Portal:Scotland

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Introduction

Flag of Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjacent islands, principally in the archipelagos of the Hebrides and the Northern Isles. In 2022, the country's population was about 5.4 million. Its capital city is Edinburgh, whilst Glasgow is the largest city and the most populous of the cities of Scotland. To the south-east, Scotland has its only land border, which is 96 miles (154 km) long and shared with England; the country is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the north-east and east, and the Irish Sea to the south. The legislature, the Scottish Parliament, elects 129 MSPs to represent 73 constituencies across the country. The Scottish Government is the executive arm of the devolved government, headed by the first minister who chairs the cabinet and responsible for government policy and international engagement.

The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the 9th century. In 1603, James VI succeeded to the thrones of England and Ireland, forming a personal union of the three kingdoms. On 1 May 1707, Scotland and England combined to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain, with the Parliament of Scotland subsumed into the Parliament of Great Britain. In 1999, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, and has devolved authority over many areas of domestic policy. The country has its own distinct legal system, education system and religious history, which have all contributed to the continuation of Scottish culture and national identity. Scottish English and Scots are the most widely spoken languages in the country, existing on a dialect continuum with each other. Scottish Gaelic speakers can be found all over Scotland, but the language is largely spoken natively by communities within the Hebrides; Gaelic speakers now constitute less than 2% of the total population, though state-sponsored revitalisation attempts have led to a growing community of second language speakers.

The mainland of Scotland is broadly divided into three regions: the Highlands, a mountainous region in the north and north-west; the Lowlands, a flatter plain across the centre of the country; and the Southern Uplands, a hilly region along the southern border. The Highlands are the most mountainous region of the British Isles and contain its highest peak, Ben Nevis, at 4,413 feet (1,345 m). The region also contains many lakes, called lochs; the term is also applied to the many saltwater inlets along the country's deeply indented western coastline. The geography of the many islands is varied. Some, such as Mull and Skye, are noted for their mountainous terrain, while the likes of Tiree and Coll are much flatter.

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The Bell Rock Lighthouse, off the coast of Angus, Scotland, is the world's oldest surviving sea-washed lighthouse. It was built between 1807 and 1810 by Robert Stevenson on the Bell Rock (also known as Inchcape) in the North Sea, 11 miles (18 km) east of the Firth of Tay. Standing 35 metres (115 ft) tall, its light is visible from 35 statute miles (56 km) inland.

The masonry work on which the lighthouse rests was constructed to such a high standard that it has not been replaced or adapted in 200 years. The lamps and reflectors were replaced in 1843; the original ones are now in the lighthouse at Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland, where they are currently on display. The working of the lighthouse has been automated since 24 October 1988. The Northern Lighthouse Board, which has had its headquarters at 84 George Street in Edinburgh since 1832, remotely monitors the light.

The lighthouse previously operated in tandem with a shore station, the Bell Rock Signal Tower, built in 1813 at the mouth of Arbroath harbour. Today this building houses the Signal Tower Museum, a visitor centre that offers a detailed history of the lighthouse.

Because of the engineering challenges that were overcome to build the lighthouse, it has been described as one of the Seven Wonders of the Industrial World. (... Read the full article)

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Image 1

" ... Old and young, we are all on our last cruise ... "

— Robert Louis Stevenson

" ... None of Nature's landscapes are ugly so long as they are wild ... "

— John Muir
Image 2

" ... Science is the greatest antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition ... "

— Adam Smith

" ... William Wallace sheds as bright a glory upon his valorous nation as ever was shed upon their country by the greatest men of Greece or Rome ... "

— Giuseppe Garibaldi
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" ... You ought to be roasted alive, though even then you would not be to my taste ... "

— J. M. Barrie speaking to George Bernard Shaw

" ... We are often unable to tell people what they need to know because they want to know something else ... "

— George MacDonald
Image 4

" ... Custom, then, is the great guide of human life ... "

— David Hume

" ... Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business, is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things ... "

— Robert Louis Stevenson
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" ... Few delights can equal the presence of one whom we trust utterly ... "

— George MacDonald

" ... The real price of every thing, what every thing really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it ... "

— Adam Smith
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" ... There is only one word for aid that is without strings, and that word is blackmail ... "

— Colm Brogan

" ... It is unfortunate, considering that enthusiasm moves the world, that so few enthusiasts can be trusted to speak the truth ... "

