Scotland (0)

Scotland !
Scotland (Gaelic: Alba) is a country in northwest Europe that occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain . It is part of the United Kingdom, and shares a land border to the south with England . It 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 consists of over 790 islands including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.
Edinburgh , the country's capital and second largest city, is one of Europe's largest financial centres. It was the hub of the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century , which saw Scotland become one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Scotland's largest city is Glasgow , which was once one of the world's leading industrial metropolises, and now lies at the centre of the Greater Glasgow conurbation which dominates the Scottish Lowlands. Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union.
The Kingdom of Scotland was an independent state until 1 May 1707 when it joined in a political union with the Kingdom of England to create a united Kingdom of Great Britain. This union was the result of the Treaty of Union agreed in 1706 and put into effect by the Acts of Union that were passed by the Parliaments of both countries despite widespread protest across Scotland. Scotland's legal system continues to be separate from those of England, Wales , and Northern Ireland and Scotland still constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in public and in private law. The continued independence of Scots law, the Scottish education system, and the Church of Scotland have all contributed to the continuation of Scottish culture and Scottish national identity since the Union. Although Scotland is no longer a separate sovereign state, the constitutional future of Scotland continues to give rise to debate.
Hisory of Scotland !
The history of Scotland begins around 10,000 years ago, when humans first began to inhabit what is now Scotland after the end of the Devensian glaciation, the last ice age. Of the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age civilization that existed in the territory, many artifacts remain, but few written records were left behind .
The written history of Scotland largely begins with the arrival of the Roman Empire in Britain, when the Romans occupied what is now broadly England and Wales and the Scottish Lowlands, administering it as a Roman province called Britannia . To the north was territory not governed by the Romans — Caledonia, by name. Its people were the Picts. From a classical historical viewpoint Scotland seemed a peripheral country, slow to gain advances filtering out from the Mediterranean fount of civilisation, but as knowledge of the past increases it has become apparent that some developments were earlier and more advanced than previously thought , and that the seaways were very important to Scottish history.
Because of the geographical orientation of Scotland and its strong reliance on trade routes by sea, the kingdom held close links in the south and east with the Baltic countries, and through Ireland with France and the continent of Europe. Following the Acts of Union which united Scotland with England into the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the subsequent Scottish Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution, Scotland became one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Its industrial decline following the Second World War was particularly acute, but in recent decades the country has enjoyed something of a cultural and economic renaissance, fuelled in part by a resurgent financial services sector, the proceeds of North Sea oil and gas, and latterly a devolved parliament .
Scotland during the Roman Empire !
Scotland during the Roman Empire encompasses a period of time that is both part of genuine history and of protohistory. It is complicated by the fact that although the Roman Empire influenced every part of Scotland during the period from the arrival of the legions in c. AD 71 to their departure in 213 their occupation was neither complete nor continuous and that the idea of both "Scots" and of "Scotland" as a discrete entity did not emerge until many centuries later .
Throughout this time the geographical area of Scotland was occupied by several different tribes utilising Iron Age technology with a wide variety of relationships both to one another and to Ancient Rome. Although the Roman presence was an important time in Scottish history, not least because it was when written records first emerged, Roman influence on Scottish culture was not enduring.
The Roman invasion under Quintus Petillius Cerialis began in AD 71 and culminated in the battle of Mons Graupius at an unknown location in northern Scotland in 84. Although the Caledonian confederacy suffered a defeat it was not long before the legions abandoned their territorial gains and returned to a line south of the Solway Firth, later consolidated by the construction of Hadrian's Wall .
Roman commanders subsequently made various attempts to conquer territory to the north of this line, including the building of the Antonine Wall and the later Severan campaigns but their success was similarly short-lived. Roman forces ceased to have a significant impact after 211. By the close of the Roman occupation of Britain in the fifth century the Picts had emerged as the dominant force in northern Scotland, with the various Brythonic tribes the Romans had first encountered there occupying the southern half of the country.
After preliminary low-scale invasions of the island, the Romans invaded Britain in force in 43 AD, forcing their way inland through several battles against British tribes, including the Battle of the Medway, the Battle of the Thames , the Battle of Caer Caradoc and the Battle of Mona. Following a general uprising in which the Britons sacked Colchester, St Albans and London, the Romans suppressed the rebellion in the Battle of Watling Street and went on to push as far north as central Scotland in the Battle of Mons Graupius. Tribes in modern-day Scotland and Northern England repeatedly rebelled against Roman rule and two military bases were established in Britannia to protect against rebellion and incursions from the north, from which Roman troops built and manned Hadrian's
Scotland had been inhabited for thousands of years before the Romans arrived. However , it is only towards the Roman period that Scotland is recorded in writing.
