cotland is know for there beuatiful landscapes, castles, rivers and killts. But how are those subjects created and what is the history and geography behind them?
The countryside of Scotland is very veried from rural lowlands to barren uplands, and from lare cities to uninhabi- ted islands. The country is located at the top of Great Britain and got around 790 islands serrounding the mainland.[1]
The name Scotland derives from the Latin Scotia, land of the Scots, a Celtic people from Ireland who settled on the west coast of Great Britain about the 5th century.[2] The land area of Scotland is 30.414 square miles (about 78.770 square km)[3]
The history of Scotland began by the Roman Empire in the 1st century, when the province of Britania reached as far to the north as possible. According to 9th- and 10th-century sources, the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata was founded on the west coast of Scotland in the 6th century. In the following century, the Irish missionary Columba founded a monastery on Iona and introduced the previously pagan Scoti and pagan Picts to Celtic Christianity. Following England’s Gregorian mission, the Pictish king Nechtan chose to abolish most Celtic practices in favour of the Roman rite, restricting Gaelic in uence on his kingdom and avoiding war with Anglian Northumbria.[4] Towards the end of the 8th century, the Viking invasions began. Successive defeats by the Norse forced the Picts and Gaels to cease their historic hostility to each other and to unite in the 9th century, forming the Kingdom of Scotland.[5]
Kenneth Mac Alpin was the son of Alpin and generally regarded as the founder of medieval Scot- land. Battling against Norse (Viking) raids, he brought some uni cation between the Gaels and thPicts to found a united kingdom of Alba or Scotia. Kenneth MacAlpin is considered by some
as the founding father of Scotland and often compared to Alfred the Great in England. Kenneth is believed to have died from a tumour at Forteviot near Perth and was succeeded by his brother Donald. [6]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland#Geography_and_natural_history
[2] https://www.britannica.com/place/Scotland
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_Scotland
[4] http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/sysm/scots/teachers/background.shtml
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Scotland
[6] http://www.britroyals.com/scots.asp?id=kenneth1
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_Scotland#Early_Viking_incursions
Norse contacts with Scotland certainly predate the rst written records in the 8th century, alt- hough their nature and frequency are unknown. Excavations at Norwick on the island of Unst in Shetland indicate that Scandinavian settlers had reached there, perhaps as early as the mid 7th century, consistent with dates produced for Viking levels at Old Scatness. [7]
The Wars of Scottish Independence
The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries.
The First War (1296–1328) began with the English invasion of Scotland in 1296, and ended with the signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton in 1328. The Second War (1332–1357) be- gan with the English-supported invasion by Edward Balliol and the “Disinherited” in 1332, and ended in 1357 with the signing of the Treaty of Berwick. The wars were part of a great crisis for Scotland and the period became one of the most de ning times in its history. At the end of both wars, Scotland retained its status as an independent state. The wars were important for other reasons, such as the emergence of the longbow as a key weapon in medieval warfare.[1]
Revolution
Nowadays, Scotland is one of the most commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Thanks to the Scottish Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution. Its industrial decline following the Second World War was particularly acute. In recent decades Scotland has enjoyed something of a cultural and economic renaissance, fuelled in part by a resurgent nancial services sector and the proceeds of North Sea oil and gas. Nationalism has been a major political force in
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_Scottish_Independence
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Scotland
Culture
tI
he tourist agents, want us to belief that. But let’s start with the typical images some of us have and deal with the other things that make the Scots Scottish later.[1]
f you think of Scotland or its inhabitants what is the rst thing that springs to mind? The histo- ry and the clans perhaps? The beautiful landscape? The castles? The bagpipes? The Highland Games? Or is it whisky? Fact is that you are likely to nd some unique features in Scotland and its people that you won’t nd easily, and originally, anywhere else in the world. For most outsiders Scotland is about clans, battles, kilts, tartan etc. It must be said though that this image is up to a certain point valid for the Highland-Gaelic area but doesn’t include the lowlands of Scotland although most people, and speciallly
Music
Scotland is internationally known for its traditional music, which remained vibrant throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music. In spite of emigration and a well-developed connection to music imported from the rest of
Europe and the United States, the music of Scotland has kept many of its traditional aspects; indeed, it has itself
in uenced many forms of music. [2]
People
The Scottish people (Scots: Scots Fowk, Scottish Gaelic: Alban- naich), or Scots, are a nation and socially de ned ethnic group resident in Scotland. Historically, they emerged from an amalga- mation of two groups—the Picts and Gaels—who founded the Kingdom of Scotland (or Alba) in the 9th
century, and thought to have been ethnolinguistically Celts. Later, the neighbouring Cumbrian Britons, who also spoke a Celtic language, as well as Germanic-speaking Anglo-Saxons and Norse, were incorpo- rated into the Scottish nation. [3]
[1] http://www.scotlandinfo.eu/scottish-culture-and-traditions/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Scotland
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_people
Celebrities
Calvin Harris
Calvin Harris (Adam Richard Wiles) was born in Scotland on 17 january 1984. He is a singer, songwriter and Dj. His rst studio album is called “I Created a Disco” and was launched in june 2007. After his rst album Calvin released his second album called “ Ready for the Weekend”. Some of his well known songs are Need your love, Feel so close, Thinking about you, We found love and not to forget This is what you came for.
Calvin Harris rst began recording demos in 1999. At the age of 18 Calvin released two songs called “Da Bongos” and “Brighter Days”. Calvin decided to move to Londen in hopes te learn more of the music scene. Calvin Harris is currenty living in the United States.
