|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCOTLAND
- ESSENTIAL FACTS
Scotland is the second largest, in area and in population of the countries of
the United Kingdom. It consists of the northern part of the island of Great
Britain and the islands to the North and West off there. Scotland lies right on
the fringe of Europe but the climate
is a lot milder than in our country. The effects of the sea, especially the warm
Gulf Stream mean that winters are warmer and summers cooler. However there are
often terrible storms from the sea and Arctic conditions in the mountains.
The country can be split into three parts; the Highlands and Islands, the
Central Lowlands and the Southern Uplands. The Highlands
and Islands are beautiful and sparsely populated.
There are many mountains but most trees were cut down long ago. Now the hills
are covered in grass and purple heather, grazed by sheep and deer. There are
many lochs, freshwater like Loch Ness or sealochs on the west coast. Most of the
land is owned by rich people used for hunting or timber plantations. Many local
people are crofters - this means that they have small farms but also have other
jobs to make a living. Tourism is very important here, visitors come to
sightsee, go hillwalking, or in winter, go skiing.
Most of 5 million people live in the Central
belt. The land is good for farming and not too
hilly. The area was famous for heavy industry, like shipbuilding and
engineering, but this is nearly all gone now. Many towns grew up around coal
mines and steel mills and now that they have closed down there is heavy
unemployment and other problems in some areas. There are also many historical
towns and sites to visit in Central Scotland, the medieval trading village of
Culross for example or the visitor centre at Bannockburn where a Scottish army
won a famous battle over the English in 1314. Edinburgh is a major centre of
tourism. This beautiful city with its castle on the hill above the Old Town
hosts the world's largest festival every autumn. Only 60 km away on the west
coast is Glasgow, a merchant and industrial city of over 800,000 people with
many museums, galleries and beautiful buildings.
The Southern
uplands are a mix of bleak hills and famous fish
rivers flow through valleys with small agricultural towns such as Galashiels. In
the west many places are associated with Robert Burns, the Scottish national
poet, and the east was the home of Sir Walter Scott, the novelist.
The border with England was for centuries an unsafe place because of constant
fighting but what really separates Scotland and England? Historically the people
are different and Scotland was for long and independent country. Then in 1603,
when Queen Elizabeth of England died childless, King James VI of Scotland became
monarch of England and Wales as well. It wasn't until 1707 though that the
countries were joined with one parliament.
After Union many institutions and
traditions remained separate. Scotland has its own legal
system, more like Europe than the English
system
and also its own
currency (the value is the same as in the rest of
the UK but banknotes have different design). The Presbyterian
Church Of Scotland is not linked to the state like
the Church of England and elects its officials.
One of the Church's strongest effects on Scottish life was
the setting up of public schools
in every parish when this was not common elsewhere. The whole Scottish
educational system is still different from the rest of the UK. School pupils sit
"Higher" exams not A levels before going to university, normally for 4
years not 3 like south of the border.
Scotland has its own football
league with famous teams such as Glasgow Rangers
and Celtic, who are traditionally supported by rival Protestant and Catholics.
The national team isn't, unfortunately, very successful.
Centuries of war and unrest meant that powerful families built fortified homes
and castles. The last war was the Jacobite uprising in 1745. This ended in the massacre
of a Highland army at Culloden followed by years of suppression of their
Gaelic language and culture.
However, in the 19th century all things Scottish,
such as Tartan and whiskey became popular all over Britain. Scotland is the land
of many special traditions which cannot be found elsewhere in the world - playing
the pipes, quality tweeds, woolen knitwear, wearing kilts made of tartan, Scotch
whisky (it derives its name from the Gaelic word
"uisge beatha" meaning "the water of life").
Today Gaelic is promoted. It is spoken in schools and on many
TV and radio programmes and all signs in the north-west are bilingual. Scottish
folk music is very popular as is traditional dancing to live music at parties
called Ceilidhs (Kaylees). In the summer many people go to Higland Games where
they watch dancing, sports and bagpipe competitions.
Perhaps the most different thing in Scotland is how most
people speak. Scot's accents
have sounds different from standard English, fewer vowel sounds and "ch"
and "r" are spoken like in your language. There are also many dialect
words so that "broad" Scots can be hard for foreigners - like the
English to understand. All these things make the Scots feel separate from the
rest of the United Kingdom.
