Portal:Scotland
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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 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.
Selected article
The Royal Observatory, Edinburgh (ROE) is an astronomical institution located on Blackford Hill in Edinburgh. The site is owned by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The ROE comprises the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) of STFC, the Institute for Astronomy of the School of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Edinburgh, and the ROE Visitor Centre.
The observatory carries out astronomical research and university teaching; design, project management, and construction of instruments and telescopes for astronomical observatories; and teacher training in astronomy and outreach to the public. The ROE Library includes the Crawford Collection of books and manuscripts gifted in 1888 by the 26th Earl of Crawford. Before it moved to the present site in 1896, the Royal Observatory was located on Calton Hill, close to the centre of Edinburgh, at what is now known as the City Observatory. (... Read the full article)
Selected quotes
" ... 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
" ... I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject ... "
— William Wallace
" ... People in Scotland have a queer idea of the arts. They think you can be an artist in your spare time, though nobody expects you to be a spare-time dustman, engineer, lawyer or brain surgeon ... "
— Alasdair Gray
" ... 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
" ... Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them ... "
— David Hume
" ... We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery ... "
— Samuel Smiles
" ... Books are a finer world within the world ... "
— Alexander Smith
" ... All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education ... "
— Sir Walter Scott
" ... Maxims are the condensed good sense of nations ... "
— James Mackintosh
" ... Who thinks the law has anything to do with justice? It’s what we have because we can’t have justice ... "
— William McIlvanney
" ... 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
" ... Instinct is untaught ability ... "
— Alexander Bain
" ... The great and good do not die even in this world. Enbalmed in books, their spirits walk abroad ... "
— Samuel Smiles
" ... 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
" ... In my end is my beginning ... "
— Mary, Queen of Scots
" ... The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there ... "
— John Buchan
" ... 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
" ... Whaur's yer Wullie Shakespeare noo? ... "
—Anonymous
(Patriotic shout from an audience member at the 1st Edinburgh performance of the John Home tragedy Douglas)
" ... Law is the reflection of the spirit of a people, and so long as the Scots are conscious that they are a people, they must preserve their law ... "
— Robin Cook
" ... Come along inside. We'll see if tea and buns can make the world a better place ... "
— Kenneth Grahame
" ... All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language, until it finds a willing and prepared hearer ... "
— Robert Louis Stevenson
" ... 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
" ... 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
" ... 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
" ... I have not yet begun to fight! ... "
— John Paul Jones
" ... Devolution will kill nationalism stone dead ... "
— George Robertson
" ... Celtic jerseys are not for second best, They don't shrink to fit inferior players ... "
— Jock Stein
" ... In every place, where there is any thing worthy of observation, there should be a short printed directory for strangers ... "
— James Boswell
" ... I must follow them. I am their leader ... "
— Bonar Law
" ... None can destroy Scotland, save Scotland's self ... "
— Lord Belhaven, opposing the union of 1707
" ... the inarticulate expression of the inequalities of life ... "
— Jimmy Boyle (Speaking of crime)
" ... The proletarian has no country; all are equally prisons to him alike ... "
— Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham
" ... 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
" ... 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)
" ... Talk that does not end in any kind of action is better suppressed altogether ... "
— Thomas Carlyle
" ... Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community ... "
— Andrew Carnegie
" ... 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
" ... 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
In the news
- 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)
- 19 June 2026 – Terrorism in the United Kingdom
- 2026 Edinburgh attacks
- Five people are injured in Islamophobic attacks in Edinburgh, Scotland. A 36-year-old man is arrested and counter-terrorism police are investigating. (DW)
- 23 May 2026 – 2025–26 Scottish Cup
- 2026 Scottish Cup final
- In association football, Celtic beat second-tier Dunfermline Athletic 3–1 to win a record-extending 43th Scottish Cup title and complete the double this season. (BBC Sport) (ESPN)
Selected biography
Sir William Wallace (Scottish Gaelic: Uilleam Uallas, pronounced [ˈɯʎam ˈuəl̪ˠəs̪]; Norman French: William le Waleys; c. 1270 – 23 August 1305) was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence.
Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in September 1297. He was appointed Guardian of Scotland and served until his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk in July 1298. In August 1305, Wallace was captured in Robroyston, near Glasgow, and handed over to King Edward I of England, who had him hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason and crimes against English civilians.
Since his death, Wallace has obtained a legendary status beyond his homeland. He is the protagonist of Blind Harry's 15th-century epic poem The Wallace and the subject of literary works by Jane Porter and Sir Walter Scott, and of the Academy Award-winning film Braveheart. (... Read the full article)
Selected picture
Reconstructed crannóg on Loch Tay
A crannóg (pronounced /krəˈno:g/ or /ˈkrɑno:g/ or /ˈkranag/) is an ancient artificial island or natural island found in Scotland and Ireland, used for a settlement. The name may also refer to a wooden platform erected on shallow loch floors.