— A. J. Balfour
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" ... Without humility there can be no humanity ... "

— John Buchan

" ... I don't pretend to understand the Universe - it's a great deal bigger than I am ... "

— Thomas Carlyle
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" ... Every line of strength in American history is a line coloured with Scottish blood ... "

— Woodrow Wilson

" ... The result of our present enquiry is that we find no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end ... "

— James Hutton on the immensity of geological time at the Royal Society of Edinburgh
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" ... The Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not be found out ... "

— George Whyte-Melville

" ... For God's sake give me the young man who has brains enough to make a fool of himself ... "

— Robert Louis Stevenson
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" ... All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies ... "

— Dr John Arbuthnot

" ... Where all is compulsion and enforcement, it’s the bully that rules ... "

— Neil M. Gunn
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" ... Jimmy Hill is to football what King Herod was to babysitting ... "

— Tommy Docherty

" ... Maybe that's why in England you have better horses, and in Scotland we have better men ... "

— James Boswell responding to Samuel Johnson

("In England we wouldn't think of eating oats. We only feed them to horses.")
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" ... I fear I have nothing original in me excepting original sin ... "

— Thomas Campbell

" ... Life is a waste of time. Time is a waste of life. Get wasted all the time and you'll have the time of your life ... "

— Billy Connolly
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" ... A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder ... "

— Thomas Carlyle

" ... I am prepared to go anywhere, provided it be forward ... "

— David Livingstone
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" ... Is there anything worn under the kilt? No, it's all in perfect working order ... "

— Spike Milligan

" ... The true definition of a snob is one who craves for what separates men rather than for what unites them ... "

— John Buchan
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" ... Every new opinion, at its starting, is precisely in a minority of one ... "

— Thomas Carlyle

" ... Every man at the bottom of his heart believes that he is a born detective ... "

— John Buchan
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" ... No man can become rich without himself enriching others ... "

— Andrew Carnegie

" ... The old cathedrals are good, but the great blue dome that hangs over everything is better ... "

— Thomas Carlyle
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" ... No laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober ... "

— Samuel Smiles

" ... It is a great mortification to the vanity of man, that his utmost art and industry can never equal the meanest of nature's productions, either for beauty or value ... "

— David Hume
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" ... All government is a monopoly of violence ... "

— Sir Walter Scott

" ... In order to enjoy leisure, it is absolutely necessary it should be preceded by occupation ... "

— Hugh MacDiarmid
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" ... Doctors, like minicab drivers, are the other idiots to whom we trust our lives ... "

— James Kennaway

" ... When shall I see Scotland again? Never shall I forget the happy days I passed there amidst odious smells, barbarous sounds, bad suppers, excellent hearts and the most enlightened and cultivated understandings ... "

— Sydney Smith
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" ... Facts are stubborn things ... "

— Tobias Smollett

" ... History does not repeat itself. Historians repeat each other ... "

— A. J. Balfour
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" ... We think the world is ours for ever, but we are little more than squatters ... "

— Alexander McCall Smith

" ... A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black, stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless ... "

— James VI King of Scots (on Tobacco)
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" ... Peace is that state in which fear of any kind is unknown ... "

— John Buchan

" ... There are two great days in a person's life - the day we are born and the day we discover why ... "

— William Barclay
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" ... It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to have to paint it ... "

— Chic Murray

" ... Did not strong connections draw me elsewhere, I believe Scotland would be the country I would choose to end my days in ... "

— Benjamin Franklin
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" ... Every man has a sane spot somewhere ... "

— Robert Louis Stevenson

" ... You cannot force ideas. Successful ideas are the result of slow growth ... "

— Alexander Graham Bell

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In the news

24 May 2025 – 2024–25 Scottish Cup: In association football, Aberdeen F.C. wins their 9th Scottish Cup and their first in 35 years after defeating 42-time winners Celtic F.C. 4–3 in the final on penalties after a 1–1 draw at Hampden Park in Glasgow. (BBC Sport)

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Selected biography

Portrait of Hutcheson by Allan Ramsay, c. 1745. He holds a copy of Cicero's De finibus.

Francis Hutcheson (/ˈhʌtʃɪsən/; 8 August 1694 – 8 August 1746) was an Irish philosopher of Scottish descent, widely regarded as one of the key figures of the early Scottish Enlightenment. He served as Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Glasgow and was a major advocate of moral sense theory, which holds that humans possess an innate sense that guides moral judgments. Hutcheson is best known for his ethical writings, in which he defends benevolence as the primary source of moral virtue and anticipates later utilitarian theories with his formulation of "the greatest happiness for the greatest number".

