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For other uses, see Scotland (disambiguation). See also British Isles (terminology).

Scotland (English/Scots)
Alba (Scots Gaelic)

File:Scotland royal coa.jpg Flag of Scotland Arms of Scotland
Royal motto: Nemo me impune lacessit (Latin: No one provokes me with impunity)
Scotland's location within the UK
Languages with Official Status	English Scottish Gaelic
Capital	Edinburgh
Largest city	Glasgow
First Minister	Jack McConnell
Area - Total - % water	Ranked 2nd UK 78,782 km² 1.9%
Population - Total (2001) - Density	Ranked 2nd UK 5,062,011 64/km²
Establishment	Kenneth I of Scotland (Cináed mac Ailpín), 843
Currency	Pound sterling (£) (GBP)
Time zone	UTC, Summer: UTC +1
National anthem	Flower of Scotland (de facto)
National flower	Thistle
Patron saint	St. Andrew
Internet TLD	.uk
Calling Code	44
(1) Scots was officially recognised as a "regional or minority language" under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, ratified by the United Kingdom in 2001, but it lacks the level of state support given to English and Scottish Gaelic. (2) To date, Scotland does not officially have a national anthem. Over the years, the role of the nation's anthem has been filled by various patriotic songs, including Flower of Scotland, Scotland the Brave and Scots Wha Hae. In the 1990s, one of the country's leading tabloid newspapers conducted a poll to determine which song should be classed as Scotland's anthem. Flower of Scotland won and is now used as the de facto national anthem at international sporting events, although there are those who still consider the other songs as having equal validity. (3) Shared with England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Scotland (Alba in Scots Gaelic) is a nation in northwest Europe and a constituent country of the United Kingdom. It occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shares a land border to the south with England and is bounded by the North Sea on the east and the Atlantic Ocean on the west. Its capital city is Edinburgh.

The state of Scotland was united in 843, by King Kenneth I of Scotland, and is thus one of the oldest still-existing countries in the world. The flag of Scotland - the Saltire - is thought to be the oldest national flag still in use.

Scotland's monarch, King James VI, suceeded to the throne of the Kingdom of England in 1603 becoming James I of England, after the death of Elizabeth I of England. Although he subsequently styled himself as the King of Great Britain, this was merely a personal union: the two nations shared a head of state but remained independent countries, much as Canada and Australia do today.

Scotland ceased to be an independent sovereign state on 1 May 1707, following the implementation of the Treaty of Union. The Union merged the Kingdom of Scotland with the Kingdom of England, creating the Kingdom of Great Britain, with a new single Parliament of the United Kingdom sitting at Westminster, London. But most of Scotland's institutions, notably the country's legal and education systems, remained separate.

The Union caused a huge outcry amongst many Scots, and England assembled a huge army at its border with Scotland as a precautionary measure in case the Scot's Parliament voted against Union. Many Scottish Lords who voted for the Union were rewarded with land and money from the English Parliament.

In 1801, Scotland became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, when the Kingdom of Great Britain merged with the Kingdom of Ireland. Since 1927, Scotland has been one of the four constituent nations (along with England, Northern Ireland and Wales) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In 1997 the people of Scotland voted to create a new devolved Scottish Parliament, subsequently established by the UK government under the Scotland Act 1998. The newly convened Scottish Parliament has been given powers to govern the country on Scotland-specific matters and has a limited power to vary income tax.

Scotland's territorial extent is generally that established by the 1237 Treaty of York between Scotland and England and the 1266 Treaty of Perth between Scotland and Norway. Exceptions include the Isle of Man, which is now a crown dependency outside the United Kingdom, Orkney and Shetland, which are Scottish rather than Norwegian, and Berwick-upon-Tweed, which was defined as subject to the laws of England by the 1746 Wales and Berwick Act.

The patron saint of Scotland is Saint Andrew, and Saint Andrew's Day is celebrated in the country on 30 November.

