Scotland

Scotland is a country in northwest Europe, in the northern part of the United Kingdom. The country consists of about 790 islands in addition to the main land. These include the Hebrides and the Northern Isles.
Scotland shares a boarder with England in south. The country has a major coastline, the North Sea in east, the Atlantic Ocean in north and west and the Irish Sea and the North Channel in southwest.

Scotland’s national flag is called “The cross of St. Andrews“ or “The Saltire”.

The capitol of Scotland is Edinburgh, which also it the second largest city by population (440 000).  Edinburgh is situated in the southeast of Scotland and is the largest city by area.

The largest city in Scotland by population is called Glasgow. The city of Glasgow is situated in the center of Scotland and has a population of 685 000.

The third largest city is Aberdeen. The city is known as the oil capital of Europe.

Scotland is about 79 000 square miles in area, which makes it the second largest part of the United Kingdom in bout area and population. There are about 5,3 million inhabitants in Scotland.
(Numbers used are from: Projectbritain.com and Thelegraph.co.uk)

Map of Scotland

The head of state in Scotland is the monarch in the United Kingdom, who currently is Queen Elizabeth the second. Before the country became a part of the United Kingdom (1.May 1707) it was an independent kingdom called “the Kingdom of Scotland”. 

Even thought Scotland is a part of the UK, the country has got its own parliament (since 1999). The parliament is responsible for cases that concerning local government, education, health and social work services. In addition to having its own parliament Scotland also has got its own legal system.

Scotland has very different nature and geography than the rest of the British Islands. The mountains and laces (or lochs) are common scenery in Scotland. The highest mountain in the UK is situated in Scotland. The mountain is called Ben Nevis and is 1343 meters above sea level. The biggest lake in UK is also situated in Scotland, Loch Lomond that extends over 70 square meters.  Furthermore, the deepest lake in the UK and maybe the most famous lake in the word is located in Scotland. Loch Ness is 229 meters deep and is known for the famous legend of the Loch Ness monster.

The main language spoken in Scotland is English Scottish, a dialect of the English language. The native language in Scotland is Scottish Gaelic. This is a Celtic language that is spoken by about 80 000 Scotts. (Swipnet.se) The Celtic language is mainly spoken in the western Highland and in the Hebrides. The last language spoken in Scotland is scots.

The currency used in Scotland is the same as the rest of the UK, pounds (£).The official religion in Scotland is Christianity.

The national animal of Scotland is actually the unicorn.

Scotland has the highest percent of red-haired people in the world. About 13 per cent of the population is considered redheads. (Thelegraph.co.uk)

Things we may think is Scottish symbols, like kilts and bagpipes, are actually not Scottish. Kilts originally were developed in Ireland and bagpipes have an origin for central Asia.

Sources:

Swipnet.se, http://home.swipnet.se/~w-58525/skottlan/fakteng.htm, (20.01.13)

Projectbritain.com, ”Facts about Scotland”, http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/britain/scotland.htm, (19.01.13)

Thelegraph.co.uk, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/scottish-politics/9007300/Scottish-referendum-50-fascinating-facts-you-should-know-about-Scotland.html, (19.01.13)

Pictures:
http://www.9ori.com/store/media/images/c52406aeeb.jpg
http://www.richmondscots.org/img/scotland.jpg
http://www.maltmadness.com/whisky/map-scotland-02.jpg