Official language(s)		English
Recognised regional languages		Scottish Gaelic, Scots2
Ethnic groups		89% Scottish, 7% English, Irish, Welsh, 4% other[1]
Demonym		Scottish or Scots3
Government		Devolved government within a constitutional monarchy4
-	Monarch	Elizabeth II
-	First Minister	Alex Salmond MSP
-	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom	David Cameron, MP
Legislature		Scottish Parliament
Establishment		Early Middle Ages; exact date of establishment unclear or disputed; traditional 843, by King Kenneth MacAlpin[2]
Area
-	Total	78,387 km2  30,414 sq mi
-	Water (%)	1.9
Population
-	mid-2012 estimate	5,254,800[3]
-	2001 census	5,062,011
-	Density	65.9/km2  170.8/sq mi
GDP (nominal)		2010 estimate
-	Total	GBP 139.774 billion[4]
-	Per capita	26,766
Currency		Pound sterling (GBP)
Time zone		GMT (UTC0)
-	Summer (DST)	BST (UTC+1)
Date formats		dd/mm/yyyy (AD or CE)
Drives on the		left
ISO 3166 code		GB
Internet TLD		.uk5
Calling code		44
Patron saint		St Andrew[5][6] St Margaret[7] St Columba[8]
1	Flower of Scotland, Scotland the Brave and Scots Wha Hae have been used in lieu of an official anthem.
2	English is the official language of the United Kingdom.[9] Both Scots and Scottish Gaelic are officially recognised as autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages;[10] the B貌rd na G脿idhlig is tasked, under the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005, with securing Gaelic as an official language of Scotland, commanding "equal respect" with English.[11]
3	Historically, the use of "Scotch" as an adjective comparable to "Scottish" or "Scots" was commonplace, particularly outwith Scotland. However, the modern use of the term describes only products of Scotland, usually food or drink related.
4	Scotland's head of state is the monarch of the United Kingdom, currently Queen Elizabeth II (since 1952). Scotland has limited self-government within the United Kingdom as well as representation in the UK Parliament. It is also a UK electoral region for the European Parliament. Certain executive and legislative powers have been devolved to, respectively, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood in Edinburgh.
5	Also .eu, as part of the European Union. ISO 3166-1 is GB, but .gb is unused.

Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Alba ([藞al藸酞ap蓹]  listen (help路info))) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom.^[12][13][14] Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland constitutes over 790 islands^[15] including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.

Edinburgh, the country's capital and second largest city, is one of Europe's largest financial centres.^[16] Edinburgh was the hub of the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century, which transformed Scotland into one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, was once one of the world's leading industrial cities and now lies at the centre of the Greater Glasgow conurbation. Scottish waters consist of a large sector^[17] of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third largest city in Scotland, the title of Europe's oil capital.^[18]

The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707, although it had been in a personal union with the kingdoms of England and Ireland since James VI of Scotland succeeded to the English and Irish thrones in 1603. On 1 May 1707, Scotland entered into an incorporating political union with England to create the united Kingdom of Great Britain.^[19][20] This union resulted from the Treaty of Union agreed in 1706 and enacted by the twin Acts of Union passed by the Parliaments of both countries, despite widespread protest across Scotland.^[21][22] Scotland's legal system continues to be separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, and Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in public and in private law.^[23]

The continued existence of legal, educational and religious institutions distinct from those in the remainder of the UK have all contributed to the continuation of Scottish culture and national identity since the Union.^[24] In 1999, a devolved legislature, the Scottish Parliament, was founded with authority over many areas of home affairs following a successful referendum in 1997. In 2011, the Scottish National Party (SNP) won an overall majority in parliament and intends to hold a referendum on independence^[25] in the autumn of 2014.^[26]

Etymology[link]

Scotland is derived from the Latin Scoti, the term applied to Gaels, people from what is now Scotland and Ireland, and the D谩l Riata who are thought to have originated from Ireland and migrated to western Scotland. Accordingly, the Late Latin word Scotia ("land of the Gaels") was initially used to refer to Ireland.^[27] By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to (Gaelic-speaking) Scotland north of the river Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, both derived from the Gaelic Alba.^[28] The use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages.^[19]

History[link]

Early history[link]

Repeated glaciations, which covered the entire land mass of modern Scotland, destroyed any traces of human habitation that may have existed before the Mesolithic period. It is believed that the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, as the ice sheet retreated after the last glaciation.^[29][30]

Skara Brae, a Neolithic settlement, located in the Bay of Skaill, Orkney.

Groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9500 years ago, and the first villages around 6000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the Mainland of Orkney dates from this period. Neolithic habitation, burial and ritual sites are particularly common and well-preserved in the Northern Isles and Western Isles, where a lack of trees led to most structures being built of local stone.^[31]

The discovery in Scotland of a 4000 year old tomb with burial treasures at Forteviot, near Perth, the capital of a Pictish Kingdom in the 8th and 9th centuries AD, is unrivalled anywhere in Britain. It contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves.^[32][33]

Scotland may have been part of a Late Bronze Age maritime trading culture called the Atlantic Bronze Age that also included the other Celtic nations, England, France, Spain and Portugal.^{[34][35][36][37]}

Roman influence[link]

The written protohistory of Scotland began with the arrival of the Roman Empire in southern and central Great Britain, when the Romans occupied what is now England and Wales, administering it as a province called Britannia. Roman invasions and occupations of southern Scotland were a series of brief interludes.

According to the Roman historian Tacitus, the Caledonians "turned to armed resistance on a large scale", attacking Roman forts and skirmishing with their legions. In a surprise night-attack, the Caledonians very nearly wiped out the whole 9th Legion until it was saved by Agricola's cavalry.^[38]

Vallum of the Antonine Wall, near Falkirk

In AD 83鈥�84 the general Gnaeus Julius Agricola defeated the Caledonians at the Battle of Mons Graupius. Before the battle Tacitus wrote that the Caledonian leader Calgacus, gave a rousing speech in which he called his people the "last of the free" and accused the Romans of "making the world a desert and calling it peace".^[38] After the Roman victory Roman forts were briefly set along the Gask Ridge close to the Highland line (only Cawdor near Inverness is known to have been constructed beyond that line). Three years after the battle the Roman armies had withdrawn to the Southern Uplands.^[39]

The Romans erected Hadrian's Wall to control tribes on both sides of the wall,^[40] and the Limes Britannicus became the northern border of the empire, although the army held the Antonine Wall in the Central Lowlands for two short periods鈥攖he last of these during the time of Emperor Septimius Severus from 208 until 210.^[41]

The Roman military occupation of a significant part of northern Scotland only lasted about 40 years, although their influence on the southern section of the country, occupied by Brythonic tribes such as the Votadini and Damnonii, would still have been considerable between the first and fifth centuries. The Welsh term Hen Ogledd ("Old North") is used by scholars to describe the North of England and South of Scotland during its habitation by Brythonic speaking people around AD 500 to 800.^[40] In the 400s, Gaels from Ireland established the kingdom of D谩l Riata.^[42][43]

Medieval period[link]

A replica of the Pictish Hilton of Cadboll Stone.

