About Scotland
Scotland /ˈskɒtlənd/ (help·info) (Gaelic: Alba) is a country in northwest Europe 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 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 southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland consists of over 790 islands[8] including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.
Edinburgh, the country's capital and second largest city, is one of Europe's largest financial centres. It was the hub of the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century, which saw
Scotland become one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Scotland's largest city is Glasgow, which was once one of the world's leading industrial
metropolises, and now lies at the centre of the Greater Glasgow conurbation which dominates the Scottish Lowlands. Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic
and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union.
The Kingdom of Scotland was an independent state until 1 May 1707 when it joined in a political union with the Kingdom of England to create a united Kingdom of Great Britain.
This union was the result of the Treaty of Union agreed in 1706 and put into effect by the Acts of Union that were passed by the Parliaments of both countries despite widespread
protest across Scotland. Scotland's legal system continues to be separate from those of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland and Scotland still constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in
public and in private law. The continued independence of Scots law, the Scottish education system, and the Church of Scotland have all contributed to the continuation of Scottish
culture and Scottish national identity since the Union. Although Scotland is no longer a separate sovereign state, the constitutional future of Scotland continues to give rise to debate.
The population of Scotland in the 2001 census was 5,062,011. This has risen to 5,116,900 according to June 2006 estimates.
This would make Scotland the 112th largest country by population if it were a sovereign state. Although Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland it
is not the largest city. With a population of just over 600,000 this honour falls to Glasgow. Indeed, the Greater Glasgow conurbation,
with a population of over 1.1 million, is home to over a fifth of Scotland's population.
The Central Belt is where most of the main towns and cities are located. Glasgow is to the west, while Edinburgh and Dundee lie on the east coast.
Scotland's only major city outside the Central Belt is Aberdeen, on the east coast to the north. Apart from Aberdeen, the Highlands are sparsely
populated, although the city of Inverness has experienced rapid growth in recent years. In general only the more accessible and larger islands retain
human populations, and fewer than 90 are currently inhabited. The Southern Uplands are essentially rural in nature and dominated by agriculture and forestry.
Because of housing problems in Glasgow and Edinburgh, five new towns were created between 1947 and 1966. They are East Kilbride, Glenrothes, Livingston, Cumbernauld, and Irvine.
Due to immigration since World War II, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee have small Asian communities.Since the recent Enlargement of the European Union there has been
an increased number of people from Central and Eastern Europe moving to Scotland, and it is estimated that between 40,000 and 50,000 Poles are now living in the country.
As of 2001, there are 16,310 ethnic Chinese residents in Scotland.The ethnic groups within Scotland are as follows: White - 97.99%, South Asian - 1.09%, Black - 0.16%,
Mixed - 0.25%, Chinese - 0.32% and Other - 0.19%.
Scotland has three officially recognised languages: English, Scots and Scottish Gaelic. Almost all Scots speak Scottish Standard English, and in 1996 the General Register
Office for Scotland estimated that 30% of the population are fluent in Scots. Gaelic is mostly spoken in the Western Isles, where a majority of people still speak it;
however, nationally its use is confined to just 1% of the population.