Head of state

Queen Elizabeth II, head of state of the United Kingdom, is descended from King James VI of Scotland, the first Scottish monarch to also be King of England (James I of England from 1603). While great controversy has simmered amongst the Scottish public over her official title since her coronation (many believe that, being the first Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain, she should use regnal name "Elizabeth I"), the courts of Scotland have confirmed "Elizabeth II" as her official title. She has said that in the future monarchs will follow the international ordinal tradition that, where a monarch reigns in a number of non-independent territories (or independent territories that agree to share a monarch) that each have a differing number of previous monarchs of the same name, the highest ordinal used in any of the territories is the one used across all. (Past Scottish-English monarchs such as James VI & I and James VII & II reigned over legally separate kingdoms and hence used a dual ordinal). Properly, the Scottish monarch was known as "King/Queen of Scots", and referred to as "your Grace", rather than "your Majesty".

History

See also the main article: History of Scotland.

Historically, from at least 15th century, Scotland began to show a split into two cultural areas - the mainly Scots, latterly English, speaking Lowlands, and the mainly Gaelic-speaking Highlands. This caused divisions in the country where the Lowlands remained, historically, more influenced by the English: the Lowlands lay more open to attack by invading armies from the south and absorbed English influence through their proximity to and their trading relations with their southern neighbours, although Scotland had strong trade links with continental Europe also. However, Gaelic persisted in parts of the Lowlands until quite late, notably in Galloway and Carrick up until the late 1700s and possibly the 1800s. It has also been recorded that the areas of Dunblane and Auchterarder were speaking the language after the Reformation. The cultural boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands was never static, and has moved a number of times.

The clan system of the Highlands formed one of its more distinctive features. Notable clans include Clan Campbell, Clan MacGregor, Clan Hay, Clan MacDonald, Clan MacKenzie, Clan Mackay, Clan MacLeod, Clan Robertson, Clan Grant and others.

Historically the Lowlands adopted a variant of the feudal system after the Norman Conquest of England, with families of Norman ancestry providing most of the monarchs after approximately 1100. These families included the Stewart or Stuart, Bruce, Douglas, Porteous, and Murray or Moray families.

During the Wars of Scottish Independence (approximately 1290 - 1363) the Scottish people rose up against English interference and invasion. Firstly, under the leadership of Sir William Wallace, and later, under that of Robert the Bruce. Bruce won a decisive victory over the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

In 1603, the Scottish King James VI inherited the throne of England, and became James I of England. James moved to London and only returned to Scotland once. In 1707, the Scottish and English Parliaments signed the Treaty of Union, which was deeply unpopular in Scotland, as it had been negotiating from a position of economic weakness and suffering from English tariffs. Implementing the treaty involved dissolving both the English and the Scottish Parliaments, and transferring all their powers to a new Parliament sitting in London which then became the Parliament of the United Kingdom. A customs and monetary union also took place.

This state of affairs continued until May 1999 when Scotland's Parliament was established following a referendum. Whereas the old Scottish Parliament had functioned as the full parliament of a sovereign state, the new parliament governs the country only on domestic matters, and the United Kingdom Parliament retains responsibility for Scotland's defence, international relations and certain other areas.

Geography

Scotland comprises the northern part of the island of Great Britain; it is bordered on the south by England. The country consists of a mainland area plus several island groups, including Shetland, Orkney, and the Hebrides, divided into the Inner Hebrides and Outer Hebrides. Three main geographical and geological areas make up the mainland: from north to south, the generally mountainous Highlands, the low-lying Central Belt, and the hilly Southern Uplands. The majority of the Scottish population resides in the Central Belt, which contains three of the country's six largest cities (Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Stirling) and many large towns. Most of the remaining population lives in the North-East Lowlands, where two of the remaining three cities (Aberdeen and Dundee) are situated. The final city, Inverness, is situated where the River Ness meets the Moray Firth, on the Great Glen Fault between the North-West Highlands and the Cairngorms.

