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 is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjacent islands, principally in the archipelagos of the Hebrides and the Northern Isles. To the south-east, Scotland has its only land border, which is 96 miles (154 km) long and shared with England; the country is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the north-east and east, and the Irish Sea to the south. The population in 2022 was 5,439,842. Edinburgh is the capital and Glasgow is the most populous of the cities of Scotland.

The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the 9th century. 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 Scottish Government is the executive arm of the devolved government, headed by the first minister who chairs the cabinet and responsible for government policy and international engagement. Further powers are devolved to local government from the Scottish Government to the country's 32 subdivisions (known as "council areas").

The country has its own distinct legal system, education system and religious history, which have all contributed to the continuation of 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, though 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 the likes of Tiree and Coll are much flatter.

Purge - refresh with new selections below

Selected article

Papa Stour is one of the Shetland Islands in Scotland, with a population of fifteen people, some of whom immigrated after an appeal for residents in the 1970s. Located to the west of mainland Shetland and with an area of 828 hectares (3.2 square miles), Papa Stour is the ninth largest island in Shetland. Erosion of the soft volcanic rocks by the sea has created an extraordinary variety of caves, stacks, arches, blowholes, and cliffs. The island and its surrounding seas harbour diverse populations of wildlife. The west side of the island is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and the seas around the island are a Special Area of Conservation.

The island has several Neolithic burial chamber sites, as well as the remains of Duke Hakon's 13th-century house dating from the Norse occupation of the island. The population reached 380 or more in the 19th century, when a fishing station was opened at Crabbaberry in West Voe. Subsequently, there was a steady decline in population.

Today the main settlement on the island is Biggings, just to the east of which is Housa Voe from where the Snolda ferry arrives from its base at West Burrafirth on the Shetland Mainland. Crofting, especially sheep rearing, is the mainstay of island life.

Numerous shipwrecks have occurred around the coast, and the celebrated poem Da Sang o da Papa Men by Vagaland recalls the drama of the days when Papa Stour was a centre for deep-sea fishing. (... Read the full article)

List of selected articles

More articles (1-60)
More articles (61-105)

Selected quotes

Image 1

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

— David Hume

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

— John Davidson
Image 2

" ... A rat race is for rats. We’re not rats ... "

— Jimmy Reid

" ... I believe that every Scotsman should be a Scottish Nationalist ... "

— John Buchan
Image 3

" ... Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others ... "

— Robert Louis Stevenson

" ... Work is the grand cure of all maladies and miseries that ever beset mankind ... "

— Thomas Carlyle
Image 4

" ... The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none ... "

— Thomas Carlyle

" ... This is our land, this is our Scotland, these are our people, these are our men, our works, our women and children: can you beat it? ... "

— James Maxton
Image 5

" ... Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open ... "

— Sir James Dewar

" ... The world is neither Scottish, English, nor Irish, neither French, Dutch, nor Chinese, but human ... "

— Sir Alexander Gray
Image 6

" ... We think the world is ours for ever, but we are little more than squatters ... "

— Alexander McCall Smith

" ... A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black, stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless ... "

— James VI King of Scots (on Tobacco)
Image 7

" ... Some of my plays peter out and some pan out ... "

— J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan

" ... There are two rules for drinking whisky. First, never take whisky without water, and second, never take water without whisky ... "

— Chic Murray
Image 8

" ... A place for everything, and everything in its place ... "

— Samuel Smiles

" ... All politicians have vanity. Some wear it more gently than others ... "

— Sir David Steel, speaking in 1985
Image 9

" ... Oh, what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practice to deceive ... "

— Sir Walter Scott

" ... Look to your consciences and remember that the theatre of the world is wider than the realm of England ... "

— Mary, Queen of Scots
Image 10

" ... There is only one word for aid that is without strings, and that word is blackmail ... "

— Colm Brogan

" ... It is unfortunate, considering that enthusiasm moves the world, that so few enthusiasts can be trusted to speak the truth ... "

— A. J. Balfour
Image 11

" ... Science is the greatest antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition ... "

— Adam Smith

" ... William Wallace sheds as bright a glory upon his valorous nation as ever was shed upon their country by the greatest men of Greece or Rome ... "

— Giuseppe Garibaldi
Image 12

" ... A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence ... "

— David Hume

" ... The surest way to get a thing in this life is to be prepared for doing without it, to the exclusion even of hope ... "

— Jane Welsh Carlyle
Image 13

" ... Biography should be written by an acute enemy ... "

— A. J. Balfour

" ... We live in a Newtonian world of Einsteinian physics ruled by Frankenstein logic ... "