FACTS FROM THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND
Edward II tried to achieve the Scottish throne, but he failed. The Scots made an alliance with the French. Edward declared himself King of Scotland (1296) but the following year a national revolt flared up, led by William Wallace. Edward was forced to conquer Scotland all over again. He was called "The Hammer of the Scots". Eventually he was defeated by Robert Bruce's army at the Great Battle of Bannockburn. Thanks to Edward's wars Scotland became almost permanently hostile to England and began a 300-year alliance with France.
The last of the Tudors, Queen Elizabeth I, died childless in 1603. The English throne passed to her nearest relative, James VI of Scotland, who now also became England's James I and the first of the Stuart monarchs. Once Scotland and England were ruled by the same king, their long-standing antagonism seemed likely to fade away. However, the two countries continued to be separate (each had its own Parliament and laws), and James's hopes for a complete union were frustrated. It was James who coined the term "Great Britain" to describe his English-Welsh-Scottish kingdom.
When your name is Andrew, you celebrate your nameday on 30 November. In Scotland
this day is celebrated as the Scottish national day. In England and in America
people do not celebrate their namedays but, however, there are some names which
are special for them.
St. Andrew was a fisherman from Capernaum and former disciple
of John the Baptist. He became one of Christ’s first four apostles. He was
martyred around AD 60 in Patras in Greece by being tied to a transverse cross
for two days. His body was secretly buried in a monastery there until, in AD
370, a monk named Rule was urged by an angel in a dream to take some of the
relics to an unknown destination in the north-west. He took an arm bone and some
finger bones and sailed west for hundreds of miles until he and his companions
were shipwrecked on the cliffs of a Scottish coast where the tower of St Rule
now stands. There he built a church to house the relics, and the town of St
Andrews grew up around it.
Thanks to the prestigious relics, Rule's church was richly
endowed by early Scottish kings and became a centre for pilgrimage. Rule himself
became a saint and the first of the influential bishops of St Andrews.
The great cathedral, built in the 12th and 13th centuries,
was the largest building in Scotland at the time and for years it was the centre
of the country’s religious life. Little is left of it now. There are only the
ruins of the Cathedral.
St Andrews, once a rich and bustling market town, retains
many historic streets and houses. Nowadays it is known first of all because of
its university and its golf courses.
November 30 is celebrated as the Scottish national holiday
and on this day Saint Andrew’s flag is flown. It is blue with diagonal white
bands.
As Andrew was one of the West’s most popular saints and
Scotland shares him as a patron with Russia and fishermen. He is often depicted
with a fishing net, or with a transverse cross.
ABERDEEN
Aberdeen (215,000) is the industrial centre of the Grampian Region on the east coast and the seat of Aberdeen university (1494). Oil discoveries in the North Sea transformed Aberdeen into the offshore capital.
ANTONINE WALL
Antonine Wall is a wall similar to Hadrian's Wall and was built between 142 and 200 AD between the Clyde and the Forth rivers in Scotland.
EDINBURGH
Edinburgh (440,000, Scotland) is the capital
of Scotland since 12th century and its industrial and cultural
centre. It holds an annual Festival of Music and Drama and is the home of a
university since 1583.
Edinburgh is a fascinating
city to visit at any time of year. The two properties which are likely to be top
of any visitor's list are the castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The oldest
building in Edinburgh is the Castle
from the 12th century which stands on a hill overlooking the city. It is the
most visited historic property in Britain. There is the room where Mary
Queen of Scots gave birth to James
(who was later to unite the kingdoms of Scotland and England). The Castle is
linked by the Royal Mile with the Palace
of Holyroodhouse (15th to 16th century), the British sovereign's official
Scottish residence. The palace's historical apartments have strong association
with the romantic figure of Mary Queen of Scots - in one of the rooms her
favourite Italian secretary, David Riccio, died.
Other features are St. Giles Church (15th century) and Princes Street with a
well-known monument dedicated to Sir Walter Scott who was born in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh is also a good centre for touring. A short drive to the south lie the
Scottish Borders, with gently rolling hills and many fine stately homes - they
include Abbottsford, home of Sir Walter Scott; Floors Castle, the grand home of
the Duke of Roxburghe.
THE
FIRTH OF FORTH
What is the Firth of Forth? The Forth is a river in the east of Scotland and
Firth is simply the Scottish word for an estuary. It lies very close to
Edinburgh and the capital's harbour Leith, faces on to the Firth of Forth. It
used to have busy docks and a shipbuilding industry, but these days it is a
quiet place.
Further upstream you can find South Queensferry, where in the old days a ferry
used to carry travellers across the wide river. The village is one of the
settings of Robert Louis Stevenson's great novel Kidnapped. Now the ferry has
gone, replaced by two very different bridges, the Forth Railway Bridge, which
dates from 1890, and the modern road bridge, completed in 1964.