Geology

Tectonic plate movement

When vulcanism actively occurred in East Lothian, 350 million years ago, the rocks which now comprise Scotland lay close to the equator, and formed part of the newly amalgamated supercontinent of Pangaea. The continental plates making up Pangaea continued to converge, and a major collision occurred with the continent of Gondwana.

The northern and southern parts of the island of Great Britain became adjoined only 75 million years before the onset of vulcanism in East Lothian. Before then, Scotland lay on the margin of the Laurentian continent, which included North America and Greenland. England and Wales lay some 40° of latitude further south, adjacent to Africa and South America in the Gondwanan continent. In the Early Ordovician, approximately 475 million years ago, England and Wales, on the Avalonian plate, rifted away from Gondwana and drifted northward towards Laurentia. The Iapetus Ocean, which separated the two land masses, began to close. By the mid-Silurian, about 420 million years ago, its margins had become attached along the Iapetus Suture, which roughly follows a line running West to East from the Solway Firth to Northumberland.

When the later episode of vulcanism occurred, approximately 270 million years ago, Scotland still comprised part of Pangaea, but had drifted northward. East Lothian stood at about 8°North. Consolidation of Pangaea had continued so that the nearest ocean, the Tethys seaway, lay between Eurasia and Africa.

See and Geology of the United Kingdom.

Language

Scotland has three distinct languages: English, Scottish Gaelic, and Scots.

Almost all Scots speak Scottish Standard English. It is estimated by the General Register Office for Scotland that 30% of the population are also fluent in Scots, a sister West Germanic language to the English language. Slightly more than 1% of the population use Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic language similar to Irish, as their language of everyday use, primarily in the northern and western regions of the country. Almost all Gaelic speakers also speak fluent English.

By the time of James VI's accession to the English throne, the old Scottish Court and Parliament spoke and wrote in Scots, also known as Lowland Scots or Lallans (although strictly speaking Lallans is only one dialect of the Scots language). It is routinely argued that Scots developed from the Northumbrian form of Anglo-Saxon, spoken in Bernicia which, in the 6th century, conquered the Brythonic kingdom of Gododdin (modern-day Lothian) and renamed its capital, Dunedin, to Edinburgh. But this ignores the strong resemblance of Scots, particularly the Doric dialect spoken in the northeast of the country, to Norse and Swedish, with many words and phrases almost identical. Given the penetration of Viking and Norse culture into Scotland, this is as strong a candidate as the southern spread of 'Inglis', and the two derivations need hardly be mutually exclusive. Scots also contains a great number of borrowed and loaner words from Gaelic, the separation between the two cultural 'zones' often being exaggerated, at least in Scotland's earlier history. Furthermore, most of the area that currently speaks Scots is well outside the Lothians, and its spread was no doubt assisted by Anglo-Norman feudalism, Flemish merchants, and the growth of towns.

The Scottish Parliament recognises both English and Gaelic as official languages of Scotland, both receiving "equal respect" although not equal validity. Gaelic received official recognition through the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005. Apart from being officially recognised as a "regional or minority language" under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages ratified by the United Kingdom in 2001, the Scots language currently has little official status, although it is acknowledged by the Scottish Executive, who promised "support" in their Partnership Agreement 2003. The Scottish Language Dictionaries project does receive some state funding via the Scottish Arts Council.

Modern Scotland

For the purposes of local government, Scotland is divided into 32 unitary authority districts.

Popular folk-memory continues to divide Scotland into 33 traditional counties.

