Portal:Scotland

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Introduction

Flag of Scotland

Scotland (Scots: Scotland; Scottish Gaelic: Alba) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and 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 and the most populous of the cities in the country. Scotland borders England to the south, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the east, and the Irish Sea to the south-west. In the Scottish Parliament, 129 members represent 73 constituencies. The Scottish Government is the executive arm of the devolved government, headed by the first minister, who chairs the cabinet and is responsible for government policy and international engagement.

The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as a sovereign state in the 9th century. Independence from England was maintained partly through an alliance with France. 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 society, 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, although 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 Tiree and Coll are flatter.

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Aerial view of Holyrood Palace in 2025

The Palace of Holyroodhouse (/ˈhɒlɪruːd/ or /ˈhoʊlɪruːd/), also known as Holyrood Palace, is the official residence of the monarch of the United Kingdom in Scotland. Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood has served as the principal royal residence in Scotland since the 16th century, and is a setting for state occasions and official entertaining.

The palace adjoins Holyrood Abbey, and the gardens are set within Holyrood Park. The King's Gallery was converted from existing buildings at the western entrance to the palace and was opened in 2002 to exhibit works of art from the Royal Collection.

King Charles III spends one week in residence at Holyrood at the beginning of summer, where he carries out a range of official engagements and ceremonies. The 16th-century historic apartments of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the State Apartments, used for official and state entertaining, are open to the public throughout the year, except when members of the royal family are in residence. The palace also serves as the official residence of the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland during the annual meeting of the General Assembly. (... Read the full article)

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Image 1

" ... To live for a time close to great minds is the best kind of education ... "

— John Buchan

" ... Edinburgh is a cross between Copenhagen and Barcelona, except in Copenhagen they speak more understandable English ... "

— John Malkovich
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" ... History is written from then to now but understood back to front ... "

— Allan Massie

" ... Growing old is great. It’s like getting drunk. Everyone around you gets better-looking ... "

— Billy Connolly
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" ... Politically correct is the language of cowardice ... "

— Billy Connolly

" ... It is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine ... "

— P. G. Wodehouse
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" ... The worst of being a doctor is that one's mistakes matter so much ... "

— Elsie Inglis

" ... The ideal board of directors should be made up of three men - two dead and the other dying ... "

— Tommy Docherty
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" ... God help England if she had no Scots to think for her ... "

— George Bernard Shaw

" ... We have all taken risks in the making of war. Isn’t it time that we should take risks to make peace? ... "

— Ramsay MacDonald
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" ... In Scotland, there is no such thing as bad weather - only the wrong clothes ... "

— Billy Connolly

" ... this nation must rank among the most enlightened in the universe. Politics, religion and literature have made of Scotland something beyond compare ... "

— Charles de Rémusat
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" ... The cruellest lies are often told in silence ... "

— Robert Louis Stevenson

" ... It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important ... "

— Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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" ... Nae man can tether time nor tide ... "

— Robert Burns

" ... In all ages of the world, priests have been the enemies of liberty ... "

— David Hume
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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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" ... Golf is an indispensable adjunct to high society ... "

— Andrew Carnegie

" ... We are bought and sold for English gold. Such a parcel of rogues in a nation ... "

— Robert Burns
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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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" ... 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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" ... A place for everything, and everything in its place ... "

— Samuel Smiles

" ... All politicians have vanity. Some wear it more gently than others ... "

— Sir David Steel, speaking in 1985
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" ... One sometimes finds what one is not looking for ... "

— Sir Alexander Fleming

" ... I have found you an argument; I am not obliged to find you an understanding ... "

— James Boswell
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" ... Courage is the thing. All goes if courage goes ... "

— J. M. Barrie

" ... I am not here, then, as the accused; I am here as the accuser of capitalism dripping with blood from head to foot ... "

— John Maclean from his famous "speech from the dock"
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" ... Before anything else, preparation is the key to success ... "

— Alexander Graham Bell

" ... A good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation ... "

— James Boswell
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" ... The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none ... "

— Thomas Carlyle

" ... This is our land, this is our Scotland, these are our people, these are our men, our works, our women and children: can you beat it? ... "

— James Maxton
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" ... I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom ... "