The Kingdom of the Picts (based in Fortriu by the 6th century) was the state that eventually became known as "Alba" or "Scotland". The development of "Pictland", according to the historical model developed by Peter Heather, was a natural response to Roman imperialism.^[44] Another view places emphasis on the Battle of Dun Nechtain, and the reign of Bridei m. Beli (671鈥�693), with another period of consolidation in the reign of 脫engus mac Fergusa (732鈥�761).^[45]

The Kingdom of the Picts as it was in the early 8th century, when Bede was writing, was largely the same as the kingdom of the Scots in the reign of Alexander I (1107鈥�1124). However, by the tenth century, the Pictish kingdom was dominated by what we can recognise as Gaelic culture, and had developed a traditional story of an Irish conquest around the ancestor of the contemporary royal dynasty, Cin谩ed mac Ailp铆n (Kenneth MacAlpin).^[2][46][47]

From a base of territory in eastern Scotland north of the River Forth and south of the River Oykel, the kingdom acquired control of the lands lying to the north and south. By the 12th century, the kings of Alba had added to their territories the English-speaking land in the south-east and attained overlordship of Gaelic-speaking Galloway and Norse-speaking Caithness; by the end of the 13th century, the kingdom had assumed approximately its modern borders. However, processes of cultural and economic change beginning in the 12th century ensured Scotland looked very different in the later Middle Ages.

The impetus for this change was the reign of David I and the Davidian Revolution. Feudalism, government reorganisation and the first legally recognised towns (called burghs) began in this period. These institutions and the immigration of French and Anglo-French knights and churchmen facilitated cultural osmosis, whereby the culture and language of the low-lying and coastal parts of the kingdom's original territory in the east became, like the newly acquired south-east, English-speaking, while the rest of the country retained the Gaelic language, apart from the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland, which remained under Norse rule until 1468.^[48][49][50] The Scottish state entered a largely successful and stable period between the 12th and 14th centuries, there was relative peace with England, trade and educational links were well developed with the Continent and at the height of this cultural flowering John Duns Scotus was one of Europe's most important and influential philosophers.

The Wallace Monument commemorates William Wallace, the 13th-century Scottish hero.

The death of Alexander III in March 1286, followed by that of his granddaughter Margaret, Maid of Norway, broke the centuries-old succession line of Scotland's kings and shattered the 200 year golden age that began with David I. Edward I of England was asked to arbitrate between claimants for the Scottish crown, and he organised a process known as the Great Cause to identify the most legitimate claimant. John Balliol was pronounced king in the Great Hall of Berwick Castle on 17 November 1292 and inaugurated at Scone on 30 November, St. Andrew's Day. Edward I, who had coerced recognition as Lord Paramount of Scotland, the feudal superior of the realm, steadily undermined John's authority.^[51] In 1294 Balliol and other Scottish lords refused Edward's demands to serve in his army against the French. Instead the Scottish parliament sent envoys to France to negotiate an alliance. Scotland and France sealed a treaty on 23 October 1295, that came to be known as the Auld Alliance (1295鈥�1560). War ensued and King John was deposed by Edward who took personal control of Scotland. Andrew Moray and William Wallace initially emerged as the principal leaders of the resistance to English rule in what became known as the Wars of Scottish Independence (1296鈥�1328).^[52]

The nature of the struggle changed significantly when Robert the Bruce, Earl of Carrick, killed rival John Comyn on 10 February 1306 at Greyfriars Kirk in Dumfries.^[53] He was crowned king (as Robert I) less than seven weeks later. Robert I battled to restore Scottish Independence as King for over 20 years, beginning by winning Scotland back from the Norman English invaders piece by piece. Victory at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 proved that the Scots had regained control of their kingdom. In 1315 Edward Bruce, brother of the King, was briefly appointed High King of Ireland during an ultimately unsuccessful Scottish invasion of Ireland aimed at strengthening Scotland's position in its wars against England. In 1320 the world's first documented declaration of independence, the Declaration of Arbroath, won the support of Pope John XXII, leading to the legal recognition of Scottish sovereignty by the English Crown.

Map of Scottish highland clans and lowland families.

However, war with England continued for several decades after the death of Bruce, and a civil war between the Bruce dynasty and their long-term Comyn-Balliol rivals lasted until the middle of the 14th century. Although the Bruce dynasty was successful, David II's lack of an heir allowed his half-nephew Robert II to come to the throne and establish the Stuart Dynasty.^[49][54] The Stewarts ruled Scotland for the remainder of the Middle Ages. The country they ruled experienced greater prosperity from the end of the 14th century through the Scottish Renaissance to the Reformation. The Education Act of 1496 made Scotland the first country since Sparta in classical Greece to implement a system of general public education.^[55] This was despite continual warfare with England, the increasing division between Highlands and Lowlands, and a large number of royal minorities.^[54][56]
This period was the height of the Franco-Scottish alliance. The Scots Guard 鈥� la Garde 脡cossaise 鈥� was founded in 1418 by Charles VII of France. The Scots soldiers of the Garde 脡cossaise fought alongside Joan of Arc against England during the Hundred Years War.^[57] In March 1421 a Franco-Scots force under John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Buchan, and Gilbert de Lafayette, defeated a larger English army at the Battle of Baug茅. Three years later, at the Battle of Verneuil, the Scots lost around 6000 men, but the Scottish intervention bought France valuable time and likely saved the country from defeat.^[58]

Early modern era[link]

In 1502, James IV of Scotland signed the Treaty of Perpetual Peace with Henry VII of England. He also married Henry's daughter, Margaret Tudor, setting the stage for the Union of the Crowns. For Henry, the marriage into one of Europe's most established monarchies gave legitimacy to the new Tudor royal line.^[59] A decade later James made the fateful decision to invade England in support of France under the terms of the Auld Alliance. He was the last British monarch to die in battle, at the Battle of Flodden.^[60] Within a generation the Auld Alliance was ended by the Treaty of Edinburgh. France agreed to withdraw all land and naval forces and in the same year, 1560, the revolution of John Knox achieved its ultimate goal of convincing the Scottish parliament to revoke papal authority in Scotland.^[61] Mary, Queen of Scots, a Catholic and former queen of France, was forced to abdicate in 1567.^[62]