The country has six designated cities: (in descending order of population size)

• Glasgow
• Edinburgh, the capital
• Aberdeen
• Dundee
• Inverness
• Stirling

Scottish towns:

• List of burghs in Scotland

Waterways in Scotland:

• Major Rivers:
  • The Clyde, The Dee, The Don, The Forth, The Tay, The Tweed, The Spey, ...
• Firths:
  • Solway, Clyde, Cromarty, Dornoch, Forth, Lorne, Moray, Tay
• Sea Lochs (fjords):
  • Loch Linnhe, Loch Fyne, Loch Long, Loch Etive, Loch Sunart, Loch Nevis, Loch Hourn, Loch Broom
• Freshwater Lochs (lakes) include:
  • Loch Ness, Loch Lomond, Loch Morar, Loch Tay, Loch Rannoch, Loch Awe, Loch Shiel, Loch Maree, The Lake of Menteith,...
• Artificial & Enhanced waterways include:
  • Caledonian Canal, Crinan Canal, Forth & Clyde Canal, Union Canal
    • See Also Falkirk Wheel

Culture

Scotland has a civic and ethnic culture distinct from that of the rest of the British Isles. It originates from various differences, some entrenched as part of the Act of Union, others facets of nationhood not readily defined but readily identifiable.

Scots Law

Scotland retains its own unique legal system, based on Roman law, which combines features of both civil law and common law. The terms of union with England specified the retention of separate systems. The barristers being called advocates, and the judges of the high court for civil cases are also the judges for the high court for criminal cases. Scots Law differs from England's common law system.

Formerly, there were several regional law systems in Scotland, one of which was Udal Law (also called allodail or odal law) in Shetland and Orkney. This was a direct descendant of Old Norse Law, but was abolished in 1611. Despite this, Scottish courts have acknowledged the supremacy of udal law in some property cases as recently as the 1990s. There is a movement to restore udal law to the islands as part of a devolution of power from Edinburgh to Shetland and Orkney.

Various systems based on common Celtic or Brehon Laws also survived in the Highlands until the 1800s.

Scottish education

Scotland also has a separate education system. The Act of Union guaranteed the rights of the Scottish universities, but more importantly, Scotland became the first country since Sparta in classical Greece to implement a system of general public education. The early roots were in the Education Act of 1496 which first introduced compulsory education for the eldest sons of nobles, but truly began 200 years later with the Education Act of 1696 which introduced a school in every parish. Education finally became compulsory for all children from the implementation of the Education Act of 1872 onwards.

As a result, for over two hundred years Scotland had a higher percentage of its population educated at primary, secondary and tertiary levels than any other country in Europe. The differences in education have manifested themselves in different ways, but most noticeably in the number of Scots who went on to become leaders in their fields during the 18th and 19th centuries. The politician Jim Wallace stated in October 2004 that Scotland still produces a higher number of university and college graduates per head than anywhere else in Europe.

School students in Scotland sit Standard Grade exams while students in England sit GCSE exams, and then Higher Grade exams rather than the English A-level system. Also, a Scottish university's honours degree takes four years of study as opposed to three in the rest of the UK. The university systems in several Commonwealth countries show marked affinities with the Scottish rather than the English system.

Banking and currency

Banking in Scotland also features unique characteristics. Although the Bank of England remains the central bank for the UK Government, three Scottish corporate banks still issue their own banknotes: (the Bank of Scotland, the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Clydesdale Bank). These notes have no status as legal tender in England, Wales or Northern Ireland (although they can be used throughout the UK, particularly in Northern Ireland, where Irish banks also issue their own banknotes, and they are also freely accepted in the Channel Islands). In Scotland, neither they nor the Bank of England's notes rank as legal tender (as Scots law lacks the concept), however banknotes issued by any of the four banks meet with common acceptance. See British banknotes.

Scotland still produces the One Pound Note over the One Pound Coin. The full range of notes commonly accepted are £1, £5, £10, £20, £50 and £100. Bank of England currency is also accepted as legal tender in Scotland.

For a further discussion read Legal Tender

Both the Bank of Scotland and the Bank of England were founded by William Paterson of Dumfries. In addition the modern system of branch banking (in which banks maintain a nationwide system of offices rather than one or two central offices) originated in Scotland. Only strong political pressure during the 19th century prevented the resultant strong banking system from taking over banking in England. However, although Scottish banks proved unwelcome in England at the time, their business model became widely copied, firstly in England and later in the rest of the world.

