Getting Familiar with Scotland, Geography, Culture, and Economy (Part 1)

Getting Familiar with Scotland

This article addresses getting familiar with Scotland. We will learn more about the geography, culture and economy of this country. Stay with us to the end with getting familiar with Scotland.

A country on the north-western edge of Europe. A mix of islands, highlands and lowlands. A country of romance and unique traditions, very different from their imperial neighbor to the south. A nation of three different languages, its culture has survived and flourished across the millennia, delivering some of the greatest and most innovative minds found anywhere.

This is the land of whiskey and haggis, Nessie and oil, golf, tartan and bagpipes.

This land could only be Scotland.

In this content regarding getting familiar with Scotland, we investigate these topics:

• Geography
• Population
• Geology
• Policy
• Religion
• Language
• Nationality

Geography

With the topic of getting familiar with Scotland, the first subject we address is about geography.  Scotland is a country within the nation-state of the United Kingdom, being the most northern part of the island of Great Britain. It comprises three parts - an archipelago, highlands, and lowlands. It has a rich history and culture, quite distinct from that of its southern English neighbor, despite Scotland not being a nation-state per se.

We use the word “country” correctly, however, as Scotland is one of four “countries” of the United Kingdom, and is the legal term used to describe these subdivisions of the greater nation-state. In this article entitled getting familiar with Scotland, we’ll look at Scotland’s physical and human geography, its national organization and state structure and symbols, and lastly its economy and culture.

The word Scotland means land of the Scots, which is simple enough. But the word “Scot” has a more complex history. The geography of Scotland is a contrast of wild and rugged islands and highlands on the one side and tamed lowlands on the other. It forms the top half of the island of Great Britain, so named as it is the larger of the two British Isles.

The only land border is with England, although with the customs union that has been in place since 1707, one can pass through uninterrupted. To the east is the North Sea, and to the North and West is the Atlantic Ocean. To the southwest is the North Channel of the Irish Sea separating Scotland from Ireland. With a total land area of just over 80,000 square km (80,239 km2), it is 60% the size of England and 14% larger than the Republic of Ireland.

If ranked globally, it would be 115th largest by land area, between the Czech Republic and the United Arab Emirates. The mainland spans latitudes from 54° to 58°N while the top of the Shetland Islands reaches as far as 60°N. The car journey of 390 miles from the extreme north to south on the mainland will take you about eight hours, while the journey of 230 miles at the widest point would take around five and a half hours.

There are four island groups off the Scottish coast. In the far north, we have the Shetland Islands, to the immediate north Orkneys, to the northwest the Outer Hebrides and nestled within the channels and peninsular of the rugged west coast, the Inner Hebrides.

Due in part to the almost constant winds blowing in from the Atlantic, all these islands are almost totally devoid of forest cover and have been so throughout the historical record. Instead, they are covered in low-lying shrubs such as heather and gorse, along with grasses. The Highlands of Scotland form the northern and western parts of the mainland and are considered to be one of the last great wildernesses of Europe, being relatively lightly populated.

They too are largely lacking forest cover, either due to their elevation which means summer temperatures are too cool for the growth of trees, or to millennia of deforestation and the grazing of cattle, deer, and sheep that prevent the budding of saplings. So, like the islands most have a covering of grasses and low-lying shrubs. The highest point in the British Isles is found here. Ben Nevis, meaning “Cloudy Mountain” in Gaelic, stands at 1,345m (4,413ft).

It can be climbed in one day and demonstrates that the British Isles are not truly mountainous when compared to many other countries, where mountain ranges regularly exceed three times this height. The Highlands are split in two by the almost ruler-straight Great Glen, with Loch Ness running most of its length.

By contrast, the central and eastern parts of Scotland are low-lying, where most of the population is found, and when not urbanized, are almost completely farmed. Finally, we have the Southern Uplands which form a wide skirt of elevated country that is comparatively sparsely populated and has acted as a natural barrier to England for centuries. Like almost all of the British Isles, the climate is Oceanic, meaning that rain can occur year-round, and where the temperature variation is mild, with cool winters and warm summers.

That said, there are significant variations in rainfall between the west and east coasts, as the prevailing wind direction is westerly, and so storms moving in from the Atlantic deposit their load on the rugged western coasts leaving a small remainder to continue eastwards. Curiously certain sheltered parts of the west coast, such as the village of Plockton sport palm trees reminiscent of the tropics.