James VI succeeded to the throne of England

In 1603, James VI, King of Scots inherited the thrones of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Ireland, and became King James I of England and Ireland, and left Edinburgh for London.^[63] With the exception of a short period under the Protectorate, Scotland remained a separate state, but there was considerable conflict between the crown and the Covenanters over the form of church government. The Glorious Revolution of 1688鈥�89 saw the overthrow of the King James II of England by the English Parliament in favour of William and Mary. As late as the 1690s, Scotland experienced famine, which reduced the population of parts of the country by at least 20 percent.^[64]

In 1698, the Scots attempted an ambitious project to secure a trading colony on the Isthmus of Panama. Almost every Scottish landowner who had money to spare is said to have invested in the Darien scheme. Its failure bankrupted these landowners, but not the burghs, which remained cash rich. Nevertheless, the nobles' bankruptcy, along with the threat of an English invasion, played a leading role in convincing the Scots elite to back a union with England.^[65][66]

On 22 July 1706, the Treaty of Union was agreed between representatives of the Scots Parliament and the Parliament of England and the following year twin Acts of Union were passed by both parliaments to create the united Kingdom of Great Britain with effect from 1 May 1707.^[20]

18th century[link]

With trade tariffs with England now abolished, trade blossomed, especially with Colonial America. The clippers belonging to the Glasgow Tobacco Lords were the fastest ships on the route to Virginia. Until the American War of Independence in 1776, Glasgow was the world's premier tobacco port, dominating world trade.^[67] The disparity between the wealth of the merchant classes of the Scottish Lowlands and the ancient clans of the Scottish Highlands grew, amplifying centuries of division.

David Morier's depiction of the Battle of Culloden.

The deposed Jacobite Stuart claimants had remained popular in the Highlands and north-east, particularly amongst non-Presbyterians, including Roman Catholics and Episcopalian Protestants. However, two major Jacobite risings launched in 1715 and 1745 failed to remove the House of Hanover from the British throne. The threat of the Jacobite movement to the United Kingdom and its monarchs effectively ended at the Battle of Culloden, Great Britain's last pitched battle. This defeat paved the way for large-scale removals of the indigenous populations of the Highlands and Islands, known as the Highland Clearances.

The Scottish Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution made Scotland into an intellectual, commercial and industrial powerhouse.^[68] So much so that Voltaire said "We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation."^[69] With the demise of Jacobitism and the advent of the Union thousands of Scots, mainly Lowlanders, took up numerous positions of power in politics, civil service, the army and navy, trade, economics, colonial enterprises and other areas across the nascent British Empire. Historian Neil Davidson notes that 鈥渁fter 1746 there was an entirely new level of participation by Scots in political life, particularly outside Scotland.鈥� Davidson also states that 鈥渇ar from being 鈥榩eripheral鈥� to the British economy, Scotland 鈥� or more precisely, the Lowlands 鈥� lay at its core.鈥�^[70]

19th century[link]

St. Kildans sitting on the village street, 1886.

Scotland became known across the world for its excellence in engineering, as typified by the Clyde built ships and locomotives built in Glasgow. Prefabricated cast iron buildings made in Scotland are still in use in India, South America and Australia.^[71] Prominent scientists, engineers and architects of the industrial age included David Dale, Joseph Black, Thomas Telford, Robert Stevenson, James Watt, James Nasmyth, Robert Adam and John MacAdam.

Scottish diaspora[link]

Scots born migrants also played a leading role in the foundation and principles of the United States (John Witherspoon, John Paul Jones, Andrew Carnegie, John Muir),^[72] Canada (John A MacDonald, James Murray, Tommy Douglas),^[73] Australia (Lachlan Macquarie, Thomas Brisbane, Andrew Fisher),^[74] and New Zealand (James Mckenzie, Peter Fraser).^[75]

20th century[link]

First and Second World Wars[link]

Royal Scots with captured Japanese flag, Burma, January 1945.

Scotland played a major role in the British effort in the First World War. It especially provided manpower, ships, machinery, fish and money.^[76] With a population of 4.8 million in 1911, Scotland sent over half a million men to the war, of whom over a quarter died in combat or from disease, and 150,000 were seriously wounded.^[77] Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig was Britain's commander on the Western Front.

The war saw the emergence of a radical movement called "Red Clydeside" led by militant trades unionists. Formerly a Liberal stronghold, the industrial districts switched to Labour by 1922, with a base among the Irish Catholic working class districts. Women were especially active in building neighbourhood solidarity on housing issues. However, the "Reds" operated within the Labour Party and had little influence in Parliament and the mood changed to passive despair by the late 1920s.^[78]

The shipbuilding industry expanded by a third and expected renewed prosperity, but instead a serious depression hit the economy by 1922 and it did not fully recover until 1939. The interwar years were marked by economic stagnation in rural and urban areas, and high unemployment.^[79] Indeed, the war brought with it deep social, cultural, economic, and political dislocations. Thoughtful Scots pondered their declension, as the main social indicators such as poor health, bad housing, and long-term mass unemployment, pointed to terminal social and economic stagnation at best, or even a downward spiral. Service abroad on behalf of the Empire lost its allure to ambitious young people, who left Scotland permanently. The heavy dependence on obsolescent heavy industry and mining was a central problem, and no one offered workable solutions. The despair reflected what Finlay (1994) describes as a widespread sense of hopelessness that prepared local business and political leaders to accept a new orthodoxy of centralised government economic planning when it arrived during the Second World War.^[80]

The Second World War brought renewed prosperity, despite extensive bombing of cities by the Luftwaffe. It saw the invention of radar by Robert Watson-Watt, which was invaluable in the Battle of Britain as was the leadership at RAF Fighter Command of Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding.^[81]

Since 1945[link]

After 1945, Scotland's economic situation became progressively worse due to overseas competition, inefficient industry, and industrial disputes.^[82] Only in recent decades has the country enjoyed something of a cultural and economic renaissance. Economic factors that have contributed to this recovery include a resurgent financial services industry, electronics manufacturing, (see Silicon Glen),^[83] and the North Sea oil and gas industry.^[84] The introduction in 1989 by Margaret Thatcher's government of the Community Charge (widely known as the Poll Tax) one year before the rest of the United Kingdom, contributed to a growing movement for a return to direct Scottish control over domestic affairs.^[85] Following a referendum on devolution proposals in 1997, the Scotland Act 1998^[86] was passed by the United Kingdom Parliament to establish a devolved Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government with responsibility for most laws specific to Scotland.^[87]

Government and politics[link]

The 2011 cabinet of the Scottish Government

Scotland's head of state is the monarch of the United Kingdom, currently Queen Elizabeth II (since 1952). The title Elizabeth II caused controversy around the time of the queen's coronation, as there had never been an Elizabeth I in Scotland. A legal case, MacCormick v. Lord Advocate (1953 SC 396), was taken to contest the right of the Queen to title herself Elizabeth II within Scotland, arguing that to do so would be a breach of Article 1 of the Treaty of Union.