Beyond ethics, Hutcheson made significant contributions to aesthetics, epistemology, logic, and metaphysics. He was among the first modern thinkers to explore beauty as a product of an internal sense, helping to establish aesthetics as a distinct branch of philosophy. In epistemology, he engaged critically with John Locke's empiricism while defending the role of innate dispositions. In logic and metaphysics, he proposed early versions of common-sense realism and contributed to the development of the Scottish school of common sense.

Hutcheson also developed an early argument for animal rights, contending that sentient creatures deserve moral consideration based on their capacity to experience pleasure and pain. His influence extended to later Enlightenment thinkers such as David Hume, Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham, and Thomas Reid, and his writings were widely read in both Britain and colonial America. (... Read the full article)

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Image 1
John o' Groats Signpost

Directional signpost at John o' Groats

Photo credit: Davidcarroll
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Wemyss Bay railway station.

Wemyss Bay railway station is a railway station on the Inverclyde Line. Located in the village of Wemyss Bay, Inverclyde. The station incorporates the terminal for the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry connecting the mainland to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute.

Photo credit: wilm
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Eilean Glas lighthouse

Eilean Glas Lighthouse, built by engineer Thomas Smith, 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).

Photo credit: Richard Baker
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Aerial view of Pennan village

Pennan (Scots: Peenan) is a small village in Aberdeenshire] consisting of a small harbour and a single row of homes. Pennan became famous for representing the fictional village of Ferness, being one of the main locations for the film Local Hero.

Photo credit: Tadpolefarm
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The Kelpies, Falkirk

The Kelpies are a pair of monumental steel horse-heads between the Scottish towns of Falkirk and Grangemouth. They stand next to the M9 motorway and form the eastern gateway of the Forth and Clyde Canal, which meets the River Carron here. Each head is 30 metres (98 ft) high. The sculptures, which represent kelpies, were designed by sculptor Andy Scott and were completed in October 2013.

Photo credit: James Allan
Image 6
Jarlshof, Grutness, Shetland Islands

Jarlshof is the best known prehistoric archaeological site in Shetland. It lies near the southern tip of the Shetland Mainland and has been described as "one of the most remarkable archaeological sites ever excavated in the British Isles".

Photo credit: Nigel Duncan
Image 7
Crofters cottage and sheep, Cairngorms National Park

Crofters cottage and sheep, Cairngorms National Park.

Photo credit: Thomas_Andy_Branson
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Statue of Robert the Bruce, Bannockburn

Robert the Bruce statue at the Bannockburn Visitor Centre, Bannockburn, Stirling, is a 1964 work by Pilkington Jackson. The bronze sculpture depicts Robert the Bruce wielding an axe and on a war horse.

Photo credit: Martin Kraft
Image 9
Cells of Life, a landform by Charles Jencks at Jupiter Artland

Cells of Life, a landform by Charles Jencks at Jupiter Artland, a contemporary sculpture park and art gallery outside the city of Edinburgh.

Photo credit: Allan Pollok-Morris
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John Knox's House, Edinburgh

John Knox House, popularly known as John Knox's House, is a historic house in Edinburgh, Scotland, reputed to have been owned and lived in by Protestant reformer John Knox during the 16th century.

Photo credit: Kim Traynor
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MV Isle of Arran leaving Port Askaig

Caledonian MacBrayne ferry MV Isle of Arran leaving Port Askaig, Islay with Jura visible in the background
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Evening view across Calton Hill towards the Castle

Evening view from Calton Hill towards an illuminated Edinburgh Castle with the Bank of Scotland headquarters and the Balmoral Hotel illuminated in the intermediate foreground. The sillhouettes of the Scott Monument and the tall gothic spire of the Hub are both prominent in the frame.

Photo credit: Chris Fleming
Image 13
36-inch telescope at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh

36-inch telescope at the Royal Observatory on Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, the location of the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC).

Photo credit: Science and Technology Facilities Council
Image 14

Traigh Iar (Horgabost beach), Harris, which is part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island in the Outer Hebrides, .

Photo credit: Gordon Hatton
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The Riverside Museum on the banks of the river Clyde.

