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A part of the United Kingdom, Scotland occupies the northern part of the island of Great Britain. Rugged uplands separate it from England to the south. Within this border territory north of England the Scots fought many wars to keep their independence. In 1707, however, Scotland was joined to England, and the entire island became a single kingdom, the United Kingdom of Great Britain. But the Scots remain a distinct people with a long history different from that of England. Long characterized as a land of romance, Scotland contains ruins of many ancient castles and abbeys, and there is a haunting beauty in its windswept mountains, long deep valleys, and ribbon lakes. It attracts many tourists, particularly from the United States and England. The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh.

Land and Climate

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Scotland covers an area of 30,421 square miles (78,789 square kilometers). It is bordered by England to the south, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and north, and the North Sea to the east. The coast is deeply pierced by inlets of the sea. The larger inlets are called firths, and the long, narrow inlets are called sea lochs (lakes). On the rugged west coast the sea lochs are framed by great cliffs and resemble the fjords of Norway. Numerous islands lie off the coast. In the north are two large groups, the Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands. Close to the west coast are the Hebrides group, Arran, and Bute.

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Scotland has three major geographic regions: the Highlands in the north, the Central Lowlands, and the Southern Uplands. The Highlands are wild and picturesque. Their rocky, barren summits were chiseled by Ice Age glaciers and the rainfall of many centuries. Purple heather clothes the lower slopes in late summer. The valleys are usually steep-sided glens, with a long, narrow loch at the bottom. A long valley called Glen Mor crosses the Highlands from southwest to northeast. Glen Mor includes a series of lochs, the largest of which is Loch Ness, famous for its mythical monster. The Caledonian Canal links the valley’s lochs to form a waterway from the Firth of Lorne to Moray Firth. In the southern Highlands are the Grampian Mountains, the highest range in the British Isles. Ben Nevis, the tallest peak, rises to 4,406 feet (1,343 meters). Ben Lomond, at 3,192 feet (973 meters), rises from the shore of Loch Lomond, Scotland’s largest lake.

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The Central Lowlands, also called the Midland Valley, run from southwest to northeast. At their greatest length they measure nearly 90 miles (145 kilometers), but they are only 30 miles (48 kilometers) wide, stretching across the narrow waist of Scotland from the Firth of Clyde in the west to the Firth of Forth in the east. These firths provide valuable outlets to the sea but in the past constricted communications from north to south into the waist. The soil is fertile, and coalfields underlie the area. In this region is Scotland’s chief farming district and also its largest cities. In the east is Edinburgh, the capital, and in the west is Glasgow, hub of a great metropolitan area. About three-quarters of Scotland’s people live in the Lowlands.

In the Southern Uplands the hills are generally less than 2,000 feet (600 meters) high. Their rounded or flat tops are often capped with dark peat. The slopes are covered with grasses as well as heather. Along this border England and Scotland meet. In the west the boundary runs from the Solway Firth across the crest of the Cheviot Hills. In the east it follows the River Tweed almost to its mouth. The Tweed Valley is the chief gateway into England.

Scotland has a temperate maritime climate, milder than would be expected given its high latitude. The prevailing winds blow from the southwest, carrying warm, moist air from the North Atlantic Current. The average temperature in January is about 40 °F (4.4 °C); in July it is about 58 °F (14.4 °C). Precipitation varies across Scotland. The mountainous west coast receives the most rainfall; Ben Nevis, which is near the coast, has an average annual rainfall of more than 140 inches (355 centimeters). A significant amount of snow falls during the winter in the Highlands above 1,500 feet (460 meters). The east is drier and sunnier.

People and Culture

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The Scots are descendants of various European peoples who invaded and settled in the British Isles over the course of centuries. The Highlanders and the people of the western islands are of Celtic descent, the Lowlanders are descended from the Anglo-Saxons, and the people of the Shetland and Orkney islands are of Norse (Viking) heritage. In more recent times immigration has brought an influx of other ethnic groups, notably Irish, Jews, Lithuanians, Italians, and Poles. The late 20th century saw an increase in immigrants from Asia, particularly from Pakistan, India, and China. The enlargement of the European Union in 2004 led to a dramatic increase in immigration from the countries of eastern Europe. The vast majority of Scotland’s people speak English. However, a small number of Highlanders and people of the western islands still speak Scottish Gaelic, an ancient Celtic language. The Scots language (also called Lallans), spoken by some Lowlanders, is closely related to English.