The reason for this is that Scotland is directly in the path of the warm Gulf Stream ocean current of the Atlantic which is responsible in general for the mild climate at these high latitudes, but in particular for local spots right on the ocean that are also sheltered by surrounding hills that prevent cold winds blowing out from the interior that would otherwise bring frost. One last comment on Scotland’s geography relates to its geology, where in fact, that very subject began.

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Geology

With the topic of getting familiar with Scotland, the second subject we address is about geology. The rocks of Scotland have been examined for a longer period than any place in the world, and it was here that the Scot James Hutton, considered to be the father of geology, first postulated that the earth was probably much older than the few thousand years that were thought at that time.

population

With the topic of getting familiar with Scotland, the third subject we address is about the population. Scotland has a population of around five and a half million (5,466,000 -2020 estimate), comprising only about 8% of the total UK population despite occupying about a third of its land area. Notably, it is less than 10% of the population of England.

Nationality

With the topic of getting familiar with Scotland, the 4th subject we address is about nationality. Over 80% of Scotland’s population are white Scottish-born, with about 8% being from other parts of the UK and between 2-3% being of South Asian origin. In the 2011 census, Scots were asked how they self-identify nationally. 62% said Scottish only, while 18% identified as Scottish and British, and 8% as British only. This demonstrates that the Scottish identity is still very much alive, despite being in a union with England for over three centuries.

Although recent DNA studies do not show a great distinction between the Scots and the English, Scotland nonetheless has the second highest proportion of redheads in the world at 6% with only Ireland at 10% having more. Redheads are associated with Celtic peoples, as documented as far back as ancient Greek and Roman sources.

Language

With the topic of getting familiar with Scotland, the 5th subject we address is about the language. English is spoken universally throughout Scotland, with a range of accents that, to a native English speaker outside of Scotland is instantly recognizable as Scottish. However, there are more subtle regional accents of English within Scotland, with Glaswegian being notably different from Edinburgh despite their relative proximity.

These accents, and the Scottish accent considered collectively are the descendants of the Scots language of the Middle Ages, where English was mixed with Gaelic forms during the urbanization of the lowlands at that time. Since the Union of 1707, however, Scots rapidly fell into disuse, as it was seen at that time as backward or denoted one of a lower class.

You can also watch this video for getting familiar with Scotland:

Remarkably, though, the Scots language today is claimed to be spoken by about 30% of Scottish people, predominantly in the east and south of the country. For a native English speaker such as myself, which it is estimated about a 75% legibility rate when reading or listening, it is a fascinating experience, as it is the only true dialect of English, the most universal of all tongues, that can be regarded as a separate language and is indeed officially recognized as such.

Scottish Gaelic, by comparison, is now only spoken by about 1% of Scottish people, largely in the Outer Hebrides, a variant and survivor of the Celtic Gaelic language brought over from Ireland in the early Middle Ages. You can hear all these English accents, Scots, and Gaelic spoken in the links that I have provided in the description.

Religion

With the topic of getting familiar with Scotland, the 6th subject we address is about the religion. When it comes to religion, just over a third of Scots are protestant Christians with most adhering to the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Half that number are Catholic, while just over a third of the total claim no religion. Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland, with the greater metro area accounting for over a third of the total Scottish population at 1.8 million.

Next in population is the capital of Edinburgh, with a metro area population of about a million. Both are within the densely populated lowland belt around the Forth and Clyde rivers. Scotland’s third city, however, lies far to the North-East. Aberdeen has a metro-area population of about half a million and is home to Scotland’s oil industry.

Scotland’s position as a nation today is within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or UK for short. It is one of four “countries” that compose the UK, the others being Northern Ireland, Wales and England.

Policy

With the topic of getting familiar with Scotland, the 7th subject we address is about the policy. All of these countries send members of parliament or MPs to Westminster, London, for the 650-member national parliament, for terms that cannot exceed five years between each election. All countries except England have some form of devolution, or autonomy, with an assembly or parliament that has varying degrees of power to enact laws that relate to domestic affairs within that country.

Of these devolved assemblies, the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh has the most powers and forms a rather long and complex list. For instance, food safety, education, and agriculture are within its purview, whereas broadcasting, pensions, and drug policy are not.

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