Dear MEL School’s
Topic Readers,
Let’s learn about
Scotland before referendum
A historic
referendum is taking place, tomorrow, 18th of September 2014. A
little over 300 years of unity, the northern part of the Britain is to decide
its fate whether to stay part of the nation or go for independence. But how
much do you know about the country?
Enjoy reading and
learning about this proud and independent country.
Scotland is a country that covers the northern third
of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south,
and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east and has over 790 islands, including the Northern
Isles and Hebrides.
Edinburgh, the country's capital and
second-largest city, 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.
Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North
Sea, containing the largest
oil reserves in
the European Union.
Scotland
was known
to the Romans as
Caledonia. The
Midland Valley of Scotland represented the most northern extent of the Roman
conquest of Britain after 79 A.D.
In
the 5th Century the "Scots" migrated from their home in Ireland and
founded several Kingdoms on the western coast of Scotland. Under King Robert MacAlpin in 843, they finally rose to power
and re-named the land Scotland.
From around 1120, Scotland began to divide into two
cultural areas -
the lowland Scots, mainly English-speaking, and Gaelic speaking Highlands where
the clan system in Highland Scotland was strong. Many clans were powerful and
semi-independent regions.
The
Lowlands adopted the feudal system after the Norman
Conquest of England,
11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army of Norman and French
soldiers led by Duke William II of Normandy, William
the Conqueror.
During
the Wars of
Scottish Independence (1290
-1363), when King Edward I tried to
impose English rule on Scotland as he had successfully done in Wales, the
people rose up against English rule, firstly, under the leadership of Sir
William Wallace, who was captured by the English and brutally executed in London,
and later, under that of Robert the Bruce who won a famous victory over the
English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. In 1603 King James VI inherited
the throne of England from his Tudor cousin Elizabeth I, and became James I of
England.
In
1707
the Scottish and English Parliaments signed a Treaty of Union, which effectively transferred all
powers to London. Succeeding English monarchs were not as well disposed towards
Scotland as James had been. Following the formal Act of Union in 1707,
displeasure particularly amongst Highland Scots, supported the rebellions of
1715 and 1745.
After
the 1745
rebellion,
which was effectively a Civil War, the Highland
Clearances began,
which devastated the cultural landscape of Scotland and destroyed much of the
Gaelic culture, resulted in significant emigration of Highlanders to the sea
coast, the Scottish Lowlands, and further afield to North America and
Australasia.
Great
Britain itself entered
into
a political union with Ireland in
1801
to
create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In May 1999, almost 300 years after its
dissolution, Scotland gained a new Scottish Parliament, which governs the
country on domestic matters, the United Kingdom Parliament, retains
responsibility for Scotland's defense,
international
relations and certain other areas.
Modern Scotland
comprises 32
unitary authority regions.