Most Scots belong to the Church of Scotland, which is Presbyterian in structure. The congregation of each kirk (church) chooses its own minister after a trial sermon, and every member of the church has some share in governing it. In general, sermon and prayer occupy a larger place in the church service than ritual and music. The Roman Catholic Church and the Scottish Episcopal Church also have many members. Other Christian denominations include Baptist, Congregationalist, Methodist, and Unitarian. Ethnic minorities have brought Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism to Scotland.

The Arts

Despite Scotland’s long association with the United Kingdom, it has retained a vigorous culture of its own. The Edinburgh International Festival of music, drama, and dance, which began in 1947, draws hundreds of thousands of people every year, making it one of the world’s largest cultural events. The arts receive support from Creative Scotland, a public body formed when the Scottish Arts Council joined Scottish Screen in 2010. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Scottish Opera, and the Scottish Ballet have been widely acclaimed. The Glasgow School of Art is world famous. The architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868–1928) studied there and later designed its buildings (1896–1909).

Scottish writers have the choice of three languages: Scottish Gaelic; Scots; and English. The most notable Scottish poets who wrote in Scots and English were Robert Fergusson (1750–74) and Robert Burns (1759–96). The poet Hugh MacDiarmid, writing in Scots, led a Scottish literary renaissance in the first half of the 20th century. The poets Sorley Maclean and George Campbell Hay led a Gaelic revival. Modern Scottish novelists include Muriel Spark, Alasdair Gray, Ian Rankin, Kate Atkinson, and James Kelman.


The Scots have a great respect for learning, and their history is full of people of humble birth who acquired university educations. In the early 20th century education was made easier for poor students by the Scottish-born U.S. industrialist Andrew Carnegie. He set up the Carnegie Trust Fund in 1901 to help needy students and to foster research.

Education in Scotland is free in publicly maintained state schools from preschool (3 to 5 years) through secondary school. While nursery school is optional, primary and secondary education are mandatory. At about 12 years of age primary school students enter secondary schools. Instruction is predominantly in English, though in Gaelic-speaking areas education in Gaelic is legally guaranteed. Students may legally leave school at 16, but about 75 percent of students continue their education past this point. Scotland has many universities, the oldest being St. Andrews, founded in 1411. The University of Edinburgh is known for its school of medicine. The University of Glasgow emphasizes science and engineering.

The Highlands

Some of the most recognized aspects of traditional Scottish culture originated in the Highlands. In early days the ruggedness of the land led to the separation of the Highlanders into small groups called clans. Each clan was ruled by a chief, and the members of a clan claimed descent from a common ancestor. The traditional garment of the Highland clansmen is the kilt (a knee-length, pleated skirt), which is suitable for climbing the rough hills. Each clan had its own colorful pattern—called a tartan—for weaving cloth. These tartans, now commonly called plaids, are marketed throughout the world. Today the kilt is a national costume, proudly worn for special occasions.

There are more than 100 gatherings of the clans, which draw many visitors to the Highlands. At these gatherings athletes wearing kilts compete in such ancient Highland sports as throwing the hammer and tossing the caber, a long, heavy pole. Bagpipers and Highland dancers add color and interest to the gatherings.


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Scotland’s economy faltered in the 1970s and ’80s because of serious declines in its traditional heavy industries, including coal, steel, shipbuilding, and engineering. Its subsequent recovery was due to the exploitation of North Sea petroleum and natural gas, the development of high-technology industries, and continuing growth in the service sector. Today the service sector dominates Scotland’s economy, accounting for about four-fifths of employment and more than two-thirds of the gross domestic product.

Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing

Livestock raising is the primary agricultural activity in Scotland because most of the land is hilly or otherwise unsuitable for growing crops. Sheep farming predominates in the Southern Uplands and in the Highlands, while cattle farming is especially common in the mild and rainy southwest. The dairy farms of the southwest provide milk for the Glasgow area and for cities in northern England. Scotland’s richest crop-growing area lies in the east, around the Firth of Forth. Farms there produce wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, vegetables, and fruits. On the northwest coast and on the islands some people still practice crofting, a form of subsistence tenant farming.

Forestry is a significant activity and has helped to retain population in Scotland’s rural areas. The most important commercial species are conifers, including Sitka spruce, Norway spruce, Scotch pine, European larch, and Douglas fir.

The seafood industry has long played an important role in the Scottish economy. About two-thirds of the British fish and shellfish catch is handled by Scottish ports. Fishing towns are scattered around the coast of Scotland and the islands. Chief fishing ports are Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Lerwick, Scrabster, and Aberdeen. The catch includes haddock, cod, herring, sole, mackerel, and such shellfish as scallops, lobsters, and crabs. Fish farming, especially of salmon, trout, and shellfish, has grown in importance.