In the 4th century BC Aristotle knew of "Albinn" and "Ierne" (the islands of Great Britain and Ireland). The Greek explorer Pytheas visited Britain sometime between 322 and 285 BC and may have circumnavigated the mainland, which he describes as being triangular in shape. In his On the Ocean Pytheas refers to the most northerly point as Orcas, conceivably a reference to Orkney.
The earliest written record of a formal connection between Rome and Scotland is the attendance of the " King of Orkney" who was one of eleven British kings who submitted to the Emperor Claudius at Colchester in AD 43 following the invasion of southern Britain three months earlier. The long distances and short period of time involved strongly suggest a prior connection between Rome and Orkney, although no evidence of this has been found and the contrast with later Caledonian resistance is striking. Originals of On the Ocean do not survive , but copies are known to have existed in the first century AD so at the least a rudimentary knowledge of the geography of north Britain would have been available to Roman military intelligence. Pomponius Mela, the Roman geographer, recorded in his De Chorographia, written circa AD 43, that there were thirty Orkney islands and seven Haemodae (possibly Shetland). There is certainly evidence of an Orcadian connection with Rome prior to 60 AD from pottery found at the broch of Gurness.
By the time of Pliny the Elder , who died in AD 79, Roman knowledge of the geography of Scotland had extended to the Hebudes (The Hebrides), Dumna (probably the Outer Hebrides), the Caledonian Forest and the Caledonii.
Ptolemy, possibly drawing on earlier sources of information as well as more contemporary accounts from the Agricolan invasion, identified 18 tribes in Scotland in his Geography, but many of the names are obscure and the geography becomes less reliable in the north and west, suggesting early Roman knowledge of these area was confined to observations from the sea.
Geography of Scotland !
The geography of Scotland is highly varied, from rural lowlands to barren uplands, and from large cities to uninhabited islands. Located in north-west Europe, Scotland comprises the northern one third of the island of Great Britain and over 790 surrounding islands and archipelagoes.
Scotland's only land border is with England, which runs for 96 kilometres (60 mi) in a northeasterly direction from the Solway Firth in the west to the North Sea on the east coast. Separated by the North Channel, the island of Ireland lies 30 kilometres (20 mi) from the southwest tip of the Scottish mainland. Norway is located 305 kilometres (190 mi) to the northeast of Scotland across the North Sea. The Atlantic Ocean, which fringes the coastline of western and northern Scotland and its islands, influences the temperate, maritime climate of the country.
The topography of Scotland is distinguished by the Highland Boundary Fault – a geological rock fracture – which traverses the Scottish mainland from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. The faultline separates two distinctively different physiographic regions; namely the Highlands to the north and west and the lowlands to the south and east. The more rugged Highland region contains the majority of Scotland's mountainous terrain, including the highest peak , Ben Nevis . Lowland areas , in the southern part of Scotland, are flatter and home to most of the population, especially the narrow waist of land between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth known as the Central Belt. Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland, although Edinburgh is the capital and political centre of the country.
An abundance of natural resources such as coal , iron and zinc contributed significantly to the industrial growth of Scotland during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Today , energy is a major component of Scotland's economy . Whilst Scotland is the largest producer of petroleum in the European Union, the production potential of renewable energy has emerged as an important economic and environmental issue in recent years.
Geology and geomorphology !
The geology of Scotland is unusually varied for a country of its size , with a large number of differing geological features . There are three main geographical sub-divisions: the Highlands and Islands is a diverse area which lies to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault; the Central Lowlands is a rift valley mainly comprising Paleozoic formations; and the Southern Uplands, which lie south of a second fault line, are largely composed of Silurian deposits.
The existing bedrock includes very ancient Archean gneiss , metamorphic beds interspersed with granite intrusions created during the Caledonian mountain building period (the Caledonian orogeny), commercially important coal, oil and iron bearing carboniferous deposits and the remains of substantial tertiary volcanoes. During their formation , tectonic movements created climatic conditions ranging from polar to desert to tropical and a resultant diversity of fossil remains.
Scotland has also had a role to play in many significant discoveries such as plate tectonics and the development of theories about the formation of rocks and was the home of important figures in the development of the science including James Hutton, (the " father of modern geology") Hugh Miller and Archibald Geikie. Various locations such as 'Hutton's Unconformity' at Siccar Point in Berwickshire and the Moine Thrust in the north west were also important in the development of geological science.
Climate of Scotland !