The Lord Advocate won the case and it was decided that future British monarchs would be numbered according to either their English or Scottish predecessors, whichever number is higher.^[88] Hence, any future King James would be styled James VIII (since the last Scottish King James was James VII (also James II of England, etc.)) while the next King Henry would be King Henry IX throughout the UK despite the fact that there have been no Scottish kings of the name.

Scotland has partial self-government within the United Kingdom as well as representation in the UK Parliament. Executive and legislative powers have been devolved to, respectively, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood in Edinburgh. The United Kingdom Parliament retains power over a set list of areas explicitly specified in the Scotland Act 1998 as reserved matters, including, for example, levels of UK taxes, social security, defence, international relations and broadcasting.^[89]

The Scottish Parliament has legislative authority for all other areas relating to Scotland, as well as limited power to vary income tax. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in a BBC Scotland interview, indicated that the Scottish Parliament could be given more tax-raising powers.^[90]

The Scottish Parliament can give legislative consent over devolved matters back to Westminster by passing a Legislative Consent Motion if United Kingdom-wide legislation is considered to be more appropriate for a certain issue. The programmes of legislation enacted by the Scottish Parliament have seen a divergence in the provision of public services compared to the rest of the United Kingdom. For instance, the costs of a university education, and care services for the elderly are free at point of use in Scotland, while fees are paid in the rest of the UK. Scotland was the first country in the UK to ban smoking in enclosed public places.^[91]

The debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament Building

The Scottish Parliament is a unicameral legislature comprising 129 Members, 73 of whom represent individual constituencies and are elected on a first past the post system; 56 are elected in eight different electoral regions by the additional member system, serving for a four year period. The Queen appoints one Member of the Scottish Parliament, (MSP), on the nomination of the Parliament, to be First Minister. Other Ministers are also appointed by the First Minister and serve at his/her discretion, together they make up the Scottish Government, the executive arm of government.^[92]

In the 2011 election, the Scottish National Party (SNP) formed a majority government after winning 69 of the 129 seat Parliament; This was the first majority government since the modern post-devolutionary Scottish Parliament was established in 1999. The leader of the SNP, Alex Salmond, continued as First Minister. The Labour Party continued as the largest opposition party, with the Conservative Party, the Liberal Democrats, and the Green Party also represented in the Parliament. Margo MacDonald is the only independent MSP sitting in Parliament. The next Scottish Parliament general election will be held on 5 May 2016. The Scotland Bill, put forward by the Calman Commission and cleared by the UK House of Commons, proposes devolving more power to Scotland. The bill has yet to be put into legislation. The Scottish National Party, who did not take part in the consultation, believe the bill does not devolve enough powers to the Scottish Parliament.^[93]

Scotland is represented in the British House of Commons by 59 MPs elected from territory-based Scottish constituencies. The Scotland Office represents the UK government in Scotland on reserved matters and represents Scottish interests within the UK government.^[94] The Scotland office is led by the Secretary of State for Scotland, who sits in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom, the current incumbent being Michael Moore.

Administrative subdivisions[link]

Glasgow City Chambers, viewed from George Square

Historical subdivisions of Scotland included the mormaerdom, stewartry, earldom, burgh, parish, county and regions and districts. These names are still sometimes used as geographical descriptors.

Modern Scotland is subdivided in various ways depending on the purpose. For local government, there have been 32 council areas since 1996,^[95] whose councils are unitary authorities responsible for the provision of all local government services. Community councils are informal organisations that represent specific sub-divisions of a council area.

For the Scottish Parliament, there are 73 constituencies and eight regions. For the Parliament of the United Kingdom, there are 59 constituencies. The Scottish fire brigades and police forces are still based on the system of regions introduced in 1975. For healthcare and postal districts, and a number of other governmental and non-governmental organisations such as the churches, there are other long-standing methods of subdividing Scotland for the purposes of administration.

City status in the United Kingdom is conferred by letters patent.^[96] There are seven cities in Scotland: Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Stirling and Perth.^[97]

Scotland within the UK[link]

The welcome sign at the Scottish border on the A1.

A policy of devolution had been advocated by the three main UK parties with varying enthusiasm during recent history. The late Labour leader John Smith described the revival of a Scottish parliament as the "settled will of the Scottish people".^[98] The constitutional status of Scotland is nonetheless subject to ongoing debate. In 2007, the Scottish Government established a "National Conversation" on constitutional issues, proposing a number of options such as increasing the powers of the Scottish Parliament, federalism, or a referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom. In rejecting the last option, the three main opposition parties in the Scottish Parliament have proposed a separate Scottish Constitutional Commission to investigate the distribution of powers between devolved Scottish and UK-wide bodies.^[99] In August 2009 the SNP proposed a referendum bill to hold a referendum on independence in November 2010. Immediate opposition from all other major parties led to an expected defeat.^[100][101] These plans were put on hold by the Scottish National Party until after the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections.^[102] With the outcome of the May 2011 elections allowing an SNP majority in the Scottish Parliament, a referendum on Scotland's future within the UK is to be held in Autumn 2014, with the Scottish Government launching its consultation on 25 January 2012.

Law and criminal justice[link]

Parliament House, in Edinburgh, is the home of the Court of Session.

Scots law has a basis derived from Roman law,^[103] combining features of both uncodified civil law, dating back to the Corpus Juris Civilis, and common law with medieval sources. The terms of the Treaty of Union with England in 1707 guaranteed the continued existence of a separate legal system in Scotland from that of England and Wales.^[104] Prior to 1611, there were several regional law systems in Scotland, most notably Udal law in Orkney and Shetland, based on old Norse law. Various other systems derived from common Celtic or Brehon laws survived in the Highlands until the 1800s.^[105]

Scots law provides for three types of courts responsible for the administration of justice: civil, criminal and heraldic. The supreme civil court is the Court of Session, although civil appeals can be taken to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (or before 1 October 2009, the House of Lords). The High Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. The Court of Session is housed at Parliament House, in Edinburgh, which was the home of the pre-Union Parliament of Scotland with the High Court of Justiciary and the Supreme Court of Appeal currently located at the Lawnmarket. The sheriff court is the main criminal and civil court, hearing most of the cases. There are 49 sheriff courts throughout the country.^[106] District courts were introduced in 1975 for minor offences and small claims. The Court of the Lord Lyon regulates heraldry.

For many decades the Scots legal system was unique for a period in being the only legal system without a parliament. This ended with the advent of the Scottish Parliament, which legislates for Scotland. Many features within the system have been preserved. Within criminal law, the Scots legal system is unique in having three possible verdicts: "guilty", "not guilty" and "not proven". Both "not guilty" and "not proven" result in an acquittal with no possibility of retrial.^[107] Many laws differ between Scotland and the rest of Britain, whereas many terms differ. Manslaughter, in England and Wales, becomes culpable homicide in Scotland, and arson becomes wilful fireraising. Procedure also differs. Scots juries consist of fifteen, not twelve jurors as is more common in English-speaking countries.