The decline of Scotland’s traditional industries in the late 20th century sparked efforts to diversify and modernize the manufacturing sector. In the early 21st century Scotland’s chief industries included high-technology enterprises, especially the production of computers and other electronics, and the manufacture of consumer goods. Oil production, centered in Aberdeen, remains important as well. Heavy industry in Scotland received a boost from the emerging wind-energy sector in the early 21st century. Distilleries in the Highlands and the northeast produce Scotch whisky, which is one of Scotland’s leading exports. Printing and brewing, both of which were once strong industries in Edinburgh and Glasgow, are now in decline.


The service sector encompasses a broad range of activities, including government, education, health care, finance, and retail trade. Business services and banking account for a large proportion of employment in Scotland. Among the main banking and insurance jobs are legal and computer services, accountancy, and property (real estate) services. Edinburgh is Europe’s largest financial center after London. A growing number of jobs in the service sector involve technology, including information and communication services, research and development, biotechnology, and software design.

Tourism is a valuable industry in Scotland, with employment particularly strong in the hotel and catering businesses. The majority of visitors come from other parts of Scotland or the United Kingdom, but more than 2 million annually come from abroad, notably the United States, Germany, France, and Ireland. Among the most popular attractions are Scotland’s rural parklands, the cultural institutions of Edinburgh and Glasgow, the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, and the Edinburgh, Stirling, Urquhart, and Blair castles.


Overall responsibility for Scotland’s transportation network lies with the Scottish government’s Transport Department. It works with seven regional transport partnerships, which prepare plans addressing the transportation needs of their regions.

Transport Scotland, an agency within the Transport Department, is responsible for managing the railways and the major long-distance roads, which include trunk roads and motorways (expressways). Local roads are the responsibility of local governments. Scotland’s road and bridge network has improved considerably, as some main routes have been upgraded to motorways and many single-lane roads in the Highlands have been widened. The proliferation of automobile travel was accompanied by a reduction in the railroad network, with the route mileage shrinking to less than two-thirds of the total from the mid–20th century.

Scotland’s busiest ports are Sullom Voe and Orkney on the northern islands and Forth on the east coast. They handle mostly oil. The primary ports on the west coast including Glasgow, Greenock, Hunterston, and Ardrossan, are grouped under the port authority of Clydeport.

Air travel has increased markedly, with a substantial growth in direct services to Europe. Scotland’s major international airport, Prestwick, is on the west coast southwest of Glasgow. Other major airports are at Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Glasgow.


As part of the United Kingdom, Scotland elects members to the British Parliament in London. Each of Scotland’s 59 representatives in the House of Commons is elected from a single-member constituency. Scotland is also represented in the House of Lords. The Scotland Office, led by the secretary of state for Scotland, represents Scottish interests in the central British government. Scotland is subject to the British Parliament in the areas of foreign affairs, foreign trade, defense, economic and monetary policy, social security, employment, energy regulation, most aspects of taxation, and some aspects of transport.

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In 1997 Scottish voters approved the creation of the first Scottish Parliament since 1707. The Scottish Parliament, which assumed power in 1999, has jurisdiction over such matters as health, education, housing, regional transport, the environment, and agriculture. It can also make small adjustments to the British income tax rate within Scotland. The Scottish Parliament consists of 129 members. The party or coalition with a majority in the Scottish Parliament selects one of its members to be the first minister. The first minister is the leader of the Scottish Executive, the administrative branch of the Scottish regional government. For local administration, Scotland is divided into 32 unitary authorities called council areas.

The Scots have their own legal and justice system. It derives from Roman law and is quite different from that of England. The supreme civil court, called the Court of Session, dates from 1532. It sits in Edinburgh in the old Parliament House. The supreme criminal court is the High Court of Justiciary.


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Evidence of human settlement on the land that is now Scotland dates from the 3rd millennium bc. The earliest people were Middle Stone Age hunters and fishers who probably reached Scotland via an ancient land bridge from Continental Europe. By early in the 2nd millennium bc New Stone Age farmers had begun cultivating cereals and keeping cattle and sheep. The Celts, an Indo-European people, migrated from the Continent starting about 700 bc.