Rainfall totals vary widely across Scotland— the western highlands of Scotland are one of the wettest places in Europe with annual rainfall up to 4577 mm. Due to the mountainous topography of the western Highlands, this type of precipitation is orographic in nature , with the warm , wet air forced to rise on contact with the mountainous coast, where it consequently cools and condenses, forming clouds. In comparison, much of eastern Scotland receives less than 870 mm annually; lying in the rain shadow of the western uplands.[1] This effect is most pronounced along the coasts of Lothian, Fife, Angus and Eastern Aberdeenshire, as well as around the city of Inverness. Inchkeith in the Firth of Forth receives only 550mm (22in) of precipitation each year , which is similar to Rabat in Morocco , and less than what Sydney or Barcelona receive per year. Also, as a result of this the north-western coast has about 265 days with rain a year and this falls to the south east to a minimum of about 170 days along the coast to the east of Lothian. Snowfall is less common in the lowlands, but becomes more common with altitude. Parts of the Highlands have an average of 36 to 105 snow days per year, while some western coastal areas have between 0 and 6 days with snow a year.
Wonderful Sunshine.
Scotland has a reputation for cloudiness and this is most notable during its relatively short winter days. The maximum amount of sunshine in a calendar month was 329 hours in Tiree in May 1946 and again in May 1975 while the minimum, a mere 36 minutes, was recorded at Cape Wrath in the Highlands in January 1983. Dundee is the sunniest city in Scotland. On the longest day of the year there is no complete darkness over the northern isles of Scotland. Lerwick, Shetland, has about four hours more daylight at midsummer than London, although this is reversed in midwinter. Annual average sunshine totals vary from as little as 711–1140 hours in the highlands and the north-west, up to 1471–1540 hours on the extreme eastern and south-western coasts. Average annual sunshine hours over the whole territory are 1160 (taking 1971 to 2000 as standard) meaning that the sun shines about 35% of the time.
Winds.
Scotland lies in the path of eastward- moving Atlantic depressions and these bring wind and clouds regularly throughout the year. In common with the rest of the United Kingdom, wind prevails from the south-west, bringing warm, wet air from the Atlantic. The windiest areas of Scotland are in the north and west; parts of the Western Isles, the Orkneys and Shetland have over 30 days with gales per year. Vigorous Atlantic depressions—also known as European windstorms—are a common feature in the autumn and winter in Scotland.
Flora of Scotland !
The flora of Scotland is an assemblage of native plant species including over 1,600 vascular plants , more than 1,500 lichens and nearly 1,000 bryophytes. The total number of vascular species is low by world standard but lichens and bryophytes are abundant and the latter form a population of global importance . Various populations of rare fern exist, although the impact of 19th century collectors threatened the existence of several species. The flora is generally typical of the north west European part of the Palearctic ecozone and prominent features of the Scottish flora include boreal Caledonian forest (much reduced from its natural extent), heather moorland and coastal machair. In addition to the native varieties of vascular plants there are numerous non-native introductions, now believed to make up some 43% of the species in the country.
The are a variety of important trees species and specimens; a Douglas Fir near Inverness is the tallest tree in the United Kingdom and the Fortingall Yew may be the oldest tree in Europe. The Shetland Mouse -ear and Scottish Primrose are endemic flowering plants and there are a variety of endemic mosses and lichens. Conservation of the natural environment is well developed and various organisations play an important role in the stewardship of the country's flora. Numerous references to the country's flora appear in folklore, song and poetry .
Flora in Scottish culture !
The thistle has been one of the national emblem of the Scots nation since the reign of Alexander III ( 1249 - 1286) and was used on silver coins issued by James III in 1470. Today, it forms part of the emblem of the Scottish Rugby Union. As legend has it, an invading army had attempted to sneak up at night on the Scots. One, perhaps barefooted, unwelcome foreign soldier stumbled upon a Scots Thistle, and cried out in pain, thus alerting Scots to their presence. Some sources suggest the specific occasion was the Battle of Largs, which marked the beginning of the departure of the Viking monarch Haakon IV of Norway, who had harried the coast for some years. Spiky plants such as brambles appear to have been used around forts since time immemorial, so the story, whether it factually relates to the Haakon episode or not, likely is the culmination of more than one such event over time. In some variants, it is invading English which stumble on a thistle, but the story predates this time.
Numerous plants are referred to in Scottish song and verse . These include Robert Burns A Red, Red Rose , Hugh MacDiarmid's A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle, Sorley MacLean 's Hallaig, Harry Lauder's I Love A Lassie and in the 21st century, Runrig's And The Accordions Played. The last two lyrics include a reference to the bluebell . The "Scottish Bluebell" is Campanula rotundifolia, (known elsewhere as the "Harebell") rather than Hyacinthoides non-scripta, the "Common Bluebell".
Trees held an important place in Gaelic culture from the earliest times . Particularly large trees were venerated, and the most valuable such as oak, Common Hazel and Apple were classed as "nobles". The less important Common Alder, Common Hawthorn and Gean were classed as "commoners", and there were " lower orders" and "slaves" such as Eurasian Aspen and Juniper . The alphabet was learned as a mnemonic using tree names. Rowan was regularly planted close to Highland houses as a protection from witchcraft.