Scots

Èist ri gaoth nam beann gus an traogh na h-uisgeachan.   (Listen to the wind upon the hill till the waters abate.)

 -Sir Uatar Scotach/Walter Scott

## Muinntir na h-Alba

* Nàiseanta
* Rioghail

## Country of Origin

Alba/Scotland: 5.2 millionDiaspora: 35+ million

## Religion or Spirituality

Irreligious 52% - Presbyterianism (Official), Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism

## Language And Script

Gàidhlig: 88,300 (2% of ethnic population)Braid Scots: 1.5 million (29% of ethnic population)
Latin Script

## Date When Land Was Settled

2,300 years ago during the Great Celtic Expansion (Pictish line)

## Related Ethnic Groups

Celts Norsemen Irish

The **Scots** (Scots: *Scots Fowk*; Scottish Gaelic: Muinntir na h-Alba ) are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded the Kingdom of Scotland (or *Alba*) in the 9th century. In the following two centuries, the Celtic-speaking Cumbrians of Strathclyde and the Germanic-speaking Angles of north Northumbria became part of Scotland. In the High Middle Ages, during the 12th-century Davidian Revolution, small numbers of Norman nobles migrated to the Lowlands. In the 13th century, the Norse-Gaels of the Western Isles became part of Scotland, followed by the Norse of the Northern Isles in the 15th century.

People of Scottish descent live in many countries. Emigration, influenced by factors such as the Highland and Lowland Clearances, Scottish emigration to various locales throughout the British Empire, and latterly industrial decline and unemployment, have resulted in the spread of Scottish languages and culture. Large populations of Scottish people settled the 'New World' lands of North and South America, Australia and New Zealand. The highest concentrations of people of Scottish descent in the world outside of Scotland are in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in Canada, Otago and Murihiku/Southland in New Zealand, the Falkland Islands, and Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom. Canada has the highest level of Scottish descendants per capita in the world and the second-largest population of Scottish descendants, after the United States.

## Etymology (Beul-aithris)

The word "Scot" is found in Latin texts from the fourth century describing a tribe which sailed from Ireland to raid Roman Britain. It came to be applied to all the Gaels. It is not believed that any Gaelic groups called themselves *Scoti* in ancient times, except when writing in Latin. Charles Oman derives it from *Scuit*, proposing a meaning of 'a man cut off', suggesting that a *Scuit* was not a Gael as such but one of a renegade band settled in the part of Ulster which became the kingdom of Dál Riata but 'Scuit' only exists in Old Irish as 'buffoon/laughing-stock.' The 19th century author Aonghas MacCoinnich of Glasgow proposed that *Scoti* was derived from a Gaelic ethnonym (proposed by MacCoinnich) *Sgaothaich* from *sgaoth* "swarm", plus the derivational suffix *-ach* (plural *-aich*) However, this proposal to date has not appeared in mainstream place-name studies. Philip Freeman has speculated on the likelihood of a group of raiders adopting a name from an Indo-European root, \**skot*, citing the parallel in Greek *skotos* (σκότος), meaning "darkness, gloom".

The "Alba" term first appears in classical texts as Ἀλβίων '**Albíōn'** or Ἀλουΐων '**Alouíōn'** (in Ptolemy's writings in Greek), and later as '**Albion'** in Latin documents. Historically, the term refers to Britain as a whole and is ultimately based on the Indo-European root for "white". It later came to be used by Gaelic speakers in the form of '**Alba'** (dative '**Albainn'**, genitive '**Albann'**, now obsolete) as the name given to the former kingdom of the Picts which when first used in this sense (around the time of king Causantín mac Áeda (Constantine II, 943–952)) had expanded. The region Breadalbane ('**Bràghad Albann'**, the upper part of "Alba") takes its name from it as well.