A popular recreation in the area is golf, which was invented in Scotland. The
sandy soil is perfect for it, and courses include Muirfield, sometimes home of
the British Open Championship, and Musselburgh, which has been open since 1672.
In summer you can take a boat near the railway bridge to quiet Inchcolm Island,
where there are the ruins of St. Colm's Abbey, originally built in 1123 by King
Alexander I of Scotland. He was shipwrecked on the island and a hermit who lived
there helped him, and he built the abbey to show his thanks. The abbey is
mentioned in Shakespeare's Macbeth. Now the island is a bird sanctuary and
thousands of seagulls live there. They make a lot of noise and fly terribly
close to your head, and of course, you must be careful that they do not
"bomb" you!
Glasgow, an old Victorian town, is the largest city in Scotland. It has a population of nearly 700,000. During the nineteenth century, Glasgow became an important industrial city, and its population increased by almost ten times as people moved from the Highlands and Islands to work in the new factories. Glasgow became a very polluted city, but now most of the old engineering, steelmaking and shipbuilding industries have closed down. Today Glasgow has been reborn as a centre for high-tech industries.
Although Glasgow is 32 kilometres from the sea, it is an important port. During the nineteenth century, the river Clyde, on which the city stands, was widened to allow large ships into the middle of the city. Because of all the industrial pollution, the Clyde used to be a very dirty river but now it is much cleaner. Salmon have ever been seen swimming up the river to breed in the streams and smaller rivers which flow into the Clyde.
It was, perhaps, the genius of James Watt (1736-1819) which helped to start the industrial revolution which changed the city so much. James Watt had a job at Glasgow University as a mechanic and it was there that he worked on his ideas for improving the efficiency of Thomas Newcomen's steam engine. The University had been founded many centuries earlier in 1451.
Glasgow is the cultural centre and the heart of the arts in Scotland (festivals the Mayfest and the International Jazz Festival). The Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Opera and the Scottish Ballet are all based in Glasgow. Apart from the large theatres and concert halls, there are lots of art galleries and many smaller theatres. The city has also some of the finest museums and galleries in Europe.
Although Glasgow and Edinburgh are only 60 kilometres apart, they are very different from one another. Edinburgh was never industrial city and is much quieter and more "middle-class" than "working-class" Glasgow, which today is very lively and full of young people wearing the latest fashions and talking into their mobile phones.
LOCH
LOMOND
Loch
Lomond is the largest freshwater Scottish Iake (39 km long with the area of 70
square km). The mountain Ben Lomond (973 m) overlooks the Iake which runs to the
Clyde estuary.
LOCH NESS
Loch
Ness is the most famous lake in the Highland region, and forms part of the
Caledonian Canal. The lake is 36 km long and 229 m deep. There have been
unconfirmed reports of a Loch Ness monster since the 15th century
which brings millions of pounds a year to Scottish tourism.
STIRLING
From medieval times Stirling
was, strategically, the most important place in Scotland. The great battles of
the Wars of Independence took place around Stirling, at Stirling Bridge in 1297
and at Bannockburn in 1314.Its great castle stands at the crossroads of Scotland, overlooking the vital crossing point of the river Forth. Below the castle, in the Old Town, there is the finest concentration of historical buildings in Scotland, including Wallace Monument, which commemorates Sir William Wallace, great Scotland's patriot.
Stirling grew rapidly in the 19th century developing into the commercial centre for an extensive and prosperous agricultural region and therefore most of Stirling's industries are associated with agriculture. During the 19th century much of the new town was built.
A notable feature of its recent growth has been the university founded in 1967. It offers full time and part time studies of all subjects, English, History, Education or Management including. The Campus of Stirling's University, one of the finest settings in Britain for a seat of learning, is situated nearby Bridge of Allan - a pleasant community which, in the 18th century, became a popular spa town.
THE ORKNEY ISLANDS
The Orkney Islands lie off the northeast coast of Scotland. There are a total of
67 islands, but less than 30 of them are inhabited. The Orkneys have a
population of about twenty thousand people.
The largest island is called Mainland. (The mainland is of
course Scotland - perhaps it's an islanders' joke!) All the inhabited islands
are linked by a regular boat service - except when the weather is too bad.
The Orkneys are almost treeless, very windy and wet. The main
industry used to be farming but over the last twenty years the islanders' lives
changed by the North Sea oil industry. Lots of islanders work on the oil rigs (vrtné
plošiny v moři) while
others work in businesses which provide services for the oil companies.