The Riverside Museum on the River Clyde in Glasgow, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. The new museum now houses the Glasgow Museum of Transport. Berthed next to it is the Clyde-built sailing ship the Glenlee..

Photo credit: Neil Williamson
Image 16
The parliament building viewed from Salisbury Crags

The Scottish Parliament Building (Scottish Gaelic: Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, Scots: Scots Pairlament Biggin) is the home of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, within the UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Edinburgh. It was designed by Enric Miralles, the Catalan architect,.and has won a number of awards, including an award at the VIII Biennial of Spanish Architecture, the RIAS Andrew Doolan Award for Architecture, and the 2005 Stirling Prize, the UK's most prestigious architecture award.

Photo credit: Photo Credit: Wangi
Image 17
The Dunmore Pineapple, a folly in Dunmore Park, near Airth in Stirlingshire

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The Dunmore Pineapple, a folly in Dunmore Park, near Airth in Stirlingshire

Photo credit: George.Gastin
Image 18
Blackrock cottage, Rannoch Moor

A view of Blackrock Cottage on Rannoch Moor with Buachaille Etive Mor in the background.

Photo credit: Andrewmckie
Image 19
Meall a' Bhùiridh and Lochan na h-Achlaise as seen from the A82 road driving towards Glen Coe

Meall a' Bhùiridh and Lochan na h-Achlaise on Rannoch Moor viewed from the A82 en route to Glen Coe in the HIghlands..

Photo credit: Fuzzy14
Image 20
Dean Village, Edinburgh

Building fronting the Water of Leith in the Dean Village, Edinburgh

Photo credit: 瑞丽江的河水
Image 21
Coire nan Lochan on the southern side of Glen Coe

Glen Coe ((Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Comhann) is a glen in the Highlands. It lies in the southern part of the Lochaber committee area of Highland Council, and was formerly part of the county of Argyll.

Photo credit: Gil.cavalcanti
Image 22

Rannoch Moor (/ˈrænəx/ ; Scottish Gaelic: Mòinteach Rai(th)neach) is an expanse of around 50 square miles (130 km2) of boggy moorland to the west of Loch Rannoch in Scotland, from where it extends into westerly Perth and Kinross, northerly Lochaber (in Highland), and the area of Highland Scotland toward its south-west, northern Argyll and Bute. Rannoch Moor is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation.

Photo credit: Chjris Combe
Image 23
The second chamber of the Smoo Cave, Durness in Sutherland, Scotland

The second chamber of the Smoo Cave, Durness in Sutherland.

Photo credit: Florian_Fuchs
Image 24
The Forth Bridge

The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge over the Firth of Forth. It was opened on 4 March 1890, and spans a total length of 2,528.7 metres (8,296 ft). It is often called the Forth Rail Bridge or Forth Railway Bridge to distinguish it from the Forth Road Bridge.

Photo credit: George Gastin
Image 25
The Black Watch War Memorial on the Mound in Edinburgh.

The Black Watch War Memorial, at the corner of Market Street and North Bank Street on the Mound in Edinburgh.

Photo credit: AdMeskens

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Did You Know...

Help available

... that Colin Mackay, the political editor at Scottish Television, was "very sad" when Colin MacKay, the political editor at Scottish Television, died?
... that East Suffolk Park, a former student hostel in Edinburgh, was once an internment camp for enemy aliens?
... that after the Battle of Winwick in 1648 some Scottish prisoners were sold as slaves?
... that during the First Bishops' War, the Duke of Hamilton's mother intended to shoot him with silver bullets if he landed in Scotland?
... that Scottish painter Gordon Coutts left Australia without paying maintenance to his estranged wife, but was arrested in New Zealand?
... that Thorpe's secluded hills provided refuge from Scottish raiders and English Civil War troops?
... that today the Bishop of Edinburgh plays a ceremonial role at the coronation of Charles III and Camilla as a representative of the Walker Trustees?
... that Carrbridge Packhorse Bridge is the oldest-known stone bridge in the Scottish Highlands?

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Scotland Related WikiProjects and Task forces
	WikiProject Clans of Scotland	talk
	WikiProject Medieval Scotland	talk
	WikiProject Scottish Castles	talk
	WikiProject Scottish Islands	talk
	WikiProject Scottish Television	talk
	WikiProject Transport in Scotland	talk
	WikiProject Edinburgh	talk
	Fife task force	talk
	Scottish Gaelic task force	talk

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