The recorded history of Scotland begins in the 1st century ad, when the Romans invaded Britain. The Romans added southern Britain to their empire as the province Britannia. They were unable, however, to subdue the fierce tribes in the north. To keep these tribes from invading Britannia, Emperor Hadrian had a massive wall built across the island from sea to sea. The Romans called the land north of the wall Caledonia, and they called the people Picts—from the Latin piclus, meaning “painted”—because they painted or tattooed their bodies. Parts of Hadrian’s Wall still stand on the Scottish border.

In the 5th century Celtic immigrants from Ireland, called Scots, settled north of the Clyde River. The Scots were already Christians when they left Ireland. In the next century St. Columba converted the king of the Picts to Christianity. In the 9th century Kenneth MacAlpine, king of the Scots, added the Pictish kingdom to his own. About the 10th century the land came to be known as Scotland.

After the Normans conquered England in 1066, many Anglo-Saxons from England settled in the Lowlands of Scotland. There the Scots gradually adopted English ways. Feudalism was established, and the chiefs of the clans became nobles. Towns grew, trade increased, and Scotland prospered.

War of Independence

Nearly two centuries of relatively friendly relations between Scotland and England came to an end in a dispute over succession to the Scottish throne. In 1290 Margaret, heiress to the throne, died. Thirteen claimants contested the Crown. Edward I of England claimed the right to bestow it and made John de Baliol king. When Edward asked John for help against the French, however, John entered into an alliance with France. For 260 years Scotland held to this so-called “auld alliance” with England’s enemy.

Edward crossed the border in 1296, took John de Baliol prisoner, and proclaimed himself king of Scotland. To symbolize the union he carried off the ancient Stone of Scone, on which Scottish kings had long been crowned, and placed it in Westminster Abbey beneath the British coronation chair. (The stone would not be returned to Scotland until 1996.)

But the Scots rose again. Led by William Wallace, they routed the English at Stirling Bridge in 1297 and pursued them across the border. The next year Edward returned and inflicted a disastrous defeat on the Scots at Falkirk. Wallace was later captured and executed, and the English hung his head from London Bridge.

The Scots’ spirit was still unbroken, and they soon found another great champion in Robert Bruce. The last great battle in the war for independence was fought in 1314 at Bannockburn near Stirling Castle. There Bruce inflicted a disastrous defeat on superior English forces led by Edward II. In 1328 Edward III formally recognized Scotland’s independence.

In the later Middle Ages Scotland suffered from weak kings and powerful nobles. For two centuries there was a constant struggle between the Crown and the barons. Border clashes with England also continued. James IV of Scotland married Margaret, daughter of Henry VII of England, in 1503. When Henry VIII went to war with France in 1512, however, James IV invaded England. He died in 1513 in the Battle of Flodden, the last great border battle. James V died brokenhearted after his army was routed by the English at Solway Moss in 1542. The Scottish throne went to his infant daughter, Mary Stuart, who was called Mary, Queen of Scots.

Reformation and Its Consequences

Meanwhile the Protestant Reformation had swept across Europe and into England. Scotland was still a Roman Catholic country. Mary was in France when John Knox returned home to Scotland from Geneva, Switzerland. Knox was a follower of John Calvin, one of the leaders of the Reformation. With fiery eloquence he spread Calvin’s Protestant doctrine. Knox and others drove Mary out. In 1560 Scotland’s Parliament adopted a confession of faith drawn up by Knox and established the Church of Scotland on a Presbyterian basis. When Mary returned to Scotland in 1561, she was imprisoned and forced to abdicate her throne. She escaped, however, and fled to England. Queen Elizabeth I made her a prisoner and finally had her executed.

Mary’s son, James VI, was brought up as a Presbyterian. When Queen Elizabeth of England died in 1603, James inherited the throne of England. In England he was called James I. The two nations were thus united under a single king, but Scotland remained a separate state with its own Parliament and government. There was no free trade between England and Scotland, and Scots were excluded from the profitable commerce with England’s growing empire.

England tried repeatedly to impose the Anglicans’ episcopal form of worship and church government on the Scottish church. The Scots took up arms against James VI’s son, Charles I. When civil war broke out in England, they aided the Puritans against the king. After Oliver Cromwell executed Charles I without consulting the Scots, however, the Scots welcomed Charles’s son as Charles II. Cromwell then marched into Scotland and imposed his rule. When Charles II was restored to the throne, persecution of Presbyterians continued.

