Scotland

Scotland is a country and once independent Kingdom that covers 31,510 square miles (78,772 square kilometres, about half the size of England. The capital town is Edinburgh. The majority of the population is based around the cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee. The population of Scotland is over 5,000,000 people. Its currency is the pound sterling although the Bank of Scotland issues its own notes and coinage.

Geography
Scotland stretches 274 miles (440 kilometres) from South to North and 154 varies in breadth between 24 and 154 miles (248 kilometres) from east to west. The total length of coastline is estimated at 6,200 miles (10,000km). It occupies the northern part of Great Britain and is bordered on the south by England The majority of the Scottish population are found in the Central Lowland, which contains three of the country's six cities, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, and many large towns. Most of the remaining population lives in the north-eastern Lowlands in Aberdeen and Dundee. The other heavily populated city is Inverness, situated where the River Ness meets the Moray Firth, on the geological fault between the north-western Highlands and the Cairngorms. The country consists of a mainland area, almost two-thirds of which is mountain and moor land, and 787 islands, of which 130 are inhabited and only 62 are larger than three square miles in area. They are mostly contained in several island groups, including Shetland, Orkney, and the Hebrides, which are divided into the Inner Hebrides and Outer Hebrides. The mainland is geographically divided into three regions: the Highlands in the north, the Central Lowlands, and the Southern Uplands.

26 major rivers flow directly into the sea, the main ones are: the Tay (117 miles long), the Spey (110 miles), the Clyde (106 miles), the Tweed (96 miles), the Dee (96 miles), the Don (82 miles) and the Forth (66 miles). Scotland's highest mountains are: Ben Nevis (4406 feet), Ben Macdhui (4296 feet), Braeriach (4252 feet), Cairntoul (4241 feet), Cairngorm (4084 feet) and Ben Lawers (3984 feet). Scotland has many fine deep lakes or Lochs. Much of the west coast is intersected by Sea Lochs, the longest of which, Loch Fyne, penetrates more than 40 miles inland. Major fresh-water lochs include: Loch Lomond (27 sq. miles in area, maximum depth 623 feet), Loch Ness (21.8 sq. miles, maximum depth 754 feet), Loch Awe (14.8 sq. miles, maximum depth 307 feet).

Climate
Scotland is cloudier than England, due to the nature of the landscape and the low-pressure systems from the Atlantic. Despite this, parts of Angus, Fife, the Lothians, Ayrshire, and Dumfries and Galloway average over 1,400 hours of sunshine per year. The mountains of the Highland region have less than 1,100 hours of sunshine per annum. Daily sunshine figures are highest in May or June and are at their lowest in December. The relatively high latitude of Scotland, some of which is in the Artic Circle, means that although winter days are very short, this is compensated for by long summer days with an extended twilight. On the Longest Day (21st June) there is no complete darkness in the north of Scotland. Lerwick, in Shetland, has about four hours more daylight (including twilight) at midsummer than London. Rainfall in Scotland varies widely, ranging from over 3,000 mm per year in the western Highlands to under 800 mm per year near the east coast (comparable with the Midlands of England). An average rainfall of 0.2 mm or more occurs on over 250 days per year over much of the Highlands, decreasing to around 175 days per year on the Angus, Fife and East Lothian coasts. In comparison, the driest part of Britain, along the Thames Estuary in southeast England, averages around 150 days per year with measurable rainfall. The wind blows mainly from the southwest, but the wind direction often changes markedly from day to day with the passage of weather systems. Since many of the major Atlantic depressions pass close to or over Scotland, the frequency of strong winds and gales is higher than in other parts of the United Kingdom. The windiest low ground areas are the Western Isles, the northwest coast and Orkney & Shetland, with over 30 days of gales per year in some places. Over Scotland the mean annual air temperature at low altitude, ranges from about 7°C on Shetland, in the far north, to 9°C on the coasts of Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway in the southwest. Normally temperature decreases by approximately 0.6 °C for each 100 m rise in height so that over the high ground temperatures are generally colder. January and February are the coldest months. The daytime maximum temperatures over low ground in Scotland in January and February average around 5 to 7 °C, but on rare occasions in the lee of high ground, temperatures can reach up to around 15°C when a moist south or south-westerly airflow warms up after crossing the mountains. The lowest temperatures occur inland, away from the moderating influence of the sea, in valleys into which the cold air drains. In summer, the effect of latitude on the amount of heat received from the sun plays a major role in determining the temperature. Thus, temperatures in Scotland are generally a few degrees cooler than in England.

