scotland

[Quadirdith 0]

one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; located on the northern part of the island of Great Britain; famous for bagpipes and plaids and kilts

[Vihan Dobiriyal]

A country in northwest Europe to the north of England and forming part of the United Kingdom.

[Carollacob]

Scotland is a country in the northern part of the United Kingdom, located off the northwestern coast of the European mainland. It is bounded by England to the south, the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and the Irish Sea to the southwest. Scotland is known for its rugged highlands, lowland plains, lakes (known as lochs), as well as its own languages (Scots and Scottish Gaelic) and rich cultural traditions, including the kilt, bagpipes, and the famed Loch Ness Monster. Its capital is Edinburgh and the largest city is Glasgow.

[Georgbund 0]

The northern division of the island of Great Britain. An account has been given under the article Picts (which see) of the early inhabitants of the country which has long been known by the name of Scotland. The original Scotia, or Scotland, was Ireland, and the Scoti, or Scots, at their first appearance in history were the people of Ireland. The original seat of the Scots in Northern Britain was in Argyle, which they acquired by colonization and conquest before the end of the 5th century, and from whence they spread themselves along the western coast from the Firth of Clyde to the modern Ross. The first prince of the British Scots mentioned in authentic annals was Fergus, son of Eric, who crossed over to Britain about the year 503. His great-grandson, Conal, was king of the British Scots when Columba began the conversion of the Northern Picts. His nephew, Aidan, who succeeded him was a powerful prince, and more than once successfully invaded the English border, but toward the end of his reign he received a severe defeat from the Northumbrian sovereign Ethelfrid at the battle of Degsestan. The history of Aidan’s successors is obscure. Their kingdom was overshadowed by the more powerful monarchy of the Picts, with which, as well as with its neighbors in the south,—the Britons of Cumbria,—it was engaged in almost unceasing conflict. The Scots were for some time under some sort of subjection to the English of Northumbria, but recovered their independence on the defeat and death of King Egfried in battle with the Picts at Nechtansmere in 685. In the middle of the 9th century, the Scots acquired a predominance in Northern Britain. Kenneth, son of Alpin, succeeded his father as king of the Scots. The Pictish kingdom was weakened by civil dissensions and a disputed claim to the crown. The Picts and Scots, each speaking a dialect of the Celtic tongue, gradually coalesced into one people. The reign of Constantine, son of Aodh, who succeeded in 904, was a remarkable one. Even before the establishment of the kingdom of the Picts and Scots in the person of Kenneth, Northern Britain had experienced the attacks of a new enemy, the Scandinavian invaders, generally spoken of under the name of Danes. Constantine resisted them bravely, but towards the end of his reign, he entered into an alliance with them in opposition to the English. A powerful army, composed of Scots, Picts, Britons, and Danes, disembarked on the Humber, and was encountered at Brunanburgh by Athelstan, king of England. A battle was fought there, the first of a series of unfortunate combats by Scottish princes on English ground. The confederate army was defeated, but Constantine escaped, and died 953. During the reign of Malcolm I., a portion of the Cumbrian kingdom was bestowed by Edmund, king of England, on the Scottish sovereign. The northern kingdom was still further increased in the reign of Kenneth, son of Malcolm, by the acquisition of Lothian and of Northern Cumbria, or Strathclyde. Alexander III. employed the period of his reign well; by a treaty with the king of Norway, he added to his kingdom Man and the other islands of the Western Sea. The reigns of David II. and his successors, Robert II. and Robert III., were the most wretched period of Scottish history. In the year 1411, half of the kingdom would have become barbarous if the invasion of the Lord of the Isles had not been repulsed at Harlaw (which see). The vigorous rule of James I. had restored a tranquillity to which his kingdom had long been unaccustomed; but strife and discord were again brought back on his assassination. The reigns of Charles II. and James VII. were more corrupt and oppressive than any which Scotland had experienced since the regencies in the minority of James VI.; the natural result was the revolution, which seated William and Mary on the throne. Under James VI., who succeeded to the throne of England, the kingdoms became united, from which period (1603) the annals of the two kingdoms became almost identical, though they both retained their independence, and continued to be ruled by separate titles till the Act of Union in 1707.