Portal:Scotland
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Whisky casks, Dallas Dhu distillery -
The Black Cuillins, Isle of Skye -
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Introduction
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjacent islands, principally in the archipelagos of the Hebrides and the Northern Isles. In 2022, the country's population was about 5.4 million. Its capital city is Edinburgh, whilst Glasgow is the largest city and the most populous of the cities of Scotland. To the south-east, Scotland has its only land border, which is 96 miles (154 km) long and shared with England; the country is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the north-east and east, and the Irish Sea to the south. The legislature, the Scottish Parliament, elects 129 members to represent 73 constituencies across the country. The Scottish Government is the executive arm of the devolved government, headed by the first minister, who chairs the cabinet and responsible for government policy and international engagement.
The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the 9th century. In 1603, James VI succeeded to the thrones of England and Ireland, forming a personal union of the three kingdoms. On 1 May 1707, Scotland and England combined to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain, with the Parliament of Scotland subsumed into the Parliament of Great Britain. In 1999, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, and has devolved authority over many areas of domestic policy. The country has its own distinct legal system, education system and religious history, which have all contributed to the continuation of Scottish culture and national identity. Scottish English and Scots are the most widely spoken languages in the country, existing on a dialect continuum with each other. Scottish Gaelic speakers can be found all over Scotland, but the language is largely spoken natively by communities within the Hebrides; Gaelic speakers now constitute less than 2% of the total population, although state-sponsored revitalisation attempts have led to a growing community of second language speakers.
The mainland of Scotland is broadly divided into three regions: the Highlands, a mountainous region in the north and north-west; the Lowlands, a flatter plain across the centre of the country; and the Southern Uplands, a hilly region along the southern border. The Highlands are the most mountainous region of the British Isles and contain its highest peak, Ben Nevis, at 4,413 feet (1,345 m). The region also contains many lakes, called lochs; the term is also applied to the many saltwater inlets along the country's deeply indented western coastline. The geography of the many islands is varied. Some, such as Mull and Skye, are noted for their mountainous terrain, while the likes of Tiree and Coll are much flatter.
Selected article
The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge across the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, 9 miles (14 kilometres) west of central Edinburgh. Completed in 1890, it is considered a symbol of Scotland (having been voted Scotland's greatest man-made wonder in 2016), and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was designed by English engineers Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker. It is sometimes referred to as the Forth Rail Bridge (to distinguish it from the adjacent Forth Road Bridge), although this is not its official name.
Construction of the bridge began in 1882 and it was opened on 4 March 1890 by the Duke of Rothesay, the future Edward VII. The bridge carries the Edinburgh–Aberdeen line across the Forth between the villages of South Queensferry and North Queensferry and has a total length of 2,467 metres (8,094 ft). When it opened it had the longest single cantilever bridge span in the world, until 1919 when the single 1,801 ft (549 m) span Quebec Bridge in Canada was completed. It continues to be the world's second-longest single cantilever span, with two spans of 1,709 feet (521 m).