The civil legal system has however attracted much recent criticism from a senior Scottish Judge who referred to it as being "Victorian" and antiquated.^[108] The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) manages the prisons in Scotland, which collectively house over 8,500 prisoners.^[109] The Cabinet Secretary for Justice is responsible for the Scottish Prison Service within the Scottish Government.

Geography and natural history[link]

Loch Tummel in Perth and Kinross

The mainland of Scotland comprises the northern third of the land mass of the island of Great Britain, which lies off the northwest coast of Continental Europe. The total area is 78,772 km² (30,414 sq mi),^[110] comparable to the size of the Czech Republic. Scotland's only land border is with England, and runs for 96 kilometres (60 mi) between the basin of the River Tweed on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west. The Atlantic Ocean borders the west coast and the North Sea is to the east. The island of Ireland lies only 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the southwestern peninsula of Kintyre;^[111] Norway is 305 kilometres (190 mi) to the east and the Faroes, 270 kilometres (168 mi) to the north.

The territorial extent of Scotland is generally that established by the 1237 Treaty of York between Scotland and the Kingdom of England^[112] and the 1266 Treaty of Perth between Scotland and Norway.^[20] Important exceptions include the Isle of Man, which having been lost to England in the 14th century is now a crown dependency outside of the United Kingdom; the island groups Orkney and Shetland, which were acquired from Norway in 1472;^[110] and Berwick-upon-Tweed, lost to England in 1482.

The geographical centre of Scotland lies a few miles from the village of Newtonmore in Badenoch.^[113] Rising to 1,344 metres (4,409 ft) above sea level, Scotland's highest point is the summit of Ben Nevis, in Lochaber, while Scotland's longest river, the River Tay, flows for a distance of 190 kilometres (118 mi).^[114][115]

Geology and geomorphology[link]

Relief map of Scotland

The whole of Scotland was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages and the landscape is much affected by glaciation. From a geological perspective the country has three main sub-divisions.

Highlands and islands[link]

The Highlands and Islands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland largely comprises ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian, which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. It is interspersed with igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and Skye Cuillins.

A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstones found principally along the Moray Firth coast. The Highlands are generally mountainous and the highest elevations in the British Isles are found here. Scotland has over 790 islands, which are divided into four main groups: Shetland, Orkney, and the Inner Hebrides and Outer Hebrides. There are numerous bodies of freshwater including Loch Lomond and Loch Ness. Some parts of the coastline consist of machair, a low lying dune pasture land.

Central lowlands[link]

The Central Lowlands is a rift valley mainly comprising Paleozoic formations. Many of these sediments have economic significance for it is here that the coal and iron bearing rocks that fuelled Scotland's industrial revolution are to be found. This area has also experienced intense volcanism, Arthur鈥檚 Seat in Edinburgh being the remnant of a once much larger volcano. This area is relatively low-lying, although even here hills such as the Ochils and Campsie Fells are rarely far from view.

Southern uplands[link]

The Southern Uplands are a range of hills almost 200 kilometres (124 mi) long, interspersed with broad valleys. They lie south of a second fault line (the Southern Uplands fault) that runs from Girvan to Dunbar.^{[116][117][118][119]} The geological foundations largely comprise Silurian deposits laid down some 4鈥�500 million years ago. The high point of the Southern Uplands is Merrick with an elevation of 843 m (2,766 ft).^{[19][120][121][122]} The Southern Uplands is home to the UK's highest village, Wanlockhead (430 m/1,411 ft above sea level).^[119]

Climate[link]

Tiree, one of the sunniest locations in Scotland

The climate of Scotland is temperate and oceanic, and tends to be very changeable. It is warmed by the Gulf Stream from the Atlantic, and as such has much milder winters (but cooler, wetter summers) than areas on similar latitudes, for example Labrador, Moscow, or the Kamchatka Peninsula on the opposite side of Eurasia. However, temperatures are generally lower than in the rest of the UK, with the coldest ever UK temperature of 鈭�27.2 掳C (鈭�16.96 掳F) recorded at Braemar in the Grampian Mountains, on 11 February 1895.^[123] Winter maximums average 6 掳C (42.8 掳F) in the lowlands, with summer maximums averaging 18 掳C (64.4 掳F). The highest temperature recorded was 32.9 掳C (91.22 掳F) at Greycrook, Scottish Borders on 9 August 2003.^[124]

In general, the west of Scotland is usually warmer than the east, owing to the influence of Atlantic ocean currents and the colder surface temperatures of the North Sea. Tiree, in the Inner Hebrides, is one of the sunniest places in the country: it had more than 300 hours of sunshine in May 1975.^[124] Rainfall varies widely across Scotland. The western highlands of Scotland are the wettest place, with annual rainfall exceeding 3,000 mm (118.1 in).^[125] In comparison, much of lowland Scotland receives less than 800 mm (31.5 in) annually.^[126] Heavy snowfall is not common in the lowlands, but becomes more common with altitude. Braemar experiences an average of 59 snow days per year,^[127] while many coastal areas average fewer than 10 days of lying snow per annum.^[126]

Flora and fauna[link]

Mountain Hare

Scotland's wildlife is typical of the north west of Europe, although several of the larger mammals such as the lynx, brown bear, wolf, elk and walrus were hunted to extinction in historic times. There are important populations of seals and internationally significant nesting grounds for a variety of seabirds such as gannets.^[128] The golden eagle is something of a national icon.^[129]

On the high mountain tops species including ptarmigan, mountain hare and stoat can be seen in their white colour phase during winter months.^[130] Remnants of the native Scots pine forest exist^[131] and within these areas the Scottish crossbill, the UK's only endemic bird species and vertebrate, can be found alongside capercaillie, wildcat, red squirrel and pine marten.^{[132][133][134]} In recent years various animals have been re-introduced, including the white-tailed sea eagle in 1975, the red kite in the 1980s,^[135][136] and more recently there have been experimental projects involving the beaver and wild boar.^[137][138]

The flora of the country is varied incorporating both deciduous and coniferous woodland and moorland and tundra species. However, large scale commercial tree planting and the management of upland moorland habitat for the grazing of sheep and commercial field sport activities impacts upon the distribution of indigenous plants and animals.^[139] The UK's tallest tree is a grand fir planted beside Loch Fyne, Argyll in the 1870s, and the Fortingall Yew may be 5,000 years old and is probably the oldest living thing in Europe.^{[140][141][142]} Although the number of native vascular plants is low by world standards, Scotland's substantial bryophyte flora is of global importance.^[143][144]

Economy and infrastructure[link]

A drilling rig located in the North Sea

Scotland has a western style open mixed economy that is closely linked with the rest of Europe and the wider world. Traditionally, the Scottish economy has been dominated by heavy industry underpinned by the shipbuilding in Glasgow, coal mining and steel industries. Petroleum related industries associated with the extraction of North Sea oil have also been important employers from the 1970s, especially in the north east of Scotland.

