Topic Reading-Vol.889-9/17/2014

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Let’s learn about Scotland before referendum

A historic referendum is taking place, tomorrow, 18^th of September 2014. A little over 300 years of unity, the northern part of the Britain is to decide its fate whether to stay part of the nation or go for independence. But how much do you know about the country?

Enjoy reading and learning about this proud and independent country.

Scotland  is a country that covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east and has over 790 islands, including the Northern Isles and Hebrides.

Edinburgh, the country's capital and second-largest city, was the hub of the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century, which transformed Scotland into one of the commercial, intellectual, and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, was once one of the world's leading industrial cities. Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union.

Scotland was known to the Romans as Caledonia. The Midland Valley of Scotland represented the most northern extent of the Roman conquest of Britain after 79 A.D. In the 5th Century the "Scots" migrated from their home in Ireland and founded several Kingdoms on the western coast of Scotland. Under King Robert MacAlpin in 843, they finally rose to power and re-named the land Scotland.

From around 1120, Scotland began to divide into two cultural areas - the lowland Scots, mainly English-speaking, and Gaelic speaking Highlands where the clan system in Highland Scotland was strong. Many clans were powerful and semi-independent regions. The Lowlands adopted the feudal system after the Norman Conquest of England, 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army of Norman and French soldiers led by Duke William II of Normandy, William the Conqueror.

During the Wars of Scottish Independence (1290 -1363), when King Edward I tried to impose English rule on Scotland as he had successfully done in Wales, the people rose up against English rule, firstly, under the leadership of Sir William Wallace, who was captured by the English and brutally executed in London, and later, under that of Robert the Bruce who won a famous victory over the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. In 1603 King James VI inherited the throne of England from his Tudor cousin Elizabeth I, and became James I of England.

In 1707 the Scottish and English Parliaments signed a Treaty of Union, which effectively transferred all powers to London. Succeeding English monarchs were not as well disposed towards Scotland as James had been. Following the formal Act of Union in 1707, displeasure particularly amongst Highland Scots, supported the rebellions of 1715 and 1745. After the 1745 rebellion, which was effectively a Civil War, the Highland Clearances began, which devastated the cultural landscape of Scotland and destroyed much of the Gaelic culture, resulted in significant emigration of Highlanders to the sea coast, the Scottish Lowlands, and further afield to North America and Australasia.

Great Britain itself entered into a political union with Ireland in 1801 to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In May 1999, almost 300 years after its dissolution, Scotland gained a new Scottish Parliament, which governs the country on domestic matters, the United Kingdom Parliament, retains responsibility for Scotland's defense, international relations and certain other areas. Modern Scotland comprises 32 unitary authority regions.