— Thomas Carlyle

" ... Kilt, n. - a costume sometimes worn by Scotsmen in America and Americans in Scotland ... "

— Ambrose Bierce
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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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" ... If something's neither here nor there, where the hell is it? ... "

— Chic Murray

" ... The artist cannot attain to mastery in his art unless he is endowed in the highest degree with the faculty of invention ... "

— Charles Rennie Mackintosh
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" ... Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others ... "

— Robert Louis Stevenson

" ... Work is the grand cure of all maladies and miseries that ever beset mankind ... "

— Thomas Carlyle
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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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" ... Good lies need a leavening of truth to make them palatable ... "

— William McIlvanney

" ... Golf is a thoroughly national game; it is as Scotch as haggis, cockie-leekie, high cheek-bones or rowanberry jam ... "

— Andrew Lang
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" ... Insanity - a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world ... "

— Ronald David Laing

" ... To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life ... "

— Robert Louis Stevenson
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" ... You talked of Scotland as a lost cause and that is not true. Scotland is an unwon cause ... "

— John Steinbeck, in a letter to Mrs John F. Kennedy

" ... We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing ... "

— Ronald David Laing

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In the news

14 September 2026 – Separatism in the United Kingdom, Decolonization: The First Ministers of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales meet in Cardiff at a summit to call for their independence from the United Kingdom. (BBC News) (The Guardian)
3 August 2026 – 2020–2026 H5N1 outbreak: Scotland's NatureScot denies a 2026 licence for hunting northern gannets on Sula Sgeir, citing possible harm to the local gannet population after recent bird-flu deaths. (AFP via RFI)
25 July 2026 –: The Bishop of Aberdeen in Scotland declares the sedevacantist Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer religious institute, an order associated with the Society of Saint Pius X, to be excommunicated, after they consecrated a bishop without Vatican approval. (The Herald) (The Catholic Herald)

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Selected biography

c. 1803 portrait of Telford by Henry Raeburn

Thomas Telford (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotland, as well as harbours and tunnels. Such was his reputation as a prolific designer of highways and related bridges, he was dubbed the 'Colossus of Roads' (a pun on the Colossus of Rhodes), and, reflecting his command of all types of civil engineering in the early 19th century, he was elected as the first president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a post he held for 14 years until his death. The town of Telford in Shropshire was named after him. (... Read the full article)

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Image 1
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 2
The Finnieston Crane on the River Clyde

The Finnieston Crane or Stobcross Crane is a disused giant cantilever crane in the centre of Glasgow. It is no longer operational, but is retained as a symbol of the city's engineering heritage. The crane was used for loading cargo, in particular steam locomotives, onto ships to be exported around the world.

Photo credit: VegasGav7777
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Comon seal basking on rocks

A common seal (Phoca vitulina) seen basking on rocks off Lismore, Argyll.

Photo credit: Sharp Photography
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Skara Brae

Skara Brae is a stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney archipelago. It consists of eight clustered houses, and was occupied from roughly 3180 BCE–2500 BCE. Europe's most complete Neolithic village, Skara Brae gained UNESCO World Heritage Site status as one of four sites making up "The Heart of Neolithic Orkney".

Photo credit: craig w macgregor
Image 5
The gates of the Bruichladdich Distillery

The Bruichladdich distillery is a distillery on the Rhinns of the isle of Islay in Scotland. The distillery produces mainly single malt Scotch whisky, but has also offered artisanal gin.

Photo credit: Bdcl1881
Image 6
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
Image 7
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 8
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 9
Plockton

Plockton (Scottish Gaelic: Am Ploc/Ploc Loch Aillse) is a picturesque settlement in the Highlands on the shores of Loch Carron. It faces east, away from the prevailing winds, which together with the North Atlantic Drift, gives it a mild climate, allowing palm trees (actually cabbage trees) to grow.

Photo credit: Arthur Bruce
Image 10
Thistle flower head

Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. In the language of flowers, the thistle (like the burr) is an ancient Celtic symbol of nobility of character as well as of birth, for the wounding or provocation of a thistle yields punishment.

