Geology of Scotland
The Midland Valley, or Central Lowlands, has the big cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. They are in an area known as the central belt, or valley. The economy of Scotland used to depend almost entirely on these two cities, because of their importance in ship building (Glasgow) and general commerce (Edinburgh). Coal mining was also important in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Now ships can be built more cheaply elsewhere (for example, South Korea), and yet much still much depends on these two cities, and on Aberdeen, which acts as a port for the North Sea oil rigs.