scotland

SCOTLANDJune 2011

Evelyn Kurg

The national flower of Scotland is thistle

GEOGRAPHYScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and the Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland includes over 790 islands.

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The Isle of Skye, mountain top called The Old Man of Storr

8km walk to the mountain top

View from the top of the Storr mountain, overlooking at Skye, and the Isle of Raasay

MOUNTAINSFrom a geological perspective the country has three main sub-divisions: Highlands and islands, Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands.

1) The Northwest Highlands, 2) The Cuillin, on the Isle of Skye3) The Grampians, the main belt of mountains across the centre of Scotland.4) The Cairngorms form the eastern part of the Grampians.5) The Torridon Hills of Western Ross

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The highest point on the British Isles – Ben Nevis 1344m

Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh

Rivers: 1. the River Tay (193km), 2. the River Spey (172km), 3.the River Clyde (171km)

http://www.fishpal.com/Scotland/RiverAreas.asp?dom=Scotland

LAKES1) Loch Lomond (71 km2)2)Loch Ness(56km2)3)Loch Awe (39km2)

the deepest: 1)Loch Morar (310m); 2)Loch Ness (230m)

CLIMATEThe climate of Scotland is temperate and oceanic and tends to be very changeable. It is warmed by the Gulf Stream from the Atlantic. Therefore winters are milder in Scotland than several areas on similar latitude ( Moscow, Kamchatka etc). However, temperatures are generally lower than in the rest of the UK. Winter maximums average 6 °C in the lowlands, with summer maximums averaging 18 °C .

In general, the west of Scotland is usually warmer than the east, owing to the influence of Atlantic ocean currants and the colder surface temperatures of the North Sea. Rainfall varies widely across Scotland. The western highlands of Scotland are the wettest place, with annual rainfall exceeding 3,000 mm. In comparison, much of lowland Scotland receives less than 800 mm annually. Heavy snowfall is not common in the lowlands, but becomes more common with altitude. Many coastal areas average fewer than 10 days of lying snow per annum.

BIGGEST TOWNS1) Glasgow – an important industrial

town finding its charm as a town of galleries and museums (581 320)

2) Edinburgh – Scotland’s capital with its famed international festivals attract the world's leading performers, galleries display cutting-edge art, and bars, restaurants and clubs create a lively, cosmopolitan atmosphere (454 280 )

3) Aberdeen – the Europe’s capital of oil, “the Granite City” (183 000)

4) Dundee - is a lively commercial, cultural, and artistic centre (142 000)

* Inverness - Known as the Capital of the Highlands ( 44 000)

* Stirling - Scotland's heritage capital, the stage for some of the most significant events in the nation's history. (33 710)

Stirling, William Wallace statue

Aberdeen

Portree, the capital of the Isle of Skye

The Royal Mile, Edinburgh

The Scotsman Hotel, Princes Street, Edinburgh

Edinburgh’s oldtown

International Film Festival in Edinburgh, an outdoor cinema

Glasgow before entering Queen Street Station by train

Malleig

HISTORY• Scotland was one of the last places in Europe where people

settled. 50000 years ago it was mostly still covered with ice. • Around 9000BC some hunters decided to stay. They lived as

nomads.• Around 4000BC hunters stopped living as nomads, but it

was a slow change• 2000BC a revolutionary new technology reached Scotland.

People learned how to work with a metal mixture called bronze.

• 1200 BC – 200AD Celtic Scotland (a name given to different cultures by ancient Greeks and Romans who fought against Celtic people)

Celtic roundhouse in Scotland

CORACLECORACLE

BROCHCeltic people became powerful by using their new technology – iron-working. Knowledge of how to smelt and forge iron spread from the area now known as Austria to Scotland between 700 – 400 BCFight for farmland and wars made Celtic people build stronger houses – brochs.

ROMAN SCOTLAND80 AD the Romans decided to conquer Scotland. The Roman troops marched northwards, building roads so that they could travel quickly and camps and forts from which they could control the countryside. Celtic chiefs and warriors fought back but they were no match for the Roman army. In just 2 years the Romans conquered most of Scotland south of the River Tray.

http://www.romanscotland.org.uk/pages/campaigns/mons_graupius/images/rome1.jpg

SCOTLAND DIVIDED

The Romans left the British Isles in 410AD. For the next 400 years and more Scotland was divided into many separate kingdoms. People living there spoke different languages, obeyed different laws, followed different leaders and were often at war.

In 794 AD and onwards the Vikings started to make surprise raids on churches, monasteries and farming villages. They were looking for excitement, adventure, new lands to settle and rich treasures to carry away. All the Scottish kingdoms now faced crises. Some collapsed completely, others joined together to fight back.

Eilean Donan Castle built in 1220 to fight against the Vikings

BIRTH of a NATION

For thousands of years Scotland was not a united nation. In 842 Kenneth MacAlpin, a warlord from Western Scotland took control of the Pictish kingdom as well as his own lands. For the first time, a large part of east and west Scotland was united under one rule. By 900 this combined kingdom had a new name – ALBA.

For over 500 years, from around 900 – 1469, Scottish kings did not rule all Scotland. The far north, the Orkney and Shetland isles and the Hebredes were ruled by the Vikings and by kings of Norway.

http://macdonnellofleinster.org/page_7y__the_birth_of_scotland.htm

• David I worked out yet another way to keep his kingdom under control. He invited men he could trust from England to settle in Scotland, gave them homes and land in return.

• He also encouraged religious reform. He realised that a strong Church would bring glory to Scotland and help the royal family stay in power.

• For centuries Scotland was different from most of Europe. It was all countryside! The first real towns were not built until 1150.

Edinburgh Castle

HADRIAN WALL

For many centuries, the kingdom of Scotland included lands south of Hadrian’s Wall. The countryside there was wild and used mostly for grazing cattle, but politically, it was very important – it was the cause of the wars between Scotland and England.