The bridge and its associated railway infrastructure are owned by Network Rail. (... Read the full article)
Selected quotes
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" ... Celtic jerseys are not for second best, They don't shrink to fit inferior players ... "
— Jock Stein
" ... In every place, where there is any thing worthy of observation, there should be a short printed directory for strangers ... "
— James Boswell -
" ... I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom ... "
— Thomas Carlyle
" ... Kilt, n. - a costume sometimes worn by Scotsmen in America and Americans in Scotland ... "
— Ambrose Bierce -
" ... Of all vices, drinking is the most incompatible with greatness ... "
— Sir Walter Scott
" ... The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn ... "
— David Russell -
" ... Avarice, the spur of industry ... "
— David Hume
" ... No enemy is half so fatal as a friend estranged ... "
— John Davidson -
" ... Well, we say yes and we are the people ... "
— Canon Kenyon Wright
" ... Socialism proposes to dethrone the brute-god Mammon and to lift humanity into its place ... "
— Keir Hardie -
" ... You ought to be roasted alive, though even then you would not be to my taste ... "
— J. M. Barrie speaking to George Bernard Shaw
" ... We are often unable to tell people what they need to know because they want to know something else ... "
— George MacDonald -
" ... God gave us our memories so that we might have roses in December ... "
— J. M. Barrie
" ... A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with – a man is what he makes of himself ... "
— Alexander Graham Bell -
" ... Instinct is untaught ability ... "
— Alexander Bain
" ... The great and good do not die even in this world. Enbalmed in books, their spirits walk abroad ... "
— Samuel Smiles -
" ... A man with God is always in the majority ... "
— John Knox
" ... Never ascribe to an opponent motives meaner than your own ... "
— J. M. Barrie -
" ... Insanity - a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world ... "
— Ronald David Laing
" ... To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life ... "
— Robert Louis Stevenson -
" ... Every man has a sane spot somewhere ... "
— Robert Louis Stevenson
" ... You cannot force ideas. Successful ideas are the result of slow growth ... "
— Alexander Graham Bell -
" ... Golf is an indispensable adjunct to high society ... "
— Andrew Carnegie
" ... We are bought and sold for English gold. Such a parcel of rogues in a nation ... "
— Robert Burns -
" ... Nae man can tether time nor tide ... "
— Robert Burns
" ... In all ages of the world, priests have been the enemies of liberty ... "
— David Hume -
" ... The Scots are steadfast - not their clime ... "
— Thomas Crawford
" ... We do have the greatest fans in the world but I’ve never seen a fan score a goal ... "
— Jock Stein -
" ... I'm not young enough to know everything ... "
— J.M.Barrie
" ... When one door closes another door opens, but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us ... "
— Alexander Graham Bell -
" ... There is only one word for aid that is without strings, and that word is blackmail ... "
— Colm Brogan
" ... It is unfortunate, considering that enthusiasm moves the world, that so few enthusiasts can be trusted to speak the truth ... "
— A. J. Balfour -
" ... Some folks are wise and some are otherwise ... "
— Tobias Smollett
" ... It is the mark of a good action that it appears inevitable in restrospect ... "
— Robert Louis Stevenson -
" ... Facts are stubborn things ... "
— Tobias Smollett
" ... History does not repeat itself. Historians repeat each other ... "
— A. J. Balfour -
" ... I have not yet begun to fight! ... "
— John Paul Jones
" ... Devolution will kill nationalism stone dead ... "
— George Robertson -
" ... No man can become rich without himself enriching others ... "
— Andrew Carnegie
" ... The old cathedrals are good, but the great blue dome that hangs over everything is better ... "
— Thomas Carlyle -
" ... I think for my part one half of the nation is mad – and the other not very sound ... "
— Tobias Smollett
" ... Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism, but peace, easy taxes and a tolerable administration of justice ... "
— Adam Smith -
" ... It is a vain hope to make people happy by politics ... "
— Thomas Carlyle
" ... We are never happy; we can only remember that we were so once ... "
— Alexander McCall Smith -
" ... You talked of Scotland as a lost cause and that is not true. Scotland is an unwon cause ... "
— John Steinbeck, in a letter to Mrs John F. Kennedy
" ... We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing ... "
— Ronald David Laing -
" ... A good gulp of whisky at bedtime – it’s not scientific but it helps ... "
— Sir Alexander Fleming
" ... I have been trying all my life to like Scotchmen, and am obliged to desist from the experiment in despair ... "
— Charles Lamb -
" ... He's very clever, but sometimes his brains go to his head ... "
— Margot Asquith speaking of F. E. Smith
" ... When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe ... "
— John Muir
In the news
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Selected biography
Selected picture
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Glasgow University main building with Dumgoyne and the Campsie Fells in the background
Autumnal view of Glasgow University main building with Dumgoyne and the Campsie Fells in the background
Photo credit: Ian Dick -
John Knox's House, Edinburgh
John Knox House, popularly known as John Knox's House, is a historic house in Edinburgh, Scotland, reputed to have been owned and lived in by Protestant reformer John Knox during the 16th century.