Photo credit: Dave Morris
Detail of the V&A museum from the west with the Tay Bridge beyond
Detail of the V&A museum, Dundee from the west with the Tay Bridge beyond.
Photo credit: Richard Szwejkowski
Glasgow Necropolis
The Glasgow Necropolis is a Victorian cemetery in Glasgow. It sits on a hill above, and to the east of, St. Mungo's Cathedral. It was conceived as a Père Lachaise for Glasgow, and subsequently established by the Merchants' House of Glasgow in 1831. Fifty thousand individuals have been buried in approximately 3500 tombs.
Photo credit: Finlay McWalter
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
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
Tobermory waterfront, isle of Mull
Tobermoray (Scottish Gaelic: Tobar Mhoire) is the capital of, and the only burgh on, the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides. It is located in the northeastern part of the island, near the northern entrance of the Sound of Mull. The town was founded as a fishing port in 1788, its layout based on the designs of Dumfriesshire engineer Thomas Telford.
Photo credit: Lukas von Daeniken
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
Bealach na Bà
Bealach na Bà is a historic pass through the mountains of the Applecross peninsula, in Wester Ross in the Scottish Highlands—and the name of a famous twisting, single-track mountain road through the pass and mountains. The road is one of few in the Scottish Highlands that is engineered similarly to roads through the great mountain passes in the Alps, with very tight hairpin bends that switch back and forth up the hillside.
Photo credit: Stefan Krause
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
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
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
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
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
Iona Village
Iona (Scottish Gaelic: Ì Chaluim Chille) is a small island in the Inner Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland. It was a centre of Celtic Christianity for four centuries and is today renowned for its tranquility and natural beauty. It is a popular tourist destination.
Photo credit: Clydecoast
Dean Village, Edinburgh 
Freezing temperatures in Braemar
Braemar is a village in Aberdeenshire, around 58 miles (93 km) west of Aberdeen in the Highlands. Sitting at an altitude of 339 metres (1,112 ft), Braemar is the third coldest low lying place in the UK, after the villages of Dalwhinnie and Leadhills. It has twice entered the UK Weather Records with the lowest ever UK temperature of -27.2oC, on 11 February 1895, and 10 January 1982.
Photo credit: Paul Chapman
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
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
The Callanish Stones
The Callanish Stones are an arrangement of standing stones near the village of Callanish on the west coast of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Placed in a cruciform pattern with a central stone circle, they were erected in the late Neolithic era, and were a focus for ritual activity during the Bronze Age
Photo credit: Mrdog10
Atlantic Puffins at Sumburgh Head, Shetland 
The Skating Minister.
The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, better known by its truncated title The Skating Minister, is an oil painting by Sir Henry Raeburn in the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Credit: Sir Henry Raeburn (1790s painting)
Plane arrival at Barra Airport
Barra Airport (Scottish Gaelic: Port-adhair Bharraigh) (IATA: BRR, ICAO: EGPR) (also known as Barra Eoligarry Airport) is a short-runway airport (or STOLport) situated in the wide shallow bay of Traigh Mhòr at the north tip of the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The airport is unique, being the only one in the world where scheduled flights use a beach as the runway.
Photo credit: Steve Holdsworth
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Did You Know...
- ... that Davy Russell won a 2025 Scottish election despite being dubbed the "invisible man" by an opponent?
- ... that a lane behind a tenement in Edinburgh is decorated as a Wild West town?
- ... that Jewish tartans have been made for the Jewish community of Scotland?
- ... that the Scottish judge Lord Duthie served as an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve?
- ... that the 1830 abandonment of Chipewyan woman Matooskie by her Scottish husband was eventually settled with a dowry payment of £200?
- ... that Ian Begg, known for his work on restoration of castles in Scotland, designed and built his own 20th-century tower house to live in?
- ... 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 Thomas Kerr protested the Iraq War with his SNP-supporting aunt, later campaigned for Labour, joined the Conservatives, and defected to Reform UK?
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To get involved in helping to improve Wikipedia's Scotland related content, please consider doing some of the following tasks or joining one or more of the associated Wikiprojects:
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- Visit Wikipedia:WikiProject Scotland/Assessment, and help out by assessing unrated Scottish articles.
- Add the Project Banner to Scottish articles around Wikipedia.
- Participate in WikiProject Scotland's Peer Review, including responding to PR requests and nominating Scottish articles.
- Help nominate and select new content for the Scotland portal.
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