De-industrialisation during the 1970s and 1980s saw a shift from a manufacturing focus towards a more service-oriented economy. Edinburgh is the financial services centre of Scotland and the sixth largest financial centre in Europe in terms of funds under management, behind London, Paris, Frankfurt, Zurich and Amsterdam,^[145] with many large finance firms based there, including: Lloyds Banking Group (owners of the Halifax Bank of Scotland); the Government owned Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Life.

In 2005, total Scottish exports (excluding intra-UK trade) were provisionally estimated to be 拢17.5 billion, of which 70% (拢12.2 billion) were attributable to manufacturing.^[146] Scotland's primary exports include whisky, electronics and financial services. The United States, Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain constitute the country's major export markets.^[146] Scotland's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), including oil and gas produced in Scottish waters, was estimated at 拢137.5 billion for the calendar year 2009.^[4]

Glasgow in 2007, an example of the regeneration of Glasgow and the diversifying Scottish economy

Tourism is widely recognised as a key contributor to the Scottish economy. A briefing published in 2002 by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, (SPICe), for the Scottish Parliament's Enterprise and Life Long Learning Committee, stated that tourism accounted for up to 5% of GDP and 7.5% of employment.^[147]

As of May 2009 the unemployment rate in Scotland stood at 6.6%鈥� slightly lower than the UK average and lower than that of the majority of EU countries.^[148] The Scottish Government's most recent figures (for 2009/10) suggest that Scotland's finances are in a healthier state than for the UK as a whole, with Scotland contributing 9.4% of UK taxes but receiving 9.3% of public expenditure.^[149]

Currency[link]

Although the Bank of England is the central bank for the UK, three Scottish clearing banks still issue their own Sterling banknotes: the Bank of Scotland; the Royal Bank of Scotland; and the Clydesdale Bank. The current value of the Scottish banknotes in circulation is 拢1.5 billion.^[150]

Transport[link]

A Loganair Twin Otter at Barra Airport, the only airport worldwide using a beach runway for scheduled services^[151]

Scotland has five main international airports (Glasgow International, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow Prestwick and Inverness), which together serve 150 international destinations with a wide variety of scheduled and chartered flights.^[152] BAA operates three airports, (Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow International), and Highland and Islands Airports operates 11 regional airports, including Inverness, which serve the more remote locations.^[153] Infratil operates Glasgow Prestwick.

The Scottish motorways and major trunk roads are managed by Transport Scotland. The remainder of the road network is managed by the Scottish local authorities in each of their areas. Regular ferry services operate between the Scottish mainland and many islands. These ferries are mostly run by Caledonian MacBrayne, but some are operated by local councils. Other ferry routes, served by multiple companies, connect to Northern Ireland, Belgium, Norway, the Faroe Islands and also Iceland. Network Rail Infrastructure Limited owns and operates the fixed infrastructure assets of the railway system in Scotland, while the Scottish Government retains overall responsibility for rail strategy and funding in Scotland.^[154] Scotland鈥檚 rail network has around 340 railway stations and 3000 kilometres of track. Over 62 million passenger journeys are made each year.^[155]

Scotland's rail network is managed by Transport Scotland.^[156] The East Coast and West Coast main railway lines connect the major cities and towns of Scotland with each other and with the rail network in England. Domestic rail services within Scotland are operated by First ScotRail. During the time of British Rail the West Coast Main Line from London Euston to Glasgow Central was electrified in the early 1970s followed by the East Coast Main Line in the late 1980s. British Rail created the ScotRail brand. When British Rail existed many railway lines in Strathclyde were electrified with Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive being at the forefront with the acclaimed: "The Largest electrified rail network outside London."

In addition, Glasgow has had a small integrated subway system since 1896. Completely gutted and modernised between 1977 and 1980, its 15 stations serve just under 40,000 passengers per day. There are plans to extensively refurbish the system in time for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The East Coast Main Line crosses the Firth of Forth by the Forth Bridge. Completed in 1890, this cantilever bridge has been described as "the one internationally recognised Scottish landmark".^[157]

Demography[link]

Edinburgh, Scotland's capital and second-largest city

The population of Scotland in the 2001 Census was 5,062,011. This has risen to 5,222,100 according to June 2010 estimates.^[158] This would make Scotland the 113th largest country by population if it were a sovereign state. Although Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland it is not the largest city. With a population of just over 584,000, this honour falls to Glasgow. The Greater Glasgow conurbation, with a population of almost 1.2 million, is home to nearly a quarter of Scotland's population.^[159]

The Central Belt is where most of the main towns and cities are located. Glasgow is to the west, while Edinburgh and Dundee lie on the east coast, with Perth (its city status restored in 2012) lying 20 miles upstream on the River Tay from Dundee. Scotland's only major city outside the Central Belt is Aberdeen, on the east coast to the north. The Highlands are sparsely populated, although the city of Inverness has experienced rapid growth in recent years.

In general only the more accessible and larger islands retain human populations, and fewer than 90 are currently inhabited. The Southern Uplands are essentially rural in nature and dominated by agriculture and forestry.^[160][161] Because of housing problems in Glasgow and Edinburgh, five new towns were created between 1947 and 1966. They are East Kilbride, Glenrothes, Livingston, Cumbernauld, and Irvine.^[162]

Scotland population cartogram. The size of councils is in proportion to their population. The darker colour the bigger is the real area of a council.

Following immigration since World War II, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dundee have small South Asian communities.^[163] Since the recent Enlargement of the European Union more people from Central and Eastern Europe have moved to Scotland, and it is estimated that between 40,000 and 50,000 Poles now live there.^[164] As of 2001, there are 16,310 ethnic Chinese residing in Scotland.^[165] The ethnic groups within Scotland are as follows: White, 97.99%; South Asian, 1.09%; Black, 0.16%; Mixed, 0.25%; Chinese, 0.32% and Other, 0.19%.