Photo credit: Kim Traynor -
Freezing temperatures in Braemar
Braemar is a village in Aberdeenshire, around 58 miles (93 km) west of Aberdeen in the Highlands. Sitting at an altitude of 339 metres (1,112 ft), Braemar is the third coldest low lying place in the UK, after the villages of Dalwhinnie and Leadhills. It has twice entered the UK Weather Records with the lowest ever UK temperature of -27.2oC, on 11 February 1895, and 10 January 1982.
Photo credit: Paul Chapman -
Commando Memorial above Spean Bridge
The Commando Memorial is a monument in Lochaber, dedicated to the men of the original British Commando Forces Situated around a mile from Spean Bridge, it was erected during World War II and unveiled in 1952 by the Queen Mother. The 17 foot high Memorial was designed by Scott Sutherland from Dundee College of Art in 1949 and comprises three gigantic bronze figures clad in battledress, woollen caps and climbing boots looking across the Great Glen.
Photo credit: P A Woodward -
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Hopetoun House
Hopetoun House is the traditional residence of the Earl of Hopetoun (later the Marquess of Linlithgow). It was built 1699-1701, designed by William Bruce. It was then hugely extended from 1721 by William Adam until his death in 1748 being one of his most notable projects. The parklands in which it lies were laid out in 1725, also by William Adam.
Photo credit: George Gastin -
Crofters cottage and sheep, Cairngorms National Park -
Sunset in the Trossachs
Sunset in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. The high peak on left of the image is Ben Lomond.
Photo credit: Michal Klajban -
Scott's View
Scott's View refers to a viewpoint in the Scottish Borders, overlooking the valley of the River Tweed, which is reputed to be one of the favourite views of Sir Walter Scott. The viewpoint can be located directly from a minor road leading south from Earlston just off the A68 and by travelling north from the village of St. Boswells up the slope of Bemersyde Hill. The view is around 3 miles east of Melrose.
Photo credit: Semi-detached -
Cape Wrath Peninsula
Cape Wrath (Scottish Gaelic: Am Parbh, known as An Carbh in Lewis) is a cape in the Durness parish of the county of Sutherland in the Highlands of Scotland, and is the most north-westerly point in Great Britain.
Photo credit: RealSnowhunter -
The Finnieston Crane on the River Clyde
The Finnieston Crane or Stobcross Crane is a disused giant cantilever crane in the centre of Glasgow. It is no longer operational, but is retained as a symbol of the city's engineering heritage. The crane was used for loading cargo, in particular steam locomotives, onto ships to be exported around the world.
Photo credit: VegasGav7777 -
The Black Cuillin viewed from Sgùrr na Strì
The Black Cuillin, a range of rocky mountains located on the Isle of Skye, viewed from Sgùrr na Strì.
Photo credit: User:YaoAxton -
Detail of the Queen from the Lewis chessmen
The Lewis chessmen (named after their find-site) belong to some of the few complete medieval chess sets that have survived until today. The chessmen are believed to have been made in Norway, perhaps by craftsmen in Trondheim (where similar pieces have been found), sometime during the 12th century.
Photo credit: Finlay McWalter -
A walker slacklining at the Old Man of Hoy
Walker Alex Schulz slacklining at the Old Man of Hoy, a 449-foot (137-metre) sea stack on Hoy, part of the Orkney archipelago .
Photo credit: AlexSchulz91 -
36-inch telescope at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh
36-inch telescope at the Royal Observatory on Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, the location of the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC).
Photo credit: Science and Technology Facilities Council -
Detail of the V&A museum from the west with the Tay Bridge beyond
Detail of the V&A museum, Dundee from the west with the Tay Bridge beyond.
Photo credit: Richard Szwejkowski -
View over Edinburgh, with the Dugald Stewart Monument in the foreground
Calton Hill is a hill in central Edinburgh, just to the east of the New Town. The hill is home to several iconic monuments and buildings: the National Monument, Nelson's Monument, the Dugald Stewart Monument, the Royal High School, the Robert Burns Monument, the Political Martyrs' Monument and the City Observatory.