The Savings Bank movement was created in Scotland in 1810 by the Reverend Henry Duncan as a means of allowing his parishioners to save smaller amounts of money than the major banks would accept as deposits at that time. His model for the Ruthwell Parish Bank was adopted by well-to-do sponsors throughout the world, with most of the British savings banks eventually amalgamating to form the Trustee Savings Bank - more recently merged with the commercial bank, Lloyds, to form Lloyds TSB - and the American examples becoming a Savings and Loan Association. See for further information.

Sport

Scotland also has its own sporting competitions distinct from the rest of the UK, such as the Scottish Football League and the Scottish Rugby Union. This gives the country independent representation at many international sporting events such as the football World Cup and various rugby tournaments such as the Six Nations. Scotland cannot compete in the Olympic Games independently however, and Scottish athletes must compete as part of the Great Britain team if they wish to take part. Scotland does however send its own team to compete in the Commonwealth Games.

Association Football is one of the most popular sports in the country, both played and watched. Innovations such as a passing style of play, a team working as a unit, half-time and free-kicks were introduced by Queen's Park F.C., all of which were later incorporated and remain in the modern game. Their Hampden Park home, the world's first and oldest international football stadium, holds several European attendance records including 149,415 watching a Scottish international. The Scottish Football Association is the second oldest national football association in the world, with the Scottish national football team playing and hosting the world's first ever international football match. The Scottish Cup is the world's oldest national trophy. The oldest professional football club in the world is Kilmarnock FC.

Scotland is considered the "Home of Golf", and is well known for its many courses, including the Old Course that is synonymous with the game. Established in 1754, The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews also codified the rules of golf.

As well as its world famous Highland Games, where several traditional events such as the McGlashan stones are now common in world strongmand events, Scotland has also given the world curling, and shinty, a stick game related to Ireland's hurling, and similar to England's field hockey. Whilst stereotypically seen as an English game, Scottish cricket has always had a large following throughout the country.

Scottish professional rugby clubs compete in the Celtic League, along with teams from Ireland and Wales. However, the country retains a national league for amateur and semi-pro clubs.

Shinty is run by the Camanachd Association and is played primarily in its Highland heartland, but also in most universities and cities. Kingussie have the distinction of appearing in the Guinness Book of Records as the most successful sporting team of all time, having won the league for twenty years in a row. A hybrid of shinty and hurling is played between Irish and Scottish national teams. Ice Hockey is a direct descendant of shinty, having been invented by shinty playing Scottish Gaels on the frozen lakes of Canada.

Media

Scotland has distinct media from the rest of the UK. For example, it produces many national newspapers such as Daily Record (Scotland's leading tabloid), The Herald broadsheet, based in Glasgow, and The Scotsman in Edinburgh. The Herald, formerly known as the Glasgow Herald, changed its name to promote a national rather than a regional identity, while The Scotsman, which used to be a broadsheet, recently switched to tabloid format. Sunday newspapers include the tabloid Sunday Mail (published by Daily Record parent company Trinity Mirror) and the Sunday Post, while the Sunday Herald and Scotland on Sunday have associations with The Herald and The Scotsman respectively. Regional dailies include The Courier and Advertiser in Dundee in the east, and The Press and Journal serving Aberdeen and the north.

Scotland has its own BBC services which include the national radio stations, BBC Radio Scotland and Scottish Gaelic language service, BBC Radio nan Gaidheal. There are also a number of BBC and independent local radio stations throughout the country. In addition to radio, BBC Scotland also runs two national television stations. Much of the output of BBC Scotland Television, such as news and current affairs programmes, and the Glasgow-based soap opera, River City, are intended for broadcast within Scotland, whilst others, such as drama and comedy programmes, aim at audiences throughout the UK and further afield. Sports coverage also differs, reflecting the fact that the country has its own football leagues, separate from those of England.

