Portal:Scotland

The Scotland Portal

Main Page

Selected articles 1

Selected articles 2

Selected biographies

Selected quotes

Selected pictures

Featured Content

Categories & Topics

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.

Purge - refresh with new selections below

Selected article

The Royal Banner of the Royal Arms of Scotland, also known as the Royal Banner of Scotland, or more commonly the Lion Rampant of Scotland, and historically as the Royal Standard of Scotland, (Scottish Gaelic: Bratach rìoghail na h-Alba, Scots: Ryal banner o Scotland) or Banner of the King of Scots, is the royal banner of Scotland, and historically, the royal standard of the Kingdom of Scotland. Used historically by the Scottish monarchs, the banner differs from Scotland's national flag, the Saltire, in that its official use is restricted by an Act of the Parliament of Scotland to only a few Great Officers of State who officially represent the Monarchy in Scotland. It is also used in an official capacity at royal residences in Scotland when the Head of State is not present.

The earliest recorded use of the Lion Rampant as a royal emblem in Scotland was by Alexander II in 1222; with the additional embellishment of a double border set with lilies occurring during the reign of Alexander III (1249–1286). This emblem occupied the shield of the royal coat of arms of the ancient Kingdom of Scotland which, together with a royal banner displaying the same, was used by the King of Scots until the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when James VI acceded to the thrones of the kingdoms of England and Ireland. Since 1603, the lion rampant of Scotland has been incorporated into both the royal arms and royal banners of successive Scottish then British monarchs in order to symbolise Scotland, as can be seen today in the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom. Although now officially restricted to use by representatives of the Monarch and at royal residences, the Royal Banner continues to be one of Scotland's most recognisable symbols. (... Read the full article)

List of selected articles

More articles (1-60)
More articles (61-106)

Selected quotes

Image 1

" ... I'm not young enough to know everything ... "

— J.M.Barrie

" ... When one door closes another door opens, but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us ... "

— Alexander Graham Bell
Image 2

" ... 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
Image 3

" ... 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
Image 4

" ... 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
Image 5

" ... A man with God is always in the majority ... "

— John Knox

" ... Never ascribe to an opponent motives meaner than your own ... "

— J. M. Barrie
Image 6

" ... Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves ... "

— J. M. Barrie

" ... Speech is human, silence is divine, yet also brutish and dead: therefore we must learn both arts ... "

— Thomas Carlyle
Image 7

" ... 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
Image 8

" ... I have forgot a great deal more than most other men know ... "

— Lord Monboddo

" ... I tell you truly, liberty is the best of things; never live under the halter of slavery ... "

— William Wallace
Image 9

" ... Some folks are wise and some are otherwise ... "

— Tobias Smollett

" ... It is the mark of a good action that it appears inevitable in restrospect ... "

— Robert Louis Stevenson
Image 10

" ... 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
Image 11

" ... Jimmy Hill is to football what King Herod was to babysitting ... "

— Tommy Docherty

" ... Maybe that's why in England you have better horses, and in Scotland we have better men ... "

— James Boswell responding to Samuel Johnson

("In England we wouldn't think of eating oats. We only feed them to horses.")
Image 12

" ... No man is useless while he has a friend ... "

— Robert Louis Stevenson

" ... Scottish separation is part of England's imperial disintegration ... "

— John MacLean
Image 13

" ... He who has provoked the lash of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it ... "

— J. M. Barrie speaking to George Bernard Shaw

" ... You think a wall as solid as the earth separates civilisation from barbarism. I tell you the division is a sheet of glass ... "

— John Buchan
Image 14

" ... Freedom is best, I tell thee true, of all things to be won ... "

— William Wallace

" ... The Irish gave the bagpipes to the Scots as a joke, but the Scots haven't seen the joke yet ... "

— Oliver Herford
Image 15

" ... The secret of long life is always be doing something you enjoy ... "

— Tom Weir

" ... War is a quarrel between two thieves too cowardly to fight their own battle ... "

