Does anyone know facts about Scotland?

Question

Unique rituals/customs? Style of government? cultural characteristics? economic development (major imports/exports)? recent problems experienced ( political, economical, social )?

Answer 1

31Dec/01Jan is normally referred to as New Year in Scotland it's Hogmanay.

Traditional dram (drink) is whisky (please don't spell it whiskey).

Capital city - Edinburgh

Answer 2

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/...

http://www.rampantscotland.com/know/blkn...

http://www.factsaboutscotland.net/

http://www.eupedia.com/scotland/trivia.s...

Answer 3

Edinburgh's the capital, but Glasgow is far bigger.

They outlawed smoking in public places before we (the English) did.

They have a late licence (used to be 1am as normal, 3am extended)

They like to deep fry everything (there's a chippy in Ed that sells deep fried pizza. I kid you not)

Glasgow has the highest knife/ violent assault/ prostitution/ drug levels of the UK

There are 4 banks that print Scottish money- every bank note has a picture of a brewery on it, though

New year's eve in Ed is a huge thing- you need tickets to enter the main street (Princes Street) but they're free.

Dundee is a sh*t hole (I went to uni there... briefly)

Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the phone, was Scottish

Tesco is based in Dundee

Answer 4

We are a very old country stretching back to the 9th century when Scotland emerged as a distinct entity after the amalgamation of smaller kingdoms . James Vl became King of Great Britain in 1603 and Scotland and England established a British Parliament in 1707 . Scotland  along with Wales established  devolved governments some ten years ago  . The Scottish Parliament sits at Holyrood in Edinburgh . It is currently governed by the Scottish National Party a moderate left of centre party who wish to see Scotland become like Ireland an independent state . Scotland has its own legal system and a number of Scottish judges hold top European posts . Apart from  whisky and tourism , Scotland has a wealth of natural gas  and oil in both the north sea and north atlantic . The recent GERS report ( Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland ) confirmed that economically Scotland is economically self supporting blowing the myth propagated in some sources that it was reliant on subsidy from the UK entity .

The biggest problems are not dissimilar to elsewhere in Britain . Health , drugs and alcohol abuse require addressing  more vigourously . The Edinburgh Festival held in August is an international spectacle and emphasis the cosmopolitan nature of Scotland's capital . Glasgow was voted European City of Culture some years back .

Answer 5

Scotland [ˈskɑtlənd] (help·info) (Gaelic: Alba) is a country[5][6] that occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It is part of the United Kingdom,[5] and shares a land border to the south with England. It is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland consists of over 790 islands[7] including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.

Edinburgh, the country's capital and second largest city, is one of Europe's largest financial centres.[8] It was the hub of the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century, which saw Scotland become one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Scotland's largest city is Glasgow, which was once one of the world's leading industrial metropolises, and now lies at the centre of the Greater Glasgow conurbation which dominates the Scottish Lowlands. Scottish waters consist of a large sector[9] of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union.

The Kingdom of Scotland was an independent state until 1 May 1707 when it joined in a political union with the Kingdom of England to create a united Kingdom of Great Britain.[10][11] This union was the result of the Treaty of Union agreed earlier and put into effect by the Acts of Union that were passed by the Parliaments of both countries despite widespread protest across Scotland.[12][13] Scotland's legal system continues to be separate from those of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland; Scotland still constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in public and in private law.[14] The continued independence of Scots law, the Scottish education system, and the Church of Scotland have all contributed to the continuation of Scottish culture and Scottish national identity since the Union.[15] Although Scotland is no longer a separate sovereign state, the constitutional future of Scotland continues to give rise to debate.

Answer 6

Unique rituals, You will not find this any-where else in the world..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAWjGHYyY... Scare off demons...but more for a hogmany Pi$$-up now..

Answer 7

The people who live there are scottish! : )

And it's located above England...and sorry i dont really know much about scotland! If no one else knows on here try googling it and have a browse at some of the websites. Sorry for the unhelpfulness!

Answer 8

A lot of people here are basing their answers on stereotypes.

Scotland is a country that occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It is part of the United Kingdom, and shares a land border to the south with England. It is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland consists of over 790 islands including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.

Edinburgh, the country's capital and second largest city, is one of Europe's largest financial centres. It was the hub of the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century, which saw Scotland become one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe.

Scotland's largest city is Glasgow, which was once one of the world's leading industrial metropolises, and now lies at the centre of the Greater Glasgow conurbation which dominates the Scottish Lowlands. 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 has a western style open mixed economy which is closely linked with that of the rest of Europe and the wider world. Traditionally, the Scottish economy has been dominated by heavy industry underpinned by the shipbuilding in Glasgow, coal mining and steel industries. Petroleum related industries associated with the extraction of North Sea oil have also been important employers from the 1970s, especially in the north east of Scotland.

De-industrialisation during the 1970s and 1980s saw a shift from a manufacturing focus towards a more service-oriented economy. Edinburgh is the financial services centre of Scotland and the sixth largest financial centre in Europe in terms of funds under management, behind London, Paris, Frankfurt, Zurich and Amsterdam, with many large finance firms based there, including: the Royal Bank of Scotland (the second largest bank in Europe); HBOS (owners of the Bank of Scotland); and Standard Life.

In 2005, total Scottish exports (excluding intra-UK trade) were provisionally estimated to be £17.5 billion, of which 70% (£12.2 billion) were attributable to manufacturing. Scotland's primary exports include whisky, electronics and financial services. The United States, The Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain constitute the country's major export markets. In 2006, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Scotland (excluding oil and gas production from 'Scottish' waters) was just over £86 billion, giving a per capita GDP of £16,900.

Tourism is widely recognised as a key contributor to the Scottish economy. A briefing published in 2002 by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, (SPICe), for the Scottish Parliament's Enterprise and Life Long Learning Committee, stated that tourism accounted for up to 5% of GDP and 7.5% of employment.

As of November 2007 the unemployment rate in Scotland stood at 4.9%—lower than the UK average and that of the majority of EU countries.

The most recent government figures (for 2006/7) suggest that Scotland would be in budget surplus to the tune of more than £800m if it received its geographical share of North Sea revenues. The net fiscal balance, which is the budget balance plus capital investment, reported a deficit of £2.7 billion (2.1% of GDP) including Scotland's full geographical share of North Sea revenue, or a £10.2bn deficit if the North Sea share is excluded.

Scotland has limited self-government within the United Kingdom as well as representation in the UK Parliament. Executive and legislative powers have been devolved to, respectively, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood in Edinburgh. The United Kingdom Parliament retains power over a set list of areas explicitly specified in the Scotland Act 1998 as reserved matters, including, for example, levels of UK taxes, social security, defence, international relations and broadcasting.

The Scottish Parliament has legislative authority for all other areas relating to Scotland, as well as limited power to vary income tax, a power it has yet to exercise. The Scottish Parliament can refer devolved matters back to Westminster by passing a Legislative Consent Motion if United Kingdom-wide legislation is considered to be more appropriate for a certain issue.

The programmes of legislation enacted by the Scottish Parliament have seen a divergence in the provision of public services compared to the rest of the United Kingdom. For instance, the costs of a university education, and care services for the elderly are free at point of use in Scotland, while fees are paid in the rest of the UK. Scotland was the first country in the UK to ban smoking in enclosed public places.

I like this building:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Moder...

Hope this helps.

Answer 9

locness monster.! lol x

capital city= edingborugh

weather is = FREEZING COLD

hope it helped xx

Answer 10

They have really cool accents.  They wear kilts and play bagpipes.