Scotland has three officially recognised languages: English, Scots, and Scottish Gaelic. Almost all Scots speak Scottish Standard English, and in 1996, the General Register Office for Scotland estimated that 30% of the population are fluent in Scots.^[166] Gaelic is mostly spoken in the Western Isles, where a large proportion of people still speak it; however, nationally its use is confined to just 1% of the population.^[167] The number of Gaelic speakers in Scotland dropped from 250,000 鈥� 7% of the population 鈥� in 1881 to 60,000 today.^[168]

There are many more people with Scottish ancestry living abroad than the total population of Scotland. In the 2000 Census, 9.2 million Americans self-reported some degree of Scottish descent.^[169] Ulster's Protestant population is mainly of lowland Scottish descent,^[170] and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million descendants of the Scots-Irish migration now living in the U.S.^[171][172] In Canada, the Scottish-Canadian community accounts for 4.7 million people.^[173] About 20% of the original European settler population of New Zealand came from Scotland.^[174]

Education[link]

Gilbert Scott Building, University of Glasgow

The Scottish education system has always remained distinct from that of the rest of United Kingdom, with a characteristic emphasis on a broad education.^[175] Scotland was the first country since Sparta in classical Greece to implement a system of general public education.^[55] Schooling was made compulsory for the first time in Scotland with the Education Act of 1496; then, in 1561, the Church of Scotland set out a national programme for spiritual reform, including a school in every parish. Education continued to be a matter for the church rather than the state until the Education Act (1872).^[176]

The "Curriculum for Excellence" provides the curricular framework for children and young people from age 3 to 18.^[177] All 3- and 4-year-old children in Scotland are entitled to a free nursery place. Formal primary education begins at approximately 5 years old and lasts for 7 years (P1鈥揚7); today, children in Scotland study Standard Grades, or more recently Intermediate qualifications between the ages of 14 and 16. The school leaving age is 16, after which students may choose to remain at school and study for Access, Intermediate or Higher Grade and Advanced Higher qualifications. A small number of students at certain private, independent schools may follow the English system and study towards GCSEs and A and AS-Levels instead.^[178]

There are 15 Scottish universities, some of which are amongst the oldest in the world.^[179][180] These include the University of St Andrews, the University of Glasgow, the University of Aberdeen, the University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University, Robert Gordon University, and the University of Dundee鈥攎any of which are ranked amongst the best in the UK.^[181][182] The country produces 1% of the world's published research with less than 0.1% of the world's population, and higher education institutions account for 9% of Scotland's service sector exports.^[183][184] Scotland's University Courts are the only bodies in Scotland authorised to award degrees.

Scotland's Universities are complemented in the provision of Further and Higher Education by 43 Colleges. Colleges offer National Certificates, Higher National Certificates and Higher National Diplomas. These Group Awards, alongside Scottish Vocational Qualifications, aim to ensure that Scotland's population has the appropriate skills and knowledge to meet the needs of the workplace.

Scotland's regulatory body for qualifications is SQA Accreditation. Scotland's Qualifications are mapped on the SCQF (Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework). The SCQF provides a language to help understand the complexity and size of qualifications, ranging from Access 1 (SCQF Level 1) to Doctorates (SCQF Level 12).^{[citation needed]}

Religion[link]

Iona Abbey an early centre of Scottish Christianity

Just over two-thirds (67%) of the Scottish population reported having a religion in 2001, with Christianity representing all but 2% of these.^[185] By contrast, 28% of the population reported having no religious adherence.

Since the Scottish Reformation of 1560, the national church (the Church of Scotland, also known as The Kirk) has been Protestant and Reformed in theology. Since 1689 it has had a Presbyterian system of church government, and enjoys independence from the state.^[19] About 12% of the population are currently members of the Church of Scotland, with 40% claiming affinity. The Church operates a territorial parish structure, with every community in Scotland having a local congregation.

Scotland also has a significant Roman Catholic population, 19% claiming that faith, particularly in the west.^[186] After the Reformation, Roman Catholicism in Scotland continued in the Highlands and some western islands like Uist and Barra, and it was strengthened during the 19th century by immigration from Ireland. Other Christian denominations in Scotland include the Free Church of Scotland, various other Presbyterian offshoots, and the Scottish Episcopal Church.

Islam is the largest non-Christian religion (estimated at around 40,000, which is less than 0.9% of the population),^[187] and there are also significant Jewish, Hindu and Sikh communities, especially in Glasgow.^[187] The Samy茅 Ling monastery near Eskdalemuir, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2007, includes the largest Buddhist temple in western Europe.^[188]

Health care[link]

Healthcare in Scotland is mainly provided by NHS Scotland, Scotland's public health care system. This was founded by the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1947 (later repealed by the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978) that took effect on 5 July 1948 to coincide with the launch of the NHS in England and Wales. However, even prior to 1948, half of Scotland's landmass was already covered by state funded health care, provided by the Highlands and Islands Medical Service.^[189]

As at September 2009, NHS Scotland employed 168,976 staff including 68,681 nurses and midwives. In addition, there were 16,256 medical staff (including GPs), 5,002 dental staff (including dental support) and 11,777 allied health profession staff.^[190] The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Well Being is responsible to the Scottish Parliament for the work of NHS Scotland.

Military[link]

Soldiers of the five regular battalions of the Royal Regiment of Scotland

Although Scotland has a long military tradition that predates the Treaty of Union with England, its armed forces now form part of the British Armed Forces, with the notable exception of the Atholl Highlanders, Europe's only legal private army. In 2006, the infantry regiments of the Scottish Division were amalgamated to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland. Other distinctively Scottish regiments in the British Army include the Scots Guards, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and the Scottish Transport Regiment, a Territorial Army Regiment of the Royal Logistic Corps.

Because of their topography and perceived remoteness, parts of Scotland have housed many sensitive defence establishments, with mixed public feelings.^{[191][192][193]} Between 1960 and 1991, the Holy Loch was a base for the U.S. fleet of Polaris ballistic missile submarines.^[194] Today, Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde, 25 miles (40 kilometres) north west of Glasgow, is the base for the four Trident-armed Vanguard class ballistic missile submarines that comprise the UK's nuclear deterrent. Scapa Flow was the major Fleet base for the Royal Navy until 1956.

Two frontline Royal Air Force bases are also located in Scotland. These are RAF Leuchars and RAF Lossiemouth, the last of which is the most northerly air defence fighter base in the United Kingdom. A third, RAF Kinloss will be closed as an RAF unit in 2013鈥�14. RAF Leuchars is due to be turned into an army barracks, ending the RAF's connection in Fife.^[195]

The only open-air live depleted uranium weapons test range in the British Isles is located near Dundrennan.^[196] As a result, over 7,000 radioactive munitions lie on the seabed of the Solway Firth.^[197]

Culture[link]

A Pipe Major playing the Great Highland Bagpipe

Scottish music is a significant aspect of the nation's culture, with both traditional and modern influences. A famous traditional Scottish instrument is the Great Highland Bagpipe, a wind instrument consisting of three drones and a melody pipe (called the chanter), which are fed continuously by a reservoir of air in a bag. Bagpipe bands, featuring bagpipes and various types of drums, and showcasing Scottish music styles while creating new ones, have spread throughout the world. The cl脿rsach (harp), fiddle and accordion are also traditional Scottish instruments, the latter two heavily featured in Scottish country dance bands. Today, there are many successful Scottish bands and individual artists in varying styles including Runrig, Susan Boyle and Texas.^[198]

