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THE SCOTLAND PORTAL

Scotland (Gaelic: Alba) is a country that occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It is part of the United Kingdom, and shares a land border to the south with England. It has a population of 5,117,000 and an area of 78,800 km².

Scotland shares a 60 mile (96 km) land border to the south with England, and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the south-west. Scottish waters border those of Norway, the Faeroes, Iceland and Ireland. Apart from the mainland, Scotland consists of over 790 islands, giving it a coastline of approximately 6200 miles (9,900 km).

The Kingdom of Scotland was united in 843, by Kenneth MacAlpin, King of Scots, and is thus one of the oldest still-existing countries in the world. Scotland existed as an independent state until the Act of Union, 1 May 1707.

The flag of Scotland - the Saltire or St Andrew's Cross - is thought to be the oldest national flag still in use. Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and Saint Andrew's Day, on 30 November, is Scotland's national day. There are currently attempts to create a national holiday on this day. Scottish people have played prominent parts in many important inventions and discoveries.

Selected article

Lord Monboddo (October 25, 1714 - May 26, 1799) was a Scottish judge, scholar of language evolution and philosopher. He is most famous today as a founder of modern comparative historical linguistics (Hobbs,1992). In 1767 he became a judge in the Court of Session, effectively the supreme court of Scotland in criminal matters, where it was known as the High Court of Justiciary. (Civil cases found their top court in London, in the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords). Thence Burnett adopted a title based on his father's estate, Monboddo House. Monboddo was one of a number of scholars involved at the time in development of early concepts of evolution, and some credit him with anticipating in principle the idea of natural selection that was developed into a scientific theory by Charles Darwin

James Burnett was born in 1714 at Monboddo House in Kincardineshire, Scotland. After his primary education at the parish school of Laurencekirk, he studied at Marischal College, Aberdeen where he was graduated in 1729. He also studied at Edinburgh University and the University of Groningen. At Edinburgh University he was graduated at law and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1737.

From 1754 until 1767 Monboddo was one of a number of distinguished proprietors of the Canongate Theatre. He clearly enjoyed this endeavour even when some of his fellow judges pointed out that the activity might cast a shadow over his sombre image as jurist. Here he had occasion to further associate with David Hume who was a principal actor in one of the plays.

Selected picture

Eilean Glas Lighthouse was one of the original four lights to be commissioned by the Commissioners of the Northern Lights and the first in the Hebrides (the others were Kinnaird Head, Mull of Kintyre and North Ronaldsay).

The engineer who built these lighthouses was Thomas Smith. The light was first displayed in 1789 and the original tower was replaced in 1824 by Smith's stepson Robert Stevenson.

Selected quotes

Did You Know?

• ... that when the King of Scotland told King Magnus of Norway he could have any land he could circumnavigate, Magnus had a longship (reconstruction pictured) dragged across an isthmus to East Loch Tarbert, Argyll and claimed Kintyre?
• ... that HMS Vidal, the ship sent to annexe Rockall, was named after Alexander Vidal, the first man to properly survey the islet?
• ...that the so-called "father of Argentine football" was a Glaswegian schoolteacher, Alexander Watson Hutton, who first taught football at St Andrew's School in Buenos Aires in the early 1880s?
• ...that survivors of the Loch Sloy disaster who made it ashore to Kangaroo Island, Australia were eventually found with the remains of two dead penguins tied around their neck?
• ... that in 1906, Scottish architect Sir Robert Lorimer built the Hill of Tarvit mansion house on an Iron Age site?
• ...that Ebenezer Place, Wick is recognised as being the world's shortest street in the Guinness Book of Records at 2.06 m (6.8 ft)?
• ...that Libby Clegg is a Scottish competitor at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, and won a silver medal?
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Categories

• Scotland

People — History — Politics — Education — Law — Military — Religion — Sport — Organisations — Lists

• Geography of Scotland

Subdivisions — Cities — Demographics — Environment

• Economy of Scotland

Companies — Science and technology — Tourism — Transport

• Scottish culture

Arts — Cuisine — Languages — Literature — Media — Music

• Buildings and structures in Scotland

Listed buildings — Scheduled Ancient Monuments — Visitor attractions

WikiProjects

• WikiProject Scotland
• WikiProject Clans of Scotland
• WikiProject Deletion sorting/Scotland
• WikiProject Medieval Scotland
• WikiProject Scotland Peer Review
• WikiProject Scottish Castles
• WikiProject Scottish Islands
• WikiProject Transport in Scotland

Major topics

Things you can do

• Please visit the Scottish Wikipedians' notice board and help to write new Scotland-related articles, and expand and improve existing ones.
• Visit Wikipedia:WikiProject Scotland/Assessment, and help out by assessing unrated Scottish articles.
• Add the Project Banner to Scottish articles around Wikipedia.
• Participate in WikiProject Scotland's Peer Review, including responding to PR requests and nominating Scottish articles.
• Help nominate and select new content for the Scotland portal.

Related portals

Wikipedia in other Scottish languages

Associated Wikimedia