Alba originates from Scottish Gaelic, then Old Irish, then Proto-Celtic and is reconstructed to mean:

**\*albiyū**

1. luminous world, upper world, (the habitable surface of the) world
2. high mountain (especially in the Alps), alp
3. alpine pasture

## History (Eachdraidh)

### Roman Invasion (Ionnsaigh nan Ròmanach)

The Roman conquest of Britain was never completed, and most of modern Scotland was not brought under Roman political control. The first Roman incursion into Scotland occurred in 79 AD, when Agricola invaded Scotland; he defeated a Caledonian army at the Battle of Mons Graupius in 83 AD. After the Roman victory, Roman forts were briefly set along the Gask Ridge close to the Highland line, but by three years after the battle, the Roman armies had withdrawn to the Southern Uplands. Remains of Roman forts established in the 1st century have been found as far north as the Moray Firth. By the reign of the Roman emperor Trajan (r. 98–117), Roman control had lapsed to Britain south of a line between the River Tyne and the Solway Firth. Along this line Trajan's successor Hadrian (r. 117–138) erected Hadrian's Wall in northern England and the *Limes Britannicus* became the northern border of the Roman Empire. The Roman influence on the southern part of the country was considerable, and they introduced Christianity to Scotland.

The Antonine Wall was built from 142 at the order of Hadrian's successor Antoninus Pius (r. 138–161), defending the Roman part of Scotland from the unadministered part of the island, north of a line between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. The successful Roman invasion of Caledonia 208–210 was undertaken by emperors of the imperial Severan dynasty in response to the breaking of treaty by the Caledonians in 197, but permanent conquest of the whole of Great Britain was forestalled by the death of the senior emperor Septimius Severus (r. 193–211) while on campaign at Eboracum (York), and the Caledonians were again in revolt in 210–211. Forts erected by the Roman army of the Severan campaign were placed near those established by Agricola and were clustered at the mouths of the glens in the Highlands.

To the Roman historians Tacitus and Cassius Dio, the Scottish Highlands and the area north of the River Forth was called Caledonia. According to Cassius Dio, the inhabitants of Caledonia were the Caledonians and the Maeatae. Other ancient authors used the adjective "Caledonian" to pertain to anywhere in northern or inland Britain, often mentioning the region's people and animals, its cold climate, its pearls, and a noteworthy region of wooden hills (Latin: *saltus*) which the 2nd-century AD Roman philosopher Ptolemy, in his *Geography*, described as being south-west of the Beauly Firth. The name Caledonia is echoed in the place names of Dunkeld, Rohallion, and Schiehallion.

The Great Conspiracy against Roman rule in Britain in the later 4th century, in which the Scoti participated, was defeated by the *comes* Theodosius. The formation of a new province, called Valentia after the reigning emperor Valens (r. 364–378), which may have been in Scotland, resulted. Roman military government was withdrawn from the island altogether by the early 5th century, resulting in the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain and the immigration of the Saxons to southern Scotland and the rest of eastern Great Britain.

### Middle Ages - Fall of Rome (Meadhan-aoisean - Tuiteam na Ròimhe / Middle Ages - Faw o Roum)

Beginning in the sixth century, the area that is now Scotland was divided into two areas: Pictland, a patchwork of small lordships in central Scotland and Dál Riata, a united kingdom founded by settlers from Ireland, bringing Gaelic language and culture with them. These societies were based on the family unit and had sharp divisions in wealth, although the vast majority were poor and worked full-time in subsistence agriculture. The Picts kept slaves (mostly captured in war) through the ninth century. The Gaels and Picts would eventually merge to form the Scots we know today.

Gaelic influence over Pictland was facilitated by the large number of Gaelic-speaking clerics working as missionaries. Operating in the sixth century on the island of Iona, Saint Columba was one of the earliest and best-known missionaries. The Vikings began to raid Scotland in the eighth century. Although the raiders sought slaves and luxury items, their main motivation was to acquire land. The oldest Norse settlements were in northwest Scotland, but they eventually conquered many areas along the coast. Old Norse entirely displaced Gaelic in the Northern Isles.

### Kingdom of Scotland - 843-1513 - (Rìoghachd na h-Alba / Kinrick o Scotland)

Cináed mac Ailpín (Kenneth MacAlpin) was king of Dál Riata before becoming king of the Picts in 843, following a disastrous defeat of the Picts by Vikings. Dál Riata then merged with Pictland to form the Kingdom of Scotland.