— David Russell
Image 14

" ... The cruellest lies are often told in silence ... "

— Robert Louis Stevenson

" ... It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important ... "

— Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Image 15

" ... There are only two types of music: rock and roll ... "

— Alex Harvey

" ... A man willing to work, and unable to find work, is perhaps the saddest sight that Fortune's inequality exhibits under this sun ... "

— Thomas Carlyle
Image 16

" ... I have not yet begun to fight! ... "

— John Paul Jones

" ... Devolution will kill nationalism stone dead ... "

— George Robertson
Image 17

" ... 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 18

" ... Is there anything worn under the kilt? No, it's all in perfect working order ... "

— Spike Milligan

" ... The true definition of a snob is one who craves for what separates men rather than for what unites them ... "

— John Buchan
Image 19

" ... I think Calvinism has done more damage to Scotland than drugs ever did ... "

— Ronald David Laing

" ... A sense of proportion is anathema to the Glasgow drinker. When he goes at the bevvy it is a fight to the death ... "

— Hugh McIlvanney
Image 20

" ... You ought to be roasted alive, though even then you would not be to my taste ... "

— J. M. Barrie speaking to George Bernard Shaw

" ... We are often unable to tell people what they need to know because they want to know something else ... "

— George MacDonald
Image 21

" ... A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder ... "

— Thomas Carlyle

" ... I am prepared to go anywhere, provided it be forward ... "

— David Livingstone
Image 22

" ... Doctors, like minicab drivers, are the other idiots to whom we trust our lives ... "

— James Kennaway

" ... When shall I see Scotland again? Never shall I forget the happy days I passed there amidst odious smells, barbarous sounds, bad suppers, excellent hearts and the most enlightened and cultivated understandings ... "

— Sydney Smith
Image 23

" ... 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 24

" ... Good lies need a leavening of truth to make them palatable ... "

— William McIlvanney

" ... Golf is a thoroughly national game; it is as Scotch as haggis, cockie-leekie, high cheek-bones or rowanberry jam ... "

— Andrew Lang

More quotes

In the news

24 May 2025 – 2024–25 Scottish Cup: In association football, Aberdeen F.C. wins their 9th Scottish Cup and their first in 35 years after defeating 42-time winners Celtic F.C. 4–3 in the final on penalties after a 1–1 draw at Hampden Park in Glasgow. (BBC Sport)
16 April 2025 – Transgender rights in the United Kingdom, For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers: The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom rules that legal gender is based upon biological sex for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010. (BBC News)

More current events

Selected biography

McIlvanney at the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2013

William Angus McIlvanney (25 November 1936 – 5 December 2015) was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, and poet. He was known as Gus by friends and acquaintances. McIlvanney was a champion of gritty yet poetic literature; his works Laidlaw, The Papers of Tony Veitch, and Walking Wounded are all known for their portrayal of Glasgow in the 1970s. He is regarded as "the father of Tartan Noir" and as Scotland's Camus. (... Read the full article)

List of selected biograpghies

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

Traigh Iar (Horgabost beach), Harris, which is part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island in the Outer Hebrides, .

Photo credit: Gordon Hatton
Image 3
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 4
Hill House, Helensburgh

Hill House in Helensburgh, Scotland, was created by architects and designers Charles and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh. The house was built in a Modern Style way.

Photo credit: JeremyA
Image 5
View of Oban and harbour

Oban (Scottish Gaelic: An t-Òban) (meaning "The Little Bay") is a resort town within the council area of Argyll and Bute. Oban Bay is a near perfect horseshoe bay, protected by the island of Kerrera, and beyond Kerrera is Mull. To the north is the long low island of Lismore, and the mountains of Morvern and Ardgour.

Photo credit: Josi
Image 6
Panorma of Loch Torridon

Loch Torridon (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Thoirbheartan) is a sea loch on the west coast of the Northwest Highlands. The loch was created by glacial processes and is in total around 15 miles (25 km) long. It has two sections: Upper Loch Torridon to landward, east of Rubha na h-Airde Ghlaise, at which point it joins Loch Sheildaig; and the main western section of Loch Torridon proper.

Photo credit: Stefan Krause
Image 7
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 8
Overview of Holyrood Palace

Holyrood Palace is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood has served as the principal royal residence in Scotland since the 16th century, and is a setting for state occasions and official entertaining.

Photo credit: Christoph Strässler
Image 9
Ben Vorlich and Loch Tay seen from Ben Lawers

Sunrise over Ben Vorlich , a mountain in the Southern Highlands and Loch Tay, the largest body of fresh water in Perth and Kinross.