Three independent television stations (Scottish TV, Grampian TV and ITV1 Border) also broadcast in Scotland. Although they previously had independent existences, Scottish TV (serving the Central Lowlands) and Grampian (serving the Highlands and Islands) now belong to the same company (The Scottish Media Group) and resemble each other closely, apart from local news coverage. English-based ITV1 Border has had a more complex position, as it serves communities on both sides of the border with England, as well as the Isle of Man, and it now has separate news programs for each side of the border. Most of the independent television output equates to that transmitted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with the exception of news and current affairs, sport, cultural and Scottish Gaelic language programming.

Other facets of Scottish culture

Scotland retains its own distinct sense of nationhood. Academic research consistently shows that people in Scotland feel Scottish, whilst not necessarily feeling the need to see that translated into the establishment of a fully-independent Scottish nation-state.

Scotland also has its own unique family of languages and dialects, helping to foster a strong sense of "Scottish-ness". See Scots language and Scottish Gaelic language. An organisation called Iomairt Cholm Cille (http://www.colmcille.net) has been set up to support Gaelic-speaking communities in both Scotland and Ireland and to promote links between them.

Scotland retains its own national church, separate from that of England. See Church of Scotland and the section on "Religion" elsewhere in this article.

These factors combine together to form a strong, readily identifiable Scottish civic culture.

Miscellaneous

Scotland's iconic claims to fame include:

Animals

• Dolly the sheep
• Nessie, the Loch Ness monster
• Wild Haggis

Celebrations

• Burns night (25 January)
• Hogmanay (New Year's Eve)
• Tartan Day (6 April - celebrated in North America but not normally in Scotland itself)
• Saint Andrew's Day (30 November)

Clothing and dress

• Kilts
• Mackintosh
• Tartan
• Tweed, especially Harris Tweed
• Tam o'shanter

Comic books and characters

• The Beano
• The Broons
• The Dandy
• Oor Wullie

Drink

• Highland Spring
• Irn-Bru
• Limeade
• Scotch whisky and its distilleries
• Tizer

Food

• Black, red and white pudding
• Deep fried Mars bar
• Haggis
• Oatcakes
• Porridge
• Scots Tablet
• Shortbread
• Smoked Salmon

Lifestyle

• Automatic teller machine
• Postage Stamp
• Tarmac
• Telephone
• Television
• Pedal Bicycle
• Pneumatic tire

Music

• Bagpipes
• Scottish country dancing

Famous Scots

• Alexander Graham Bell
• Tony Blair
• Gordon Brown
• Robert Burns
• Robert Carlyle
• Sir Sean Connery
• Sir Alexander Fleming
• John Knox
• Joseph Lister
• Ewan McGregor
• John Napier
• William Wallace
• Montgomery Scott
• John McAdam
• John Boyd Dunlop
• John Chalmers
• John Logie Baird
• Charles Rennie Mackintosh
• Alexander Thomson
• John Paul Jones
• Capt. Patrick Ferguson
• Sir James Young Simpson
• William Paterson

Places

• Loch Ness
• Scottish Highlands (Aviemore, Cairngorms, Munros) and islands (Hebrides, Orkney, Shetland)

Other

• Cutty Sark
• The thistle, the country's national emblem - according to legend a Danish attacker stepped on one at night, so alerting the defenders of a Scottish castle, hence it is called the "guardian thistle"
• Scottish sundial — the ancient renaissance sundials of Scotland.

Religion

The Church of Scotland (sometimes referred to as The Kirk) is the national Church, although it is the established Church, it is not subject to state control. It differs from the Church of England in that it has a Presbyterian form of church governance. The Scots are proud of the fact that the Scottish Reformation took place at a grassroots level, unlike the English experience, where the Reformation, at least in its first thrust under Henry VIII, was a politically motivated top-down reform.