Máel Coluim I (Malcolm I) (r.  c. 943–954) is believed to have annexed the Kingdom of Strathclyde, over which the kings of Alba had probably exercised some authority since the later 9th century. His successor, Indulf the Aggressor, being described as the King of Strathclyde, before inheriting the throne of Alba, and who is credited with later annexing parts of Lothian, including Edinburgh, from the Kingdom of Northumbria. The reign of David I has been characterised as a "Davidian Revolution", in which he introduced a system of feudal land tenure, established the first royal burghs in Scotland and the first recorded Scottish coinage, and continued a process of religious and legal reforms. Until the 13th century, the border with England was very fluid, with Northumbria being annexed to Scotland by David I, but lost under his grandson and successor Malcolm IV in 1157. The Treaty of York (1237) fixed the boundaries with England close to the modern border. By the reign of Alexander III, the Scots had annexed the remainder of the, Norwegian held, western seaboard after the stalemate of the Battle of Largs and the Treaty of Perth in 1266.

The Isle of Man fell under English control, from Norwegian, in the 14th century, despite several attempts to seize it for Scotland. The English briefly occupied most of Scotland, under Edward I; under Edward III, the English backed Edward Balliol, son of King John Balliol, attempt to gain his fathers throne, and restore the lands of the Scottish lords dispossessed by Robert I and his successors in the 14th century, in the Wars of Independence (1296–1357). The king of France attempted to thwart the exercise, under the terms of what became known as the Auld Alliance, which provided for mutual aid against the English. In the 15th and early 16th centuries, under the Stewart Dynasty, despite a turbulent political history, the Crown gained greater political control at the expense of independent lords and regained most of its lost territory to around the modern borders of the country. The dowry of the Orkney and Shetland Islands, by the Norwegian crown, in 1468 was the last great land acquisition for the kingdom. In 1482 the border fortress of Berwick—the largest port in medieval Scotland—fell to the English once again; this was the last time it changed hands. The Auld Alliance with France led to the heavy defeat of a Scottish army at the Battle of Flodden Field in 1513 and the death of the king James IV. A long period of political instability followed.

In the 16th century, under James V of Scotland and Mary, Queen of Scots, the Crown and court took on many of the attributes of the Renaissance and New Monarchy, despite long royal minorities, civil wars and interventions by the English and French. In the mid-16th century, Scottish Reformation was strongly influenced by Calvinism, leading to widespread iconoclasm and the introduction of a Presbyterian system of organisation and discipline that would have a major impact on Scottish life.

### Union with England (Aonadh ri Sasainn / Union wi Ingland)

In the late 16th century, James VI emerged as a major intellectual figure with considerable authority over the kingdom. In 1603 he inherited the thrones of England and Ireland, creating a Union of the Crowns that left the three states with their separate identities and institutions. He also moved the centre of royal patronage and power to London.

When James' son Charles I attempted to impose elements of the English religious settlement on Scotland, the result was the Bishops' Wars (1637–40), which ended in defeat for the king and a virtually independent Presbyterian Covenanter state in Scotland. It also helped precipitate the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, during which the Scots carried out major military interventions.

After Charles I's defeat, the Scots backed the king in the Second English Civil War; after his execution, they proclaimed his son Charles II of England king, resulting in the Third English Civil War against the emerging republican regime of Parliamentarians in England led by Oliver Cromwell. The results were a series of defeats and the short-lived incorporation of Scotland into the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland (1653–60).

After the 1660 restoration of the monarchy, Scotland regained its separate status and institutions, while the centre of political power remained in London. After the Glorious Revolution of 1688–89, in which James VII was deposed by his daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange in England, Scotland accepted them under the Claim of Right Act 1689, but the deposed main hereditary line of the Stuarts became a focus for political discontent known as Jacobitism, leading to a series of invasions and rebellions mainly focused on the Scottish Highlands.