— Thomas Carlyle
Image 16

" ... 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
Image 17

" ... The Scots are steadfast - not their clime ... "

— Thomas Crawford

" ... We do have the greatest fans in the world but I’ve never seen a fan score a goal ... "

— Jock Stein
Image 18

" ... 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
Image 19

" ... Diffused knowledge immortalizes itself ... "

— James Mackintosh

" ... The cloven-foot of self-interest was now and then to be seen aneath the robe of public principle ... "

— John Galt
Image 20

" ... All government is a monopoly of violence ... "

— Sir Walter Scott

" ... In order to enjoy leisure, it is absolutely necessary it should be preceded by occupation ... "

— Hugh MacDiarmid
Image 21

" ... I think for my part one half of the nation is mad – and the other not very sound ... "

— Tobias Smollett

" ... Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism, but peace, easy taxes and a tolerable administration of justice ... "

— Adam Smith
Image 22

" ... He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp posts — for support rather than illumination ... "

— Andrew Lang

" ... We come here with no peaceful intent, but ready for battle, determined to avenge our wrongs and set our country free.
Let your masters come and attack us: we are ready to meet them beard to beard ... "

— William Wallace
Image 23

" ... 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
Image 24

" ... Avarice, the spur of industry ... "

— David Hume

" ... No enemy is half so fatal as a friend estranged ... "

— John Davidson
Image 25

" ... One can love a country until it hurts ... "

— Alexander McCall Smith

" ... I thought he was a young man of promise, but I see he was a young man of promises ... "

— A. J. Balfour

More quotes

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)

More current events

Selected biography

Portrait of David Hume by Allan Ramsay, 1766

David Hume (/hjuːm/; born David Home; 7 May 1711 – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist and essayist who is known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Beginning with A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40), Hume strove to create a naturalistic science of man that examined the psychological basis of human nature. Following John Locke, Hume rejected the existence of innate ideas, holding that all our ideas derive ultimately from impressions, but in his fork he distinguished relations of ideas, known a priori, from matters of fact, whose knowledge rests on experience. This places him in the empiricist tradition of Locke and George Berkeley, while drawing his experimental method from Francis Bacon.

Hume argued that inductive reasoning and belief in causality cannot be justified empirically; instead, they result from custom and mental habit. People never actually perceive that one event causes another but experience only the "constant conjunction" of events. This problem of induction means that to draw any causal inferences from past experience, it is necessary to presuppose that the future will resemble the past; this metaphysical presupposition cannot itself be grounded in prior experience.

An opponent of philosophical rationalists, Hume held that passions rather than reason govern human behaviour, proclaiming that "Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions." Hume was also a sentimentalist who held that ethics are based on emotion or sentiment rather than abstract moral principle. He maintained an early commitment to naturalistic explanations of moral phenomena and is usually accepted by historians of European philosophy to have first clearly expounded the is–ought problem, or the idea that a statement of fact alone can never give rise to a normative conclusion of what ought to be done.

Hume denied that people have an actual conception of the self, positing that they experience only a bundle of sensations and that the self is nothing more than this bundle of perceptions connected by an association of ideas. Hume's compatibilist theory of free will takes causal determinism as fully compatible with human freedom. His philosophy of religion, including his rejection of miracles and critique of the argument from design, was especially controversial. (... Read the full article)

List of selected biographies

More biographies

Selected picture

Image 1
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 2
Glasgow University main building with Dumgoyne and the Campsie Fells in the background

Autumnal view of Glasgow University main building with Dumgoyne and the Campsie Fells in the background

Photo credit: Ian Dick
Image 3
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 4
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)
Image 5
Comon seal basking on rocks

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

Photo credit: Sharp Photography
Image 6
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
Image 7
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 8
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
Image 9
The Falkirk Wheel.

The Falkirk Wheel, named after the nearby town of Falkirk, is a rotating boat lift connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. The wheel raises boats by 24 metres (79 ft).

