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SCOTLAND
Scotland, or in Gaelic, Alba, is a country and
former independent kingdom of northwest Europe, and one of the four nations
comprising the United Kingdom. Scotland occupies the northern third of the
island of Great Britain.
Scotland took part in a personal union with England in 1603, when the
Scottish King James VI also became James I of England. This union was
formalised on 1 May 1707 by the Act of Union 1707. The Scottish Parliament
was abolished on March 26, 1707. The union merged both kingdoms, creating
the Kingdom of Great Britain, with a new single Parliament sitting in
Westminster, London, but some aspects of Scotland's institutions, notably
the country's legal system, remained separate. The new state eventually
became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In 1999,
almost 300 years after its dissolution, the people of Scotland chose to
reconvene the nation's parliament, as re-established by the UK Government
under the Scotland Act 1998. The new devolved Scottish Parliament has been
given powers to govern the country on certain purely domestic matters and
has limited tax raising capability.
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 some controversy has simmered
amongst the Scottish public over her official title since her coronation (many
believe that, logically, she should use the style "Elizabeth I"), the courts
of Scotland have confirmed "Elizabeth II" as her official title. She has
said that in 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.)
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 cities, Edinburgh,
Glasgow, 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 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.
Language
Almost all residents of Scotland speak English, although many speak various
Scots dialects which differ markedly from Scottish Standard English.
Approximately 2% of the population use Scots Gaelic as their language of
every-day 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 Scots, also known as Lallans. Scots developed
from the Anglian spoken in the Northumbrian kingdom of Bernicia, which in
the 6th century conquered the Brythonic kingdom of Gododdin and renamed its
capital of Dunedin to Edinburgh.
History
Historically, from at least the reign of David I (ruled 1124 - 1153),
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 to the south: 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.
The clan system in Highland Scotland formed one of its more distinctive
features. Notable clans include Clan MacGregor, Clan MacDonald, Clan
Mackenzie, Clan Mackie, Clan MacLeod, Clan Robertson, Clan Campbell 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 AD. 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 rule, firstly, under the leadership
of Sir William Wallace, and later, under that of Robert the Bruce. Bruce won
a famous 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 once to
Scotland. In 1707 the Scottish and English Parliaments signed a Treaty of
Union. Implementing the treaty involved dissolving both the English and the
Scottish Parliaments, and transferring all their powers to a new Parliament
in London which then became the United Kingdom Parliament. A customs and
currency union also took place.
This state of affairs continued until May 1999 when Scotland gained a new
Scottish Parliament. Whereas the old Scottish parliament had functioned as a
full national parliament of a sovereign state, the new parliament governs
the country only on domestic matters, the United Kingdom Parliament having
retained responsibility for Scotland's defence, international relations and
certain other areas.
Modern Scotland
Scotland comprises 32 unitary authority regions.
Popular folk-memory continues to divide Scotland into 33 traditional
counties.
Scotland has six designated cities: in descending order of population size:
Glasgow
Edinburgh, the capital
Aberdeen
Dundee
Inverness
Stirling
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