WARS of INDEPENDENCEEdward I of England was furious about the Scottish alliance with France. In 1296, he sent an army to attack the Scots and soon defeated them at the battle of Dunbar. English knights captured Scottish king and sent him to London as a prisoner. Once again, Scotland had no king. There were many Scots who refused to accept English rule. They all joined together to fight Edward and were led by Andrew Murray and William Wallace. In 1297 , they defeated the English army at Stirling Bridge.

Stirling Bridge

Glenfinnan Monument

In 1349 ...

... Plague arrived in Scotland. It was a deadly disease carried by rats and fleas, which spread very quickly through crowded villages and towns. The first outbreak, called “The Black Death”, killed around one-third of all Scottish people in just 2 years. There were further outbreaks at regular intervals for the next three centuries.

GOOD KING JAMESKing James IV inherited the throne in 1488 but did not rule independently until 1495. He felt guilty about killing his father, James III, and wore an iron belt for 40 days each year to show he was sorry. But that did not stop him from being one of Scotland’s most successful kings. He was fascinated by the latest scientific ideas. He experimented with medicine by paying volunteers to let him practise dentistry. In 1503 James married Margaret Tudor, daughter of the English king, Henry VII. It was a political marriage to end the costly wars between their kingdoms. But sadly this peace did not last. The new English king, Henry VIII, started the fighting again. James, and most of the top Scottish noblemen were killed at the battle of Flodden in 1513.

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ACT of UNION

• In 1707 the Scottish Parliament was closed down and did not resume for almost 300 years. The same year, Scotland stopped being an independant country and was united with England.

• But not everybody in Scotland was happy with it. They were called the Jacobites. After the 1715 Jacobite rebellion, the English government punished Scots who had taken part by confiscating their estates or transporting them to America.

The Heart of Midlothian “Spitting Stone”, Edinburgh

Rob Roy –a farmer who faught against English rulers

Glenfinnan Viaduct

EDINBURGHThe city of Edinburgh was no more the centre of political power, but remained as the centre of Scottish law and religion. After around 1750, new people moved to live in Edinburgh – artists, architects, designers, writers, scholars, scientists, teachers.... All these lively minded people met in coffee houses, private clubs, public lectures and assemblies. They set up first lending library and its first medical school. The Scottish educational system encouraged pupils to study the latest technology, as well as old-fashioned Greek and Latin languages.

GREAT SCOTSJames Watt – designed improved steam engines

William Symington – built the first working steamboat (1801)

Adam Smith – the father of modern economy and capitalism

Charles Maclntosh – invented a process to make waterproof cloth (1823)

James Neilson – invented the hot-blast method of iron-making (1828)

Kirkpatrick Macmillan – made the first bicycle (1828)

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONScottish engineers and inventors changed the world by helping to create the first Industrial Revolution. From around 1750-1850, millions of ordinary men and women worldwide stopped working at home, on farms and in small craft workshops and began to work in huge factories.

In 1830 the largest chemical works in the world opened in Glasgow.

Glasgow – City Hall

Thomas Telford designed roads, bridges, harbours and the Caledonian Canal to transport factory-made goods away. It linked the Atlantic Ocean and saved a dangerous journey round the North of Scotland.

Robert Stevenson designed amazing lighthouses to warn ships of hazards around the coast. Scotland’s first steam-powered railway from Glasgow to Garnkirk opened in 1826.

Lighthouse on the Isle of Skye

Train from Glasgow to London – 667 km, took 4.20 hours

The Caledonian Canal – 100 km running from northeast to soutwest, from Inverness to Fort William

Swing bridge on the Caledonian Canal

SHEEP and SEAWEED

While Scotland’s first industries were developing, many changes were also taking place in the countryside – especially in the Highlands. New crops, such as turnips and potatoes were planted in enclosed fields surrounded by dry-stone walls. New forests were planted on mountain slopes to produce timber to build new towns.

Emigration from Scotland increased after 1846-47 when the Scottish potato crop failed and there was widespread famine.

Highland cattle, Aberdeen Angus

The Isle of Skye, deforestation

Typical croft house on the Western islands

19th CENTURYBetween 1800 – 1900 Scotland was transformed. Its population more than doubled to over 4 million. Over half of the Scottish people now lived in towns in the Central Lowlands. Glasgow, with a population of over 1 million in 1901, boasted it was the second city of the British Empire. Clydeside, close to Glasgow, was the greatest ship-building area in the world. Scotland was also one of the world’s major steam-locomotive builders. Overall, Scottish living conditions had improved and poverty decreased, however people in the Highlands were struggling or still desperately poor. Unitl the First World War changed it all for worse again.

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BRAVE NEW WORLDThe Second World War made many Bristish people, including the Scots, look at life in a new way. They met troops from the USA and the Commonwealth and admired their free-and-easy manners and positive, “can-do” attitude. In 1945 a new, Labour (socialist) government came to power. It nationalized many Britain’s industries, including Scottish coalfields, steelworks and railway companies. It also introduced new taxes to pay for health and welfare. Even so, Scotland still faced problems and unemployment remained twice as high as in England. From 1940 to late 70’s Bristish ministers worked hard to bring new businesses to Scotland.

SCOTLAND TODAYToday, Scotland is a mixture of old and new. Scottish people still feel proud of their country’s heritage and identity. They admire its magnificent scenery, wear kilts and eat traditional foods such as haggis. Some still speak Scots, the old language of the Lowlands and in the Highlands and Islands children can go to Gaelic-speaking schools.

Haggis, neeps and tatties, Scottish beer.

Victoria Park, Edinburgh

The Statue of Greyfriars Bobby, in Edinburgh

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!