Scotland has a literary heritage dating back to the early Middle Ages. The earliest extant literature composed in what is now Scotland was in Brythonic speech in the 6th century, but is preserved as part of Welsh literature.^[199] Later medieval literature included works in Latin,^[200] Gaelic,^[201] Old English^[202] and French.^[203] The first surviving major text in Early Scots is the 14th century poet John Barbour's epic Brus, focusing on the life of Robert I,^[204] and was soon followed by a series of vernacular romances and prose works.^[205] In the 16th century the crown's patronage helped the development of Scots drama and poetry,^[206] but the accession of James VI to the English throne removed a major centre of literary patronage and Scots was sidelined as a literary language.^[207] Interest in Scots literature was revived in the 18th century by figures including James Macpherson, whose Ossian Cycle made him the first Scottish poet to gain an international reputation and was a major influence on the European Enlightenment.^[208] It was also a major influence on Robert Burns, considered by many to be the national poet,^[209] and Walter Scott, whose Waverley Novels did much to define Scottish identity in the 19th century.^[210] Towards the end of the Victorian era a number of Scottish-born authors achieved international reputations as writers in English, including Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, J. M. Barrie and George MacDonald.^[211] In the 20th century the Scottish Renaissance saw a surge of literary activity and attempts to reclaim the Scots language as a medium for serious literature.^[212] Members of the movement were followed by a new generation of post-war poets including Edwin Morgan, who would be appointed the first Scots Makar by the inaugural Scottish government in 2004.^[213] From the 1980s Scottish literature enjoyed another major revival, particularly associated with a group of Glasgow writers including Irvine Welsh.^[212] Scottish poets who emerged in the same period included Carol Ann Duffy, who was named as the first Scot to be UK Poet Laureate in May 2009.^[214]

Scottish theatre has for many years played an important role in Scottish society, from the music hall variety of Sir Harry Lauder and his contemporaries to the more serious plays put on at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow and many other theatres throughout Scotland.^{[citation needed]}

Television in Scotland is largely the same as UK-wide broadcasts, however the national broadcaster is BBC Scotland, a constituent part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the publicly funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It runs three national television stations, and the national radio stations, BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio nan Gaidheal, amongst others. Scotland also has some programming in the Gaelic language. BBC Alba is the national Gaelic-language channel. The main Scottish commercial television station is STV. National newspapers such as the Daily Record, The Herald, and The Scotsman are all produced in Scotland.^[215] Important regional dailies include the Evening News in Edinburgh 'The Courier in Dundee in the east, and The Press and Journal serving Aberdeen and the north.^[215] Scotland is represented at the Celtic Media Festival, which showcases film and television from the Celtic countries. Scottish entrants have won many awards since the festival began in 1980.^[216]

As one of the Celtic nations, Scotland and Scottish culture is represented at interceltic events at home and over the world. Scotland hosts several music festivals including Celtic Connections (Glasgow), and the Hebridean Celtic Festival (Stornoway). Festivals celebrating Celtic culture, such as Festival Interceltique de Lorient (Brittany), the Pan Celtic Festival (Ireland), and the National Celtic Festival (Portarlington, Australia), feature elements of Scottish culture such as language, music and dance.^{[217][218][219][220][221][222][223]}

Sport[link]

The Old Course at St Andrews

Sport is an important element in Scottish culture, with the country hosting many of its own national sporting competitions. It enjoys independent representation at many international sporting events including the FIFA World Cup, the Rugby Union World Cup, the Rugby League World Cup, the Cricket World Cup and the Commonwealth Games, but not at the Olympic Games where Scottish athletes are part of the Great Britain team. Scotland has its own national governing bodies, such as the Scottish Football Association (the second oldest national football association in the world)^[224] and the Scottish Rugby Union. Variations of football have been played in Scotland for centuries with the earliest reference dating back to 1424.^[225] Association football is now the most popular sport and the Scottish Cup is the world's oldest national trophy.^[226]

Scotland contested the first ever international football game in 1872, a 0鈥�0 draw against England. The match took place at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow, home of the West of Scotland Cricket Club. Scottish clubs have been successful in European competitions with Celtic winning the European Cup in 1967, Rangers and Aberdeen winning the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1972 and 1983 respectively, and Aberdeen also winning the UEFA Super Cup in 1983. Dundee United have also made it to a European final, reaching the UEFA Cup Final in 1987, but losing on aggregate 2-1 to IFK G枚teborg. The Fife town of St. Andrews is known internationally as the Home of golf^[227] and to many golfers the Old Course, an ancient links course dating to before 1574, is considered to be a site of pilgrimage.^[228] There are many other famous golf courses in Scotland, including Carnoustie, Gleneagles, Muirfield, and Royal Troon. Other distinctive features of the national sporting culture include the Highland games, curling and Shinty, which, given its arrival with the Gaelic language and the original Scottish culture from Ireland, can claim to be Scotland's national sport. Scotland played host to the Commonwealth Games in 1970 and 1986, and will do so again in 2014 with Glasgow the host city.

National symbols[link]

The thistle, Scotland's Floral emblem.

The national flag of Scotland, known as the Saltire or St. Andrew's Cross, dates from the 9th century, and is thus the oldest national flag still in use. Since 1606 the Saltire has also formed part of the design of the Union Flag. There are numerous other symbols and symbolic artefacts, both official and unofficial, including the thistle, the nation's floral emblem (celebrated in the song, The Thistle o' Scotland), 6 April 1320 statement of political independence the Declaration of Arbroath, the textile pattern tartan that often signifies a particular Scottish clan, and the Lion Rampant flag.^{[229][230][231]} Highlanders can thank James Graham, 3rd Duke of Montrose, for the repeal in 1782 of the Act of 1747 prohibiting the wearing of tartans.^[232]

Although there is no official National anthem of Scotland,^[233] Flower of Scotland is played on special occasions and sporting events such as football and rugby matches involving the Scotland national teams and as of 2010 is also played at the Commonwealth Games after it was voted the overwhelming favourite by participating Scottish athletes.^[234] Other less popular candidates for the National Anthem of Scotland include Scotland the Brave, Highland Cathedral, Scots Wha Hae and A Man's A Man for A' That.

St Andrew's Day, 30 November, is the national day, although Burns' Night tends to be more widely observed, particularly outside Scotland. Tartan Day is a recent innovation from Canada. In 2006, the Scottish Parliament passed the St. Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007, designating the day to be an official bank holiday.^[235]

See also[link]

	Scotland portal
	United Kingdom portal
	Celtic Studies portal

• Celtic languages
• Celts
• Ethnic groups in Europe
• Outline of Scotland

References[link]