Photo credit: User:SeanMack
Image 10
Aerial view of Pennan village

Pennan (Scots: Peenan) is a small village in Aberdeenshire] consisting of a small harbour and a single row of homes. Pennan became famous for representing the fictional village of Ferness, being one of the main locations for the film Local Hero.

Photo credit: Tadpolefarm
Image 11
Statue of Robert the Bruce, Bannockburn

Robert the Bruce statue at the Bannockburn Visitor Centre, Bannockburn, Stirling, is a 1964 work by Pilkington Jackson. The bronze sculpture depicts Robert the Bruce wielding an axe and on a war horse.

Photo credit: Martin Kraft
Image 12
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 -27.2^oC, on 11 February 1895, and 10 January 1982.

Photo credit: Paul Chapman
Image 13
The Queensferry Crossing south end

The Queensferry Crossing (formerly the Forth Replacement Crossing) is a road bridge in Scotland. It was built alongside the existing Forth Road Bridge and the Forth Bridge. It carries the M90 motorway across the Firth of Forth between Edinburgh, at South Queensferry, and Fife, at North Queensferry.

Photo credit: Greg Fitchett
Image 14
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
Image 15
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 16
The Black Watch War Memorial on the Mound in Edinburgh.

The Black Watch War Memorial, at the corner of Market Street and North Bank Street on the Mound in Edinburgh.

Photo credit: AdMeskens
Image 17
MV Isle of Arran leaving Port Askaig

Caledonian MacBrayne ferry MV Isle of Arran leaving Port Askaig, Islay with Jura visible in the background
Image 18
Luskentyre Beach, Lewis and Harris, The Outer Hebrides

Luskentyre Beach, Lewis and Harris, the Outer Hebrides

Photo credit: Thomas_Andy_Branson
Image 19
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
Image 20
Balmoral Castle

Balmoral Castle. Aberdeenshire a residence of the British royal family in the Scottish baronial style.

Photo credit: Ejdzej
Image 21
Glenfinnan Viaduct

Glenfinnan Viaduct is a railway viaduct on the West Highland Line in Glenfinnan, Lochaber, Highland. It was built between 1897 and 1901. Located at the top of Loch Shiel in the West Highlands, the viaduct overlooks the Glenfinnan Monument and the waters of Loch Shiel.

Photo credit: Nicolas17
Image 22
Armoury, Inveraray Castle

The Armoury at Inveraray Castle

Photo credit: Stuart Wilding
Image 23
Crofters cottage and sheep, Cairngorms National Park

Crofters cottage and sheep, Cairngorms National Park.

Photo credit: Thomas_Andy_Branson
Image 24
St Mary's Cathedral viewsedfrom Manor Place, Edinburgh

St Mary's Cathedral viewed from Manor Place, Edinburgh.

Photo credit: Discott
Image 25
Detail of the Queen from the Lewis chessmen

The Lewis chessmen (named after their find-site) belong to some of the few complete medieval chess sets that have survived until today. The chessmen are believed to have been made in Norway, perhaps by craftsmen in Trondheim (where similar pieces have been found), sometime during the 12th century.

Photo credit: Finlay McWalter

More pictures

Did You Know...

Help available

... that East Suffolk Park, a former student hostel in Edinburgh, was once an internment camp for enemy aliens?
... 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 2024 Hillhead by-election was the first by-election won by the Scottish Green Party?
... that the Scottish judge Lord Duthie served as an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve?
... that Colin Mackay, the political editor at Scottish Television, was "very sad" when Colin MacKay, the political editor at Scottish Television, died?
... that the Scottish invasion of England in 1648 was defeated by an army less than half their size?
... 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 a miniature golf chain is an affiliate member of both England and Scotland's national governing bodies for golf?

More did you know items

Get involved

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

For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Scotland-related articles, see WikiProject Scotland.

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:

Visit the Scottish Wikipedians' notice board and help to write new Scotland-related articles, and expand and improve existing ones.
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.

Do you have a question about The Scotland Portal that you can't find the answer to?
Post a question on the Talk Page or consider asking it at the Wikipedia reference desk.