57 Facts About Scotland

1.

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom.

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2.

Scotland is divided into 32 administrative subdivisions or local authorities, known as council areas.

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3.

Scotland is the second-largest country in the United Kingdom, and accounted for 8.

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4.

Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the 9th century and continued to exist until 1707.

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5.

The legal system within Scotland has remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland; Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law.

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6.

Scotland is represented in the United Kingdom Parliament by 59 MPs.

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7.

The use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages.

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8.

At the time, Scotland was covered in forests, had more bog-land, and the main form of transport was by water.

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9.

The first Roman incursion into Scotland occurred in 79 AD, when Agricola invaded Scotland; he defeated a Caledonian army at the Battle of Mons Graupius in 83 AD.

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10.

David I and his successors centralized royal power and united mainland Scotland, capturing regions such as Moray, Galloway, and Caithness, although he did not succeed at extending his power over the Hebrides, which had been ruled by various Scottish clans following the death of Somerled in 1164.

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11.

The Parliament of Scotland met and immediately adopted the Scots Confession, which signalled the Scottish Reformation's sharp break from papal authority and Roman Catholic teaching.

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12.

In 1641 and again in 1643, the Parliament of Scotland unsuccessfully sought a union with England which was "federative" and not "incorporating", in which Scotland would retain a separate parliament.

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13.

Parliament of Scotland sought a commercial union with England in 1664; the proposal was rejected in 1668.

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14.

In 1698, the Company of Scotland attempted a project to secure a trading colony on the Isthmus of Panama.

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15.

Scotland played a major part in the development of art and architecture.

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16.

From 1830 the state began to fund buildings with grants; then from 1846 it was funding schools by direct sponsorship; and in 1872 Scotland moved to a system like that in England of state-sponsored largely free schools, run by local school boards.

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17.

The process was named after Balmoral estate, purchased by Queen Victoria in 1848, that fuelled the romanticisation of upland Scotland and initiated an influx of the newly wealthy acquiring similar estates in the following decades.

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18.

Scotland played a major role in the British effort in the First World War.

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19.

The first to hold the office of first minister of Scotland was Donald Dewar, who served until his sudden death in 2000.

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20.

Whole of Scotland was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages and the landscape is much affected by glaciation.

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21.

Scotland has over 790 islands divided into four main groups: Shetland, Orkney, and the Inner Hebrides and Outer Hebrides.

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22.

Climate of most of Scotland is temperate and oceanic, and tends to be very changeable.

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23.

West of Scotland is usually warmer than the east, owing to the influence of Atlantic ocean currents and the colder surface temperatures of the North Sea.

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24.

Scotland's wildlife is typical of the north-west of Europe, although several of the larger mammals such as the lynx, brown bear, wolf, elk and walrus were hunted to extinction in historic times.

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25.

Scotland has three officially recognised languages: English, Scots, and Scottish Gaelic.

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26.

Scottish Standard English, a variety of English as spoken in Scotland, is at one end of a bipolar linguistic continuum, with broad Scots at the other.

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27.

The reasons given were that, in Scotland, births were outnumbering the number of deaths, and immigrants were moving to Scotland from overseas.

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28.

Scotland has limited self-government within the United Kingdom, as well as representation in the British Parliament.

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29.

The British Parliament retains control over reserved matters specified in the Scotland Act 1998, including taxes, social security, defence, international relations and broadcasting.

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30.

Scotland was the first country in the UK to ban smoking in enclosed public places.

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31.

Scotland is represented in the British House of Commons by 59 MPs elected from territory-based Scottish constituencies.

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32.

The Scotland Office represents the British government in Scotland on reserved matters and represents Scottish interests within the government.

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33.

The Scotland Office is led by the Secretary of State for Scotland, who sits in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.

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34.

Since devolution in 1999, Scotland has devolved stronger working relations across the two other devolved governments, the Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive.

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35.

Scotland has a network of eight international offices across the world, these are located in:.

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36.

The Scotland Act 2012, based on proposals by the commission, was enacted devolving additional powers to the Scottish Parliament.

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37.

Scotland has a Western-style open mixed economy closely linked with the rest of the UK and the wider world.

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38.

Scotland was one of the industrial powerhouses of Europe from the time of the Industrial Revolution onwards, being a world leader in manufacturing.

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39.

In common with most other advanced industrialised economies, Scotland has seen a decline in the importance of both manufacturing industries and primary-based extractive industries.

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40.

The issuing of banknotes by retail banks in Scotland is subject to the Banking Act 2009, which repealed all earlier legislation under which banknote issuance was regulated, and the Scottish and Northern Ireland Banknote Regulations 2009.

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41.

Scotland had a long military tradition predating the Treaty of Union with England; the Scots Army and Royal Scots Navy were merged with their English counterparts to form the Royal Navy and the British Army, which together form part of the British Armed Forces.

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42.

Scotland had more universities per capita in QS' World University Rankings' top 100 in 2012 than any other nation.

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43.

Scotland's universities are complemented in the provision of Further and Higher Education by 43 colleges.

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44.

Kilmarnock Academy in East Ayrshire is one of only two schools in the UK, and the only school in Scotland, to have educated two Nobel Prize Laureates – Alexander Fleming, discoverer of Penicillin, and John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr, for his scientific research into nutrition and his work as the first Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization .

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45.

Awards in recognition of Scottish musical talent in Scotland include the Scottish Music Awards, Scottish Album of the Year Award, the Scots Trad Music Awards and the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician award.

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46.

Scotland has a literary heritage dating back to the early Middle Ages.

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47.

The earliest extant literature composed in what is Scotland was in Brythonic speech in the 6th century, but is preserved as part of Welsh literature.

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48.

Use of a simplified symbol associated with Saint Andrew, the saltire, has its origins in the late 14th century; the Parliament of Scotland decreeing in 1385 that Scottish soldiers should wear a white Saint Andrew's Cross on the front and back of their tunics.

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49.

Mary, on her return to Scotland, brought an entourage of French staff who are considered responsible for revolutionising Scots cooking and for some of Scotland's unique food terminology.

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50.

Scotland is represented at the Celtic Media Festival, which showcases film and television from the Celtic countries.

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51.

Scotland has production companies which produce films and television programmes for Scottish, British and international audiences.

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52.

Dumbarton Studios, located in Dumbarton is largely used for BBC Scotland programming, used for the filming and production of television programmes such as Still Game, River City, Two Doors Down, and Shetland.

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53.

Scotland has its own national governing bodies, such as the Scottish Football Association and the Scottish Rugby Union.

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54.

In boxing, Scotland has had 13 world champions, including Ken Buchanan, Benny Lynch and Jim Watt.

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55.

Scotland has been successful in motorsport, particularly in Formula One.

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56.

Scotland has competed at every Commonwealth Games since 1930 and has won 356 medals in total—91 Gold, 104 Silver and 161 Bronze.

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57.

Scotland has five international airports operating scheduled services to Europe, North America and Asia, as well as domestic services to England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

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