Scotland is
a part of the United Kingdom, and the British Isles. The origin of the name
Scotland came from the Latin word “Scoti”. The name was given to the Celts that
lived in the area. The name Scotland could also be directly translated to “Land
of the Scots”.
The first
inhabitants in Scotland came after the ice age for 11 000 years ago. The first
houses came for 9 500 years ago, while the first villages came for 6000 years
ago. In the middle of the 500- century the Irish missionary monk, Columba,
started the Christianization of Scotland. Then in the beginning of the 800-
century Norwegian Vikings settled on the Shetland Isles, Orkney Islands and the
Hebrides. In the following 100 years
England tried to submit Scotland, but their struggles failed. In 1707 Scotland
and England joined together in one kingdom, The United Kingdom. They have a
united parliament, armed forces and so on.
The
Scottish government is responsible for the day-to-day issues that the people
have. They take care of the health, education, justice, rural affairs and
transport. The government was established in 1999. The purpose of the
government is to create a more successful country, with opportunities or all.
Education
is very important in Scotland, and the system is some different from the
British system. Children start primary school when they are 4,5 or 5,5 years
old. When they have been in primary school for seven years they start secondary
school.
When you
hear the word Scottish your usually thought goes to a man in a skirt playing a
bagpipe and talks a strange language. The skirt is called a kilt and is the
traditional Scottish clothing, for both men and women. The pattern you find on
this kilt is called a tartan. Bagpipes
are very popular in Scotland, together with the famous dish haggis. A haggis
will include the heart, liver and lungs of a sheep, onions, oats and
spices. The oldest language in Scotland
is Gaelic, but it´s only spoken by around sixty thousand people.
A recent
newsstory from Scotland is that the government has recently bought the airport
Prestwick. The airport is now a public ownership.
There are
many different dialects in Scotland, Scottish Gaelic, English in Scotland and the
Scots dialect. Scottish Gaelic is the oldest dialect, and is not similar to English.
The English spoken in Scotland is difficult to define, but is the official
written language. Scots dialect and the standard English Scottish is very
similar and get often blurred. The Scots dialect descends from Old
English.
Five
Fun Facts
Scotland is
called “Alba” in Gaelic.
Scotland
includes 787 islands (only 130 are inhabited).
The unicorn
is the official Scottish animal.
Scotland is
considered the home- land of golf.
Although
Scotland is very famous for it´s whisky they did not invent it, China did.