Photo credit: Andrewyuill -
Traigh Iar (Horgabost beach), Harris, which is part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island in the Outer Hebrides, .
Photo credit: Gordon Hatton -
The Queensferry Crossing south end
The Queensferry Crossing (formerly the Forth Replacement Crossing) is a road bridge in Scotland. It was built alongside the existing Forth Road Bridge and the Forth Bridge. It carries the M90 motorway across the Firth of Forth between Edinburgh, at South Queensferry, and Fife, at North Queensferry.
Photo credit: Greg Fitchett -
St John's cross in the Abbey museum
One of the oldest and most important religious centres in western Europe, Iona Abbey is considered the point of origin for the spread of Christianity throughout Scotland. Iona Abbey is located on the Isle of Iona, just off the Isle of Mull on the West Coast.
Photo credit: Dennis Turner -
St Mary's Cathedral viewsedfrom Manor Place, Edinburgh -
Eilean Glas lighthouse
Eilean Glas Lighthouse, built by engineer Thomas Smith, was one of the original four lights to be commissioned by the Commissioners of the Northern Lights and the first in the Hebrides (the others were Kinnaird Head, Mull of Kintyre and North Ronaldsay).
Photo credit: Richard Baker -
Thistle flower head
Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. In the language of flowers, the thistle (like the burr) is an ancient Celtic symbol of nobility of character as well as of birth, for the wounding or provocation of a thistle yields punishment.
Photo credit: Fir0002 -
Evening view across Calton Hill towards the Castle
Evening view from Calton Hill towards an illuminated Edinburgh Castle with the Bank of Scotland headquarters and the Balmoral Hotel illuminated in the intermediate foreground. The sillhouettes of the Scott Monument and the tall gothic spire of the Hub are both prominent in the frame.
Photo credit: Chris Fleming -
Dunfermline Abbey, east side viewed from the south
Dunfermline Abbey is a large Benedictine abbey in Dunfermline, Fife. It was administered by the Abbot of Dunfermline. The abbey was founded in 1128 by King David I, but the monastic establishment was based on an earlier foundation dating back to the reign of King Máel Coluim mac Donnchada (i.e. "Malcolm III" or "Malcolm Canmore", r. 1058-93).
Photo credit: Mussklprozz
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Did You Know...
- ... that Scottish painter Gordon Coutts left Australia without paying maintenance to his estranged wife, but was arrested in New Zealand?
- ... that historically, lichens like Umbilicaria torrefacta have been used to naturally dye traditional Scottish tartans and textiles?
- ... that because of violent reactions – such as Jenny Geddes's on 23 July 1637 – to a Scottish prayer book, Walter Whitford kept loaded pistols visible to his congregants while using the book?
- ... that, as the University of Edinburgh's chaplain, Harriet Harris appointed more than 40 honorary chaplains to serve traditions including Daoism, humanism, paganism and mindfulness?
- ... that Robert de Ogle captured five Scottish knights near Newcastle in 1341 and received royal licence to crenellate his property?
- ... that the 4,000-year-old Ravenswood standing stone now lies in a cul-de-sac in a 1970s Scottish housing estate?
- ... that Ian Begg, known for his work on restoration of castles in Scotland, designed and built his own 20th-century tower house to live in?
- ... that the Scottish invasion of England in 1648 was defeated by an army less than half their size?
Get involved
For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Scotland-related articles, see WikiProject Scotland.
To get involved in helping to improve Wikipedia's Scotland related content, please consider doing some of the following tasks or joining one or more of the associated Wikiprojects:
- Visit the Scottish Wikipedians' notice board and help to write new Scotland-related articles, and expand and improve existing ones.
- Visit Wikipedia:WikiProject Scotland/Assessment, and help out by assessing unrated Scottish articles.
- Add the Project Banner to Scottish articles around Wikipedia.
- Participate in WikiProject Scotland's Peer Review, including responding to PR requests and nominating Scottish articles.
- Help nominate and select new content for the Scotland portal.
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