Language
Almost all Scots speak English, but many speak various Scots dialects, which differ markedly from English and some speak Gaelic (pronounced Gallic).

Gaelic
About 2% of the population use Scots Gaelic as their language of every-day use, mainly in the northern and western regions of the country. Most Gaelic speakers also speak fluent English. The Gaelic Language is spoken by around 86,000 individuals primarily in the North of Scotland and in the Western Isles (e.g.. Skye, Lewis, Harris). The vast majority of Gaelic speakers are bilingual Gaelic/English. Today there are very few people who do not speak English. Gaelic (or Scottish Gaelic as it is sometimes known outside Scotland) has similarities to the other Celtic languages, and is particularly close to Irish (or Irish Gaelic) to the extent that a mutual understanding is possible.

Scots
At the time of James VI's accession to the English throne, the Scottish Court and Parliament spoke Scots, also known as Lallans. Scots developed from the Germanic language in the Northumbrian kingdom of Bernicia, which conquered the kingdom of Gododdin and renamed its capital of Dunedin to Edinburgh, in the 6th century. The Scots language is a Germanic language related to English. It is not a dialect but a language in it's own right. It is not Celtic, but has been influenced by Gaelic. The Scots language has a wide range of dialects. In Shetland and Orkney, there is strong Norse influence. Mainland Scotland has three main dialect divisions: Northern, Central and Southern. Central is further divided into East Central (north and south of the Forth), West Central (Glasgow and surrounding area) and South-West (mainly Dumfries and Galloway). Southern covers most of the Borders area. Scots is also spoken in Northern Ireland, the result of many crossings of the waters by populations over the centuries, in particular from the settlements of the early seventeenth century. As well as being the everyday language of an estimated 1.5 million people in Scotland, Scots is "the classical language of Scotland", and many of the historical epics written in Scots, such as The Bruce, Wallace, The Complaynt of Scotland, etc

Industry
The Scottish economy comprises many different sectors. Oil was discovered off the coast and remains an important element. Light engineering and shipbuilding have seen a marked decline and the service sector (especially finance and call centres) has increased in importance. Fishing and agriculture remain important and the country's 'Silicon Glen' has also seen growth in the manufacture of computers and mobile phones. Scotch whisky production continues to have significance, as does the country's tourism industry.

History
Scotland was known to the Romans as Caledonia and was inhabited by a confederation of various war-like Pictish tribes whose origin and language are unknown. The Midland Valley of Scotland represented the most northern extent of the Roman conquest of Britain after 79 A.D. Remnants of the Antonine Wall, which the Romans built between the River Forth and the River Clyde to defend this frontier, can still be seen. In the 5th Century the "Scots" migrated from their home in Ireland and founded several Kingdoms on the western coast of Scotland. Under King Robert MacAlpin in 843, they finally rose to power over the indigenous Picts and re-named the land Scotland. From around 1120, Scotland began to divide into two cultural areas - the lowland Scots, mainly English-speaking, and Gaelic speaking Highlands where the clan system in Highland Scotland was strong. Many clans were powerful and semi-independent regions and in the Western Isles, were for a long time independent of the Scottish Kings. The Lowlands adopted the feudal system after the Norman Conquest of England, with families of Norman ancestry providing most of the monarchs after 1100 AD. During the Wars of Scottish Independence (1290 - 1363), when King Edward I tried to impose English rule on Scotland as he had successfully done in Wales, the people rose up against English rule, firstly, under the leadership of Sir William Wallace, who was captured by the English and brutally executed in London, and later, under that of Robert the Bruce who won a famous victory over the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. In 1603 King James VI inherited the throne of England from his Tudor cousin Elizabeth I, and became James I of England. In 1707 the Scottish and English Parliaments signed a Treaty of Union, which effectively transferred all powers to London. Succeeding English monarchs were not as well disposed towards Scotland as James had been. Following the formal Act of Union in 1707, displeasure particularly amongst Highland Scots, supported the rebellions of 1715 and 1745 which attempted to restore respectively the Old and Young (Bonnie Prince Charlie) Pretenders to the throne of Scotland. After the 1745 rebellion, which was effectively a Civil War, the Highland Clearances began. Thousands were evicted from their rented crofts and the mass migration of Scots to other parts of the world began. In May 1999, almost 300 years after its dissolution, Scotland gained a new Scottish Parliament, which governs the country on domestic matters, the United Kingdom Parliament, retains responsibility for Scotland's defence, international relations and certain other areas.

Modern Scotland comprises 32 unitary authority regions. They have been in use since April 1, 1996, under the provisions of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994.

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