The Scottish Reformation, initiated in 1560 and led by John Knox, was Calvinist, and throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the Church of Scotland maintained a strict theology and kept a tight control over the morality of the population. The Church had an overwhelming influence on the cultural development of Scotland in early modern times. Because Calvinism does not adhere to the Liturgical Year, for example, Christmas was not widely celebrated in Scotland until the mid-20th century. The intellectual nature of Calvinism contributed greatly to the predominance of Scottish thinkers in the age of Enlightenment (see Scottish Enlightenment), but the Church's distrust of the sensual is seen as the reason why Scotland contributed little to classical music and art before the 19th century. Since the mid-19th century, however, the Church of Scotland has developed into a generally tolerant and heterogenous church with an interest in ecumenism.

A number of other Christian denominations exist in Scotland, foremost amongst them Roman Catholicism, which survived the reformation especially on islands like Uist and Barra despite the suppression of the 16th to late 18th centuries, and was strengthened in the 19th century by immigration from Ireland. It has now become the largest Christian denomination outwith the Church of Scotland, and is strongest in the West of Scotland (although roadside shrines can be seen in the South Isles of the Outer Hebrides, similar to those in Ireland). Much of Scotland (particularly the West Central Belt around Glasgow) has experienced problems caused by the religious divide between Presbyterians and Roman Catholics. Some Scots maintain that sectarianism is still deeply rooted in Scottish society. This problem has historically manifested itself in a number of ways, particularly in discrimination in employment and in football fanaticism. The problems associated with sectarianism in Scotland have diminished markedly in recent years, although some issues remain. The Scottish police have recently moved to restrict the number of Orange Order parades.

As well as the Church of Scotland there are various other Protestant churches, including the Scottish Episcopal Church, which forms a full part of the Anglican Communion, and the Free Church of Scotland, a Presbyterian off-shoot from the Church of Scotland. Islam is the largest non-Christian religion in Scotland, although its numbers remain small. There are also significant Jewish and Sikh communities, especially in Glasgow. Scotland has a high proportion of persons who regard themselves as belonging to 'no religion'. Indeed, this was the second most common response in the 2001 census. The Roman Catholic Church now claims to be the largest church in Scotland, with 650,000 people baptised, though attendance at its churches is not high .

Politics

See main article: Politics of Scotland, also Politics of the United Kingdom

Historically the politics of Scotland have reflected those of the UK as a whole, although with some differences. For example, besides the main UK-wide political parties (Labour, Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats) a number of Scottish-specific parties operate. These include the Scottish National Party (SNP) which is Scotland's second largest party and forms the main opposition in Parliament, the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) and the Scottish Green Party. These parties became more of a force in Scottish politics after the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1998. Unlike England, which has a more of a left/right split politically, the political right in Scotland is actually amongst the smallest political groupings with the four main Parties all coming from a mix of far-left to moderate-left philosophies.

The traditional political divides of left and right have also intersected with arguments over devolution, which all the UK-wide parties have supported to some degree throughout their history (although both Labour and the Conservatives have swithered a number of times between supporting and opposing it). However, now that devolution has occurred, the main argument about Scotland's constitutional status remains between those who support Scottish independence and those who oppose it. Recent trends indicate, according to the State of the Nation Poll 2004, that 66% of Scots would like the Scottish Parliament to have more powers, while only 25% would like to see the powers returned to Westminster.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Scotland

Most Scottish industry and commerce is concentrated in a few large cities on the waterways of the central lowlands. Edinburgh, on the Firth of Forth, is a cultural centre, the capital of Scotland, and one of the top financial centres in Europe. Glasgow, one of the largest cities in the UK, lies on the Clyde; it is Scotland's leading seaport and was once a centre of shipbuilding and it supports numerous light industries. Although heavy industry has declined, the high-technology Silicon Glen corridor has developed between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Tourism is also very important.