After Charles II died in 1685, his brother succeeded him as James VII of Scotland and James II of Great Britain and Ireland. James provoked unprecedented opposition in the Scottish Parliament because of his pro-Catholic policies. After he was driven from the throne in 1688, Presbyterianism was firmly established as Scotland’s national church. The Highlanders long remained loyal to the exiled Stuarts. In 1715 they attempted to restore the House of Stuart to the throne; James Stuart, known as the Old Pretender, was proclaimed James III. In 1745 they supported his son, Charles Edward, known as the Young Pretender and Bonnie Prince Charlie. The Young Pretender’s quest for the throne ended in 1746 at the Battle of Culloden when the Highland forces were defeated by the English. (See also pretender.)

Union with England

The long rivalry between Scotland and England ended formally in 1707 when the Parliaments of both nations agreed to the Act of Union. This act merged the Parliaments of Scotland and England and established the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Scotland now had free trade with England and the colonies. As Britain’s empire expanded, the Scots played a great part in its development.

The end of the 18th century has been called Scotland’s most creative period. David Hume won world fame in philosophy and history, Adam Smith in political economy, and Robert Burns in poetry. In the next generation the writer Sir Walter Scott made the land and history of Scotland known throughout the world.

In the 19th century Scotland shared in the inventions that brought about the Industrial Revolution and in the wealth that flowed into Britain from it. The Industrial Revolution contributed to a dramatic increase in Scotland’s population, which grew from about 1.5 million at the beginning of the 19th century to more than 4.5 million by the turn of the 20th century. The new manufacturing jobs sparked a massive influx of people to Scottish cities.

Modern Scotland

World War I brought an unprecedented boost to Scottish industry, as Clyde shipbuilding and engineering proved crucial and Clydeside became the key munitions center in Britain. However, the collapse of the wartime boom in 1920 began a period of economic depression in Britain, in which Scotland was one of the worst-affected regions. Scotland’s heavy industries—especially coal mining and shipbuilding—began to stagnate in the mid-1950s, and unemployment in Scotland was often twice that in England.

The discovery of oil in the North Sea stimulated Scotland’s economy in the early 1970s. During the early 1980s, however, a collapse in oil prices and a series of closures of large industrial plants led to higher unemployment. The British government responded by creating special agencies to attract new investment, notably from American electronics companies. By the 1990s Scotland had become one of Europe’s major electronics manufacturing centers.

The nationalist desire for greater autonomy, always an undercurrent in Scottish politics, began to win wider support in the 1970s, when the production of North Sea oil raised the possibility of Scottish economic independence. The movement for self-government gained further momentum in the 1980s as many Scots believed that the British Conservative government was unresponsive to Scottish demands. The general election of May 1997 brought the Labour Party to power and made Tony Blair prime minister. Blair called a referendum for establishing a Scottish Parliament with a broad range of powers over domestic affairs. In September 1997 the referendum passed with the support of more than 74 percent of Scottish voters. The voters also gave the Scottish Parliament the power to raise or lower income tax rates by up to 3 percent.

The first elections to the Scottish Parliament were held in May 1999. Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the Parliament on July 1, 1999. In 2005 the Parliament moved into its permanent building in the Holyrood area of central Edinburgh. The Parliament took advantage of its autonomy to develop distinctive policies for Scotland, such as on financial support for students and land reform.

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In the 2007 elections, the Scottish National Party (SNP), which favored independence for Scotland, staged a historic upset. The SNP won the most seats in the Scottish Parliament and thereby ended some 50 years of Labour Party dominance in Scotland. In 2014 Scotland held a referendum on whether Scotland should break away from the United Kingdom to become an independent country. As the day of voting approached, the “yes” (pro-independence) side began to gain tremendous momentum. In the end, however, the referendum was defeated, with 55 percent voting “no” and 45 percent voting “yes.”

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In 2016 the United Kingdom held a referendum on whether it should leave the European Union (EU). Some 62 percent of Scottish voters who participated in the “Brexit” (British exit) referendum voted for Britain to remain in the EU. Nevertheless, the referendum passed, as the majority of those who voted in the United Kingdom as a whole, voted for Britain to leave the union. In light of this result, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP requested that the British government allow Scotland to hold a new referendum on Scottish independence before Britain left the EU. Population (2011 census), 5,295,400.

Additional Reading

Ascherson, Neal. Stone Voices: The Search for Scotland (Hill and Wang, 2003).Harris, Nathaniel. Heritage of Scotland: A Cultural History of Scotland and Its People (Bounty Books, 2004).MacLean, Fitzroy. Scotland: A Concise History, 2nd ed., rev. (Thames & Hudson, 2000).MacLean, Fitzroy. Highlanders: A History of the Scottish Clans (Adelphi, 1999).Magnusson, Magnus. Scotland: The Story of a Nation (HarperCollins, 2000).