The Orkneys were first inhabited by Neolithic peoples but by
the sixth century the Picts (a Celtic tribe) had settled there. The Vikings
invaded in the eighth century and the islands were part of Norway until 1231
when they became a possession of the Scottish earls of Angus.
The Shetland Islands
are further north than the Orkneys - about 170 km from the coast of
Scotland. There are about 100 islands but most
of them are uninhabited. Like the Orkneys, the Shetlands were invaded by
Vikings. However, Norway continued to rule them until 1472. The Shetlands are
nearly the same distance from Norway as they are from Scotland!
The Shetlands have a similar population to the Orkneys -
about twenty thousand people. The people work in the oil industry but the
Shetlands have two other important exports: the famous Shetland wool and
Shetland ponies.
Shetland ponies
are very small horses (about 1 m tall) with long thick coats. Although they are
small, they are very strong. They can carry an adult and are often used to pull
small carts. They are very popular in Britain with young children who are
learning to ride.
Some of the
most spectacular scenery in Europe can be found in the Scottish Highlands. This
is probably the only truly "wild" area left in the British Isles. Very
few people live here. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the
landowners forced the villagers and farmers who rented their land to leave, so
that huge areas of land were free for grazing sheep. This is a very sad episode
in Scottish history and is known as the "Highland Clearances". Lots of
people who lost their homes at this time emigrated to Canada, and the United
States.
Apart from the thousands of sheep that are still farmed in
the Highlands, there are also wild deer, pine martins (jiřičky) and even
eagles there! The highest mountain in the UK can be found in the western
Highlands. It is called Ben
Nevis and is
1,343 metres high. There are a large number of mountains over one thousand
metres high and the area is popular with hikers and mountaineers. Avimore
in the central Highlands is the main ski area in the UK.
In the summer special events are held throughout the
Highlands called "Highland Games". The
Queen usually attends one of these games where athletes compete in events such
as putting the stone, throwing the hammer and tossing
the caber. The last of these is a very strange event in which winner is not
the athlete who "tosses" the caber the furthest but the one who
"tosses" it the
straightest! The games began in Celtic times and were
always held in front of the chief of the clan (tribe). The strongest men became
the chief's bodyguards and the fastest runners became messengers. The modern
games also conclude competition for playing
the bagpipes and traditional Scottish dancing.
In Scotland, a valley is called a "glen" and lots of glens in the
Highlands contain lakes or "lochs". The most famous of these is, of
course, Loch
Ness. The first sightings of the monster were reported in the
fifteenth century!
In the glens you can also find whisky distilleries. Whisky
was first produced in Scotland in 1494. The word "whisky" comes from
Gaelic and means "water of life". There are over 100 whisky
distilleries in the Highlands. They are very popular places for tourists to
visit. When the weather is warm and the sun is shining, the Scottish Highlands
is one of the most beautiful places in the world. But if you go there when the
wind is blowing down and the rain is hanging like curtains of the mist across
the glens, you will understand the importance of whisky!
The Western Isles are a group of 500 islands off the west coast of Scotland.
About 100 of the islands are inhabited. There are very few trees on the islands.
Most of the land is used for grazing sheep. The islands are a popular place for
tourists to visit during the summer. The Western Isles are one of the last areas
of Scotland where Scottish Gaelic is still spoken - by some as their first
language.
The islands are divided into two groups: the Outer and
Inner Hebrides. The main island of the Outer Hebrides is Lewis
with Harris. It looks like two islands but, in fact, Lewis and Harris are
joined by a narrow strip of land. The biggest town in the Outer Hebrides is on
Lewis. It is called Stornoway. Harris is famous for
the hard wearing cloth made by the local people and called Harris Tweed.
The largest island of the Inner Hebrides is Skye.
Lots of tourist say it is the most beautiful island of Scotland. There are
attractive lakes surrounded by mountains, old stone houses, wool mills and large
green pastures. The main town is Portree. It is
easier to go to Skye now because there is a bridge connecting Skye to mainland
Scotland. It was completed in 1995.
Charles Edward Stewart, called Bonnie
Prince Charles, was the grandson of King James II. With the support
of the Highland Scots, he invaded England to claim the throne. But he was
defeated at the Battle of Culloden and
had to go into hiding. Although the English offered 30,000 pounds for his
capture, the poor Scots refused to tell the English where he was. There is a
story that one day he was nearly captured by the English army, but a young
woman, Flora McDonald, rowed him,
in a small boat, to the island of Skye. Because of the stormy weather, the
English soldiers were afraid to follow and the Prince escaped.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