The significance of coal, once Scotland's most important mineral resource, has declined. Oil, however, gained prominence in Scotland's economy during the 1970s, with the growth of North Sea oil extraction companies. Natural gas is also abundant in the North Sea fields. Aberdeen is the centre of the oil industry. Other important industries are textile production (woollens, worsteds, silks, and linens), distilling, and fishing. Textiles, beer, and whisky, which are among Scotland's chief exports, are produced in many towns. Salmon are taken from the Tay and the Dee, and numerous coastal towns and villages are supported by fishing from the North Sea. Only about one quarter of the land is under cultivation (principally in cereals and vegetables), but sheep raising is important in the less arable mountainous regions. Because of the persistence of feudalism and the land enclosures of the 19th cent. (see History, below), the ownership of most land in Scotland is concentrated in relatively few hands (some 350 people own about half the land). In 2003, as a result, the Scottish Parliament passed a land reform act that empowered tenant farmers and communities to purchase land even if the landlord did not want to sell.

Transport

Public transport information covering the whole of Scotland is available from Traveline Scotland.

The road network in Scotland is divided into five zones with four major roads centred on Edinburgh marking the zone boundaries, these are the A1, A7, A8, and A9.

Long-distance buses are the cheapest way of travelling to Scotland; one can also take a train from London which will get you into Edinburgh in four hours and Glasgow in five - it's comfy but it's not cheap. The drive from London to Edinburgh will take about eight hours for people that have their own vehicle.

Scotland has frequent ferry links to Belfast and nearby Larne in Ireland. A daily overnight ferry service links Rosyth with Zeebrugge in Belgium. There is a weekly ferry between Aberdeen, the Shetlands and Norway, and a twice-weekly ferry from Aberdeen to the Faroes in summer.

There are direct air services from London and other European cities to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, Inverness or Kirkwall, and from North America to Glasgow or Edinburgh. Long-distance buses are usually the cheapest method of getting to Scotland.

There are domestic flights within Scotland. Only British Airways and its subsidiaries offer domestic flights in Scotland. Scotland's train routes are picturesque but somewhat limited and expensive.

Driving around Scotland is generally easy and far less busy than in England, although petrol stations may be few and far between.

The boats sail to most of the islands or one can get a ferry from Aberdeen to Orkney or Shetland.Haggis Backpackers bus service runs between Scotland's youth hostels, as does Macbackpackers. Citylink bus company has a tourist pass which can be used on all their buses.

See also

• History of Scotland
• Timeline of Scottish history
• Caledonia
• List of not fully sovereign nations
• Subdivisions of Scotland
• National parks (Scotland)
• Traditional music of Scotland
• Flower of Scotland
• Wars of Scottish Independence
• National Trust for Scotland
• Historic houses in Scotland
• Castles in Scotland
• Scottish sundial — the ancient renaissance sundials of Scotland.
• Museums in Scotland
• Abbeys and priories in Scotland
• Gardens in Scotland
• List of Universities in Scotland
• List of Scots
• List of Scottish writers
• Scottish Term Day
• List of United Kingdom topics
• List of Monarchs of Scotland
• Scottish monarchs family tree
• List of British monarchs
• Flags of non-sovereign nations

External links

• BBC Scotland - Scottish history, news and travel pages from BBC
• BBC Nations - History of Scotland
• The British Isles - Independent view of Scotland and the UK
• General Register Office for Scotland - responsible for the registration of births, marriages, deaths, divorces and adoptions in Scotland
• Scotland Directory - comprehensive directory of sites focused on Scotland
• Scotland's People - official government source for Scottish genealogy
• Scottish Census Results On Line - official government site for Scotland's census results
• Scottish Executive - official site of the Scottish Executive
• Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics - Scottish Executive's programme of small area statistics in Scotland
• Scottish Parliament - official site of The Scottish Parliament
• Scottish Tourist Board - official site of Scotland's national tourist board
• soc.culture.scottish usenet newsgroup - Usenet newsgroup for discussions related to Scotland
• Silicon Glen, Scotland guide - Home of the Frequently Asked Questions for the soc.culture.scottish newsgroup, the first online guide to Scotland.
• Mercator Atlas of Europe - Maps of Scotland ("Scotia") and Hebrides & Orkney Islands ("Herbrides & Orcades" ) circa 1564.
• Scotland Royalty - Genealogy of the Scottish Royal Family

• Scotland
• European countries
• Monarchies