After severe economic dislocation in the 1690s, there were moves that led to political union with England as the Kingdom of Great Britain, which came into force on 1 May 1707. The English and Scottish parliaments were replaced by a combined Parliament of Great Britain, but it sat in Westminster and largely continued English traditions without interruption. Forty-five Scots were added to the 513 members of the House of Commons and 16 Scots to the 190 members of the House of Lords. It was also a full economic union, replacing the Scottish systems of currency, taxation and laws regulating trade.

### Self-determination (Fèin-chinnt)

The introduction in 1989 by Margaret Thatcher's government of the Community Charge (widely known as the Poll Tax) one year before the rest of Great Britain, contributed to a growing movement for Scottish control over domestic affairs. Following a referendum on devolution proposals in 1997, the Scotland Act 1998 was passed by the British Parliament, which established a devolved Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government with responsibility for most laws specific to Scotland. The Scottish Parliament was reconvened in Edinburgh on 4 July 1999. The first to hold the office of first minister of Scotland was Donald Dewar, who served until his sudden death in 2000.

The Scottish Parliament Building at Holyrood opened in October 2004 after lengthy construction delays and running over budget. The Scottish Parliament's form of proportional representation (the additional member system) resulted in no one party having an overall majority for the first three Scottish parliament elections. However, the pro-independence Scottish National Party led by Alex Salmond achieved an overall majority in the 2011 election, winning 69 of the 129 seats available. The success of the SNP in achieving a majority in the Scottish Parliament paved the way for the September 2014 referendum on Scottish independence. The majority voted against the proposition, with 55% voting no to independence. More powers, particularly in relation to taxation, were devolved to the Scottish Parliament after the referendum, following cross-party talks in the Smith Commission.

## Highland Travellers (Luchd Siubhail / Traivellin Fowk)

In Scottish Gaelic they are known as the "Ceàrdannan" ("the Craftsmen"), or less controversially, "luchd siubhail" (people of travel) for travellers in general. Poetically known as the "Summer Walkers", Highland Travellers are a distinct ethnic group and may be referred to as "*traivellers*", "*traivellin fowk*'", in Scots, "tinkers", originating from the Gaelic "tinceard" or (tinsmith) or "Black Tinkers". Mistakenly the settled Scottish population may call all travelling and Romani groups tinkers, which is usually regarded as pejorative, and contemptuously as "tinks" or "tinkies".

Highland Travellers are closely tied to the native Highlands, and many traveller families carry clan names like McPhee, Stewart, Callaghan, MacDonald, Cameron, Williamson, and MacMillan. They followed a nomadic or unsettled lifestyle, passing from village to village, and were more strongly identified with the native Gaelic-speaking population. Continuing their nomadic life, they would pitch their bow-tents on rough ground, on the edge of the village, and earn money there as tinsmiths, hawkers, horse dealers, or pearl-fishermen. Many found seasonal employment on farms, e.g. at the berry picking, or other harvests. Since the 1950s, however, the majority of Highland Travellers have settled down into organized, permanent campsites, or regular houses.

Adam Smith, the economist and philosopher, was reportedly kidnapped by Highland Travellers at a young age before quickly being freed.

#### Language (Cànain / Leid)

The Highland Travellers' speech includes a dialect called 'Beurla-reagaird'. It is related to the Irish Traveller Shelta as a creole of the Gaelic language group. It was used as a cultural identifier, just as Romani groups used the Romani language. Like the Highland Travellers themselves, the language is not related to Romani.

#### Origins (Tùs / Oreegins)

The Highland Traveller community has a long history in Scotland going back, at least in record, to the 12th century as a form of employment and one of the first records of that name states a "James the Tinker" held land in the town of Perth from 1165 to 1214 and share a similar heritage, although are distinct from the Irish Travellers. As with their Irish counterparts, there are several theories regarding the origin of Scottish Highland Travellers, one being they are descended from the Picts, excommunicated clergy, to families fleeing the Highland potato famine, or the pre-Norman-Invasion, have been claimed at different times. Highland Travellers are distinct both culturally and linguistically from other Gypsy groups like the Romani, including the Romanichal, Lowland Scottish Gypsies, Eastern European Roma and Welsh Kale groups. Several other European groups are non-Romany groups, namely the Yeniches, Woonwagenbewoners in the Netherlands (who may be related to the Yeniche), Indigenous Norwegian Travellers and Landfahrer in Germany. As with Indigenous Norwegian Travellers, Highland travellers origins may be more complex and difficult to ascertain and left no written records of their own.

