Contents
Scotland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alba (Scottish Gaelic)
Flag Coat of Arms
Motto: In My Defens God Me Defend (Scots)
(often shown abbreviated as IN DEFENS)
Anthem: None (de jure)
Flower of Scotland, Scotland the Brave (de facto)
in the United Kingdom (camel)
in the European continent (white)
Capital Edinburgh
3°12′W / 55.95°N 3.2°W / 55.95; -3.2
Largest city Glasgow
Official language(s) English (de facto)1
Recognised regional languages Scottish Gaelic, Scots
Ethnic groups 89% Scottish, 7% English, Irish, Welsh, 4% other[1]
Demonym Scots, Scottish2
Government Devolved Government in a Constitutional monarchy3
- Monarch Elizabeth II
- Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown MP
- First Minister (Head of Scottish Government) Alex Salmond MP MSP
Legislature Scottish Parliament
Establishment Early Middle Ages; exact date of establishment unclear or disputed; traditional 843, by King Kenneth MacAlpin[2]
Area
- Total 78,772 km2
30,414 sq mi
- Water (%) 1.9
Population
- 2008 estimate 5,168,500
- 2001 census 5,062,011
- Density 65/km2
168.2/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2006 estimate
- Total US$194 billion[citation needed]
- Per capita US$39,680[citation needed]
Currency Pound sterling (
GBP)
Time zone GMT (UTC0)
- Summer (DST) BST (UTC+1)
Internet TLD .uk4
Calling code 44
Patron saint St Andrew[3]
St Margaret
St Columba
1 Both Scots and Scottish Gaelic are officially recognised as autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages;[4] the Bòrd na Gàidhlig is tasked, under the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005, with securing Gaelic as an official language of Scotland, commanding "equal respect" with English.[5]
2 Historically, the use of "Scotch" as an adjective comparable to "Scottish" was commonplace, particularly outwith Scotland. However, the modern use of the term describes only products of Scotland, usually food or drink related.
3 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. Executive and legislative powers have been devolved to, respectively, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood in Edinburgh.
4 Also .eu, as part of the European Union. ISO 3166-1 is GB, but .gb is unused.
Scotland (Gaelic: Alba) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom.[6][7][8] 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 consists of over 790 islands[9] including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.
Edinburgh, the country's capital and second largest city, is one of Europe's largest financial centres.[10][11] 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[12] 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.[13]
The Kingdom of Scotland was an independent sovereign state before 1 May 1707 when it entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England to create the united Kingdom of Great Britain.[14][15] 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.[16][17] 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.[18]
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.[19] Although Scotland is no longer a separate sovereign state, issues surrounding devolution and independence continue to be debated. After the creation of the devolved Scottish Parliament in 1999, the first ever pro-independence Scottish Government was elected in 2007 when the Scottish National Party formed a minority administration.
Etymology
Scotland is from the Latin Scoti, the term applied to Gaels, people from what is now Scotland and Ireland, both pirates and the Dal Riada who had come from Ireland to reside in the Northwest of what is now Scotland, in contrast, for example, to the Picts.[20] Accordingly, the Late Latin word Scotia (land of the Gaels) was initially used to refer to Ireland.[21] However, 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.[22] The use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages.[14]
History