Calvin Harris was nominated for 4 Grammy Awards including We found love, Let’s go, “Sweet Nothing, 18 Months. And won 1 Grammy (We found love ft. Rihanna).1
Shirley Manson
Known for her singing and Acting Shirley Mansin was born on 26 august 1966. She is the lead singer in the rock band Garbage. Her musical career bgan in her teens when she was asked to perform as backing vocals for a band called Goodbye Mr.Mackenzie, Shirley created an album with her band called the An- gel sh. after that the rock band Garbage asked her to audition and record some vocals. eventually Man- son co-wrote an entire album with the band.
in 2006 Manson began to write and record solo, in 2008 she started her professional acting career in the second and also the nal season of the serie Terminator: The Sara Connor Chronicles. in 2010 Shirley Manson returned to the studio to write and produce songs for the groups fth album called Not your Kind of People.2
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Harris
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Manson
Sport
cotland claims to be the birth- place of many diffrent sport that we now know as golf, shinty and curling. One of the most Scot- tish sport events is the highland- games.
Golf: golf was invented by the Scottisch as a way of keeping the English from entering their countrie. this way was invented because if they had no more arrows thay had to fall back to sto- nes wich they hit with clubs made from wood this is what we now days call golf.[1]
Shinty: shinty is very simmular to hockey in a fashion that you play it with a ball and a stick. There are some major diffrences between shinty and hockey one of those is that the ball used in shinty can also be passed trough the air. Shinty is also the game that was the base for hockey and ice hockey as it spread around the world.[2]
Curling: curling is like bowling but then on ice and rather trieing to make the ball roll over the ice you are ment to make it slide across the ice and land in a diffrent array of circles that are placed inside eatchother.[3]
The Highland Games: The Highland Games was a 19th-century continuation of
traditional clan play from the highlands of Scotland. The event is once a year and features many diffrent activeties. The names of tose activeties are:[4]
Caber toss: this is a game where you trie to throw a logg as high as possible whilst making a ip forward other wise the throw is invallid. also the throw has to be performed with the largest end of the log on top [4]
Stone put: is a game in wich you trie and throw a rock wich weighs about 7,25KG as far away as possible. [4]
Hammer throw: the game is about who can throw a stick with a heavy ball attached to it as far away as [4]
Weight throw: is a game in wich there is a heavy weight attahced to a short cable and has to be thrown as far away as possible. the weight is only allowed to be held by one hand. [4]
Weight over the bar: in this game you are supposed to throw a weight with a handle attahced to it backward over a cord as high as possible. the cord is gradually higherd every throw so in the end there will only be one person left. [4]
Sheaf toss: a lled jute bag that weighs about 9KG has to be thrown with a pitchfork onto a beam wich can be higher then 10M. [4]
[1] http://www.scotland.org/about-scotland/sport/golf
[2] http://www.scotland.org/about-scotland/sport/shinty
[3] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curling
[4] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Games
Food & Drinks
Whisky
Whisky is a national drink in Scotland. There are some rare bottles of whisky that could sell for thousands of pounds. so you could say that whisky is very important for Scotland. There are ve whisky regions scattered all over Scotland, and each one of them has their own unique whiskey to choose from. one has sweet and fruity avor. while the other has some salty notes from the sea. There are even some that are steeped in smoke. So as you can see there are lots of different whis- key’s to choose from you just have to nd it1
Scottish Whiskey is originally made from malted barley and it must be made in a certain manner that is speci ed by law. Scottish Whisky is aged in oak barrels for at least three years.
the average of whisky is 60 to 85 percent grain. some of them are high quality grain. Blended scotch whiskey contains malt whisky and grain whiskey.2
Food
The french cuisine played a huge role in the late middle ages. there are alot of different tradi- tional recipies in scotland for example, Cullen skink and Haggis. Beef and seafood are also very important in the scottish cookery.3
Haggis is a pudding and a traditional recipe in scotland. It is made from sheep’s pluck (the heart, liver and lungs.) mixed with minced onions, oatmeal and some spices. Scottish whiskey is seen
as a good combination with haggis. A fun trivia about haggis is that there is a sport called haggis hurling. the game is about throwing a haggis as far as possible.4
Cullen skink is a scottish soup and is made from smoked haddock, potatoes and onions. this soup is speciality in the town of Cullen located in Moray. on the north-east coast of scotland. it is served as and everyday dish in the north of scotland.5
Burnt Cream also known as Créme Brûlée is a dessert in scotland made of a custard base mixed with hard caramel. It’s a traditionall dish in Scotland. Burnt Cream is originally from the french cuisine and is served at room temperature.6
Porridge is made from boiling ground, crushed and chopped starchy plant. its cooked and served with sugar, honey and much more. It’s a hot savoury dish served in a hot bowl. Porridge is also called a Oat Porridge. and is a traditional breakfast recipe.7
1 https://www.visitscotland.com/see-do/food-drink/whisky/
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch_whisky
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_cuisine
4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haggis
5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullen_skink
6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cr%C3%A8me_br%C3%BBl%C3%A9e
7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porridge
ESxtra Politiek
cotland is part of the UK parlementSchotlands old parliament: Schotland used to have its and makes up a smal part of it. Thisown parliament wich excisted from 1140 to 1707. In 1707 was not always the case since Schot-the Scottish parliament was abolished. [2]
land used to have its own parliament
wich was abolished in 1707.[1]
Scottland and the BREXIT: Scottland wanted to be independed in 2014 because they didn’t want to exit the EU. so they voted about if they wanted to stay in the UK and in that aspect leaving the EU. To most it was a suprise when the results came in and 55,3% of people voted for not leaving the UK and 45,7% did want to leave the UK. [3]
Parliamentary seats: Scotland is part of the United Kingdom en makes up about 9% procent of the par- liamentary seats in London. This number is reasonably high seeing that Scottland only makes up 14-15% of the UK population. [4]