Photo credit: Michal Klajban
Image 10
Cape Wrath Peninsula

Cape Wrath (Scottish Gaelic: Am Parbh, known as An Carbh in Lewis) is a cape in the Durness parish of the county of Sutherland in the Highlands of Scotland, and is the most north-westerly point in Great Britain.

Photo credit: RealSnowhunter
Image 11
The Callanish Stones

The Callanish Stones are an arrangement of standing stones near the village of Callanish on the west coast of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Placed in a cruciform pattern with a central stone circle, they were erected in the late Neolithic era, and were a focus for ritual activity during the Bronze Age

Photo credit: Mrdog10
Image 12
Aerial viewof the bridge over the River Garry, Perthshire

Autumnal colours seen in an aerial view of the bridge over the River Garry, Perthshire.

Photo credit: Ian Dick
Image 13
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 14
The Black Cuillin viewed from Sgùrr na Strì

The Black Cuillin, a range of rocky mountains located on the Isle of Skye, viewed from Sgùrr na Strì.

Photo credit: User:YaoAxton
Image 15
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 16
The Queens View, Loch Tummel

Loch Tummel (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Teimhil) is a long, narrow loch, 7 kilometres north west of Pitlochry in Perth and Kinross. A well known view over the loch and the surrounding countryside (with Schiehallion in the background) is the 'Queen's View' from the north shore, which Queen Victoria made famous in 1866.

Photo credit: Paul Hermans
Image 17
A Puffin on the Isle of May

A Puffin on the Isle of May, an island in the north of the outer Firth of Forth.

Photo credit: Rolf Maibaum
Image 18
Blackrock cottage, Rannoch Moor

A view of Blackrock Cottage on Rannoch Moor with Buachaille Etive Mor in the background.

Photo credit: Andrewmckie
Image 19
The Old Man of Storr

The Old Man of Storr is a rock pinnacle, the remains of an ancient volcanic plug. It is part of The Storr, a rocky hill overlooking the Sound of Raasay on the Trotternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye.

Photo credit: Wojsy
Image 20
Wemyss Bay railway station.

Wemyss Bay railway station is a railway station on the Inverclyde Line. Located in the village of Wemyss Bay, Inverclyde. The station incorporates the terminal for the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry connecting the mainland to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute.

Photo credit: wilm
Image 21
The gates of the Bruichladdich Distillery

The Bruichladdich distillery is a distillery on the Rhinns of the isle of Islay in Scotland. The distillery produces mainly single malt Scotch whisky, but has also offered artisanal gin.

Photo credit: Bdcl1881
Image 22
Kyle of Durness

Durness (Scottish Gaelic: Diùirnis) is a huge but remote parish in the northwestern Highlands, encompassing all the land between the Moine to the East (separating it from Tongue parish) and the Gualin to the West (separating it from Eddrachilis).

Photo credit: Neil Booth
Image 23
The second chamber of the Smoo Cave, Durness in Sutherland, Scotland

The second chamber of the Smoo Cave, Durness in Sutherland.

Photo credit: Florian_Fuchs
Image 24
A walker slacklining at the Old Man of Hoy

Walker Alex Schulz slacklining at the Old Man of Hoy, a 449-foot (137-metre) sea stack on Hoy, part of the Orkney archipelago .

Photo credit: AlexSchulz91
Image 25
Evening view across Calton Hill towards the Castle

Evening view from Calton Hill towards an illuminated Edinburgh Castle with the Bank of Scotland headquarters and the Balmoral Hotel illuminated in the intermediate foreground. The sillhouettes of the Scott Monument and the tall gothic spire of the Hub are both prominent in the frame.

Photo credit: Chris Fleming

More pictures

Did You Know...

Help available

... that during the First Bishops' War, the Duke of Hamilton's mother intended to shoot him with silver bullets if he landed in Scotland?
... that comedian Frankie Boyle's debut novel Meantime is about a Glaswegian drug addict investigating his friend's death?
... that Colin Mackay, the political editor at Scottish Television, was "very sad" when Colin MacKay, the political editor at Scottish Television, died?
... that Robert de Ogle captured five Scottish knights near Newcastle in 1341 and received royal licence to crenellate his property?
... that Scottish scientists attempted to create a carrot-based substitute for carbon fibre?
... that the Scottish surgeon John Blair was the only dux of his high school to receive his gold medal in the presence of his wife and child?
... that the unlicensed Willy's Chocolate Experience in Scotland led to a crossover event between the American television series Abbott Elementary and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia?
... that East Suffolk Park, a former student hostel in Edinburgh, was once an internment camp for enemy aliens?

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.