I.

Introduction

Scotland, country, administrative division of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain. The crowns of Scotland and England were united in 1603, and the governments of the two countries in 1707; Scotland has retained, however, its own legal system, its own Church, a substantially different education system, and the right to issue its own bank notes. Since 1999, a Scottish parliament of 129 seats has sat independently of the parliament at Westminster. Scotland is bordered on the north by the Atlantic Ocean; on the east by the North Sea; on the south-east by England; on the south by the Solway Firth, which partly separates it from England, and by the Irish Sea; and on the west by the North Channel of the Irish Sea which separates it from the island of Ireland, and by the Atlantic Ocean. As a geopolitical entity Scotland includes 186 nearby islands, a majority of which are contained in three groups—the Hebrides, also known as the Western Isles (Eilean Siar), situated off the western coast; the Orkney Islands, situated off the north-eastern coast; and the Shetland Islands, situated north-east of the Orkney Islands. The largest of the other islands is Arran, located in the Firth of Clyde, off the west coast. The land area of Scotland, including the islands, is 78,790 sq km (30,420 sq mi). The figure includes some 1,692 sq km (653 sq mi) of inland water. Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, and a leading cultural and economic centre.