Photo credit: Fir0002
Image 11
View of Oban and harbour

Oban (Scottish Gaelic: An t-Òban) (meaning "The Little Bay") is a resort town within the council area of Argyll and Bute. Oban Bay is a near perfect horseshoe bay, protected by the island of Kerrera, and beyond Kerrera is Mull. To the north is the long low island of Lismore, and the mountains of Morvern and Ardgour.

Photo credit: Josi
Image 12
View of Canisp and Suilven from nearby Clachtoll

Canisp and Suilven seen from the coastal fishing and crofting village of Clachtoll in Sutherland county, on the north western edge of Scotland.

Photo credit: Louis_Daillencourt
Image 13
Inveraray Bridge on Loch Fyne

Loch Fyne (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Fìne, meaning "Loch of the Vine or Wine", is a sea loch on the west coast of Argyll and Bute. Although there is no evidence for grapes growing there, it was more metaphorical, such as meaning that the River, Abhainn Fìne, was a well-respected river.

Photo credit: Michael Parry
Image 14
Wellington Church, University Avenue, Glasgow

Wellington Church, a 19th-century church on University Avenue in Glasgow with the frontage in the neoclassical style of a Greek temple.

Photo credit: Mymuk
Image 15
Looking south from the Quiraing, Skye

The Isle of Skye, commonly known as Skye, is the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides. In Scottish Gaelic it is commonly referred to as An t-Eilean Sgiathanach ("The Winged Isle").

Photo credit: masher2
Image 16
Arbroath Harbour

Arbroath or Aberbrothock (Scottish Gaelic: Obair Bhrothaig) is a former royal burgh on the North Sea coast, around 16 miles (25.7 km) ENE of Dundee and 45 miles (72.4 km) SSW of Aberdeen. It is the largest town in the council area of Angus. and has a population of 22,785.

Photo credit: Karen Vernon
Image 17

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 18
The William Younger Centre housing Our Dynamic Earth science centre

Our Dynamic Earth is a Scottish science centre and prominent conference venue and visitor attraction located in Holyrood, Edinburgh, beside the Scottish Parliament Building.

Photo credit: Globaltraveller
Image 19
The Old Man of Storr

The Old Man of Storr is a rock pinnacle, the remains of an ancient volcanic plug. It is part of The Storr, a rocky hill overlooking the Sound of Raasay on the Trotternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye.

Photo credit: Wojsy
Image 20
Overview of Holyrood Palace

Holyrood Palace is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood has served as the principal royal residence in Scotland since the 16th century, and is a setting for state occasions and official entertaining.

Photo credit: Christoph Strässler
Image 21
A walker slacklining at the Old Man of Hoy

Walker Alex Schulz slacklining at the Old Man of Hoy, a 449-foot (137-metre) sea stack on Hoy, part of the Orkney archipelago .

Photo credit: AlexSchulz91
Image 22
Scottish National Gallery

The Scottish National Gallery, in Edinburgh, is the national art gallery of Scotland. An elaborate neoclassical edifice, it stands on The Mound, between the two sections of Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens. The building, which was designed by William Henry Playfair, first opened to the public in 1859.

Photo credit: Klaus with K
Image 23
Reaper under full sail.

Reaper is a restored historic Fifie herring drifter which is registered by the National Historic Ships Committee as part of the Core Collection of historic vessels in the UK, and currently operates as a museum ship.

Photo credit: Scottish Fisheries Museum Boats Club
Image 24
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
Image 25
Aerial viewof the bridge over the River Garry, Perthshire

Autumnal colours seen in an aerial view of the bridge over the River Garry, Perthshire.

Photo credit: Ian Dick

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Did You Know...

Help available

... that the construction of the Jubilee Bridge was featured in the 1982 documentary about the A9 road reconstruction?
... 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 a judge ruled that supporting Scottish independence is protected under the Equality Act 2010 in a legal case launched by councillor Chris McEleny?
... that Prince Philip was the first member of the British royal family to fly in a helicopter?
... that a lane behind a tenement in Edinburgh is decorated as a Wild West town?
... that Scottish bricklayer Brian Higgins was unable to find work for 25 years after appearing on a construction-industry blacklist?
... that George Parks was president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and his son Rowan Parks became president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh?
... that the 1830 abandonment of Chipewyan woman Matooskie by her Scottish husband was eventually settled with a dowry payment of £200?

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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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