As an indigenous group Highland Travellers have played an essential role in the preservation of traditional Gaelic culture. It is estimated that as few as 2,000 Highland Travellers continue to lead their traditional lifestyle on the roads.

## Diaspora

### Scottish Russians (Ruiseanaich Albannach / Roushie-Scots)

**Scottish Russians** are Russians with full (or partial) Scottish ancestry. Scottish migration to Russia occurred primarily during the early-17th-century Polish–Muscovite War (1605–1618), Ingrian War (1610–1617) and Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). Some estimates of the number of Scottish settlers in Russia during the 17th century are as high as 100,000. This has led some demographers to believe that the current number of Scottish Russians could be up to 1-2 million. There are believed to be around 400 different Russian surnames that owe their names to Scottish ancestors. Beginning in 1626, foreign mercenaries were identified by their Russian names and (after converting to Orthodox Christianity) typically received land, serfs, money and clothing.

### Ulster Scots (Albais Ulaidh)

The **Ulster Scots**, or (in North America) **Scotch-Irish**, are an ethnic group in Ireland, found mostly in the province of Ulster and to a lesser extent in the rest of Ireland. Their ancestors were approximately half from Northern England and half Protestant Presbyterian Lowland Scottish settlers, the largest numbers coming from Dumfries and Galloway, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Ayrshire, Scottish Borders, Northumberland, Cumbria, Yorkshire, and to a much lesser extent, from the Scottish Highlands. Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. The majority of people living in Northern Ireland are British or Irish citizens.

The Ulster Scots migrated to Ireland in large numbers both as a result of the government-sanctioned Plantation of Ulster, a planned process of colonisation which took place under the auspices of James VI of Scotland and I of England on land confiscated from members of the Gaelic nobility of Ireland who fled Ulster, and as part of a larger migration or unplanned wave of settlement.

Ulster Scots emigrated onwards from Ireland in significant numbers to what is now the United States and to all corners of the then-worldwide British Empire—what are now Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the West Indies, to British India and to a lesser extent to Argentina and Chile. Scotch-Irish (or Scots-Irish) is a traditional term for Ulster Scots who emigrated to America.

### Scottish Pākehā (Albannaich nan Seulan Nuadh)

Significant numbers of Scottish people also settled in New Zealand. Approximately 20 percent of the original European settler population of New Zealand came from Scotland, and Scottish influence is still visible around the country. The South Island city of Dunedin, in particular, is known for its Scottish heritage and was named as a tribute to Edinburgh by the city's Scottish founders.

Scottish migration to New Zealand dates back to the earliest period of European colonisation, with a large proportion of Pākehā New Zealanders being of Scottish descent. However, identification as "British" or "European" New Zealanders can sometimes obscure their origin. Many Scottish New Zealanders also have Māori or other non-European ancestry.

The majority of Scottish immigrants settled in the South Island. All over New Zealand, the Scots developed different means to bridge the old homeland and the new. Many Caledonian societies were formed, well over 100 by the early twentieth century, who helped maintain Scottish culture and traditions. From the 1860s, these societies organised annual Caledonian Games throughout New Zealand. The Games were sports meets that brought together Scottish settlers and the wider New Zealand public. In so doing, the Games gave Scots a path to cultural integration as Scottish New Zealanders. In the 1961 census there were 47,078 people living in New Zealand who were born in Scotland; in the 2013 census there were 25,953 in this category.

### Scottish Australians (Albannaich Astràilianach)

By 1830, 15.11% of the colonies' total non-Aboriginal population were Scots, which increased by the middle of the century to 25,000, or 20–25% of the non-Aboriginal population. The Australian Gold Rush of the 1850s provided a further impetus for Scottish migration: in the 1850s 90,000 Scots immigrated to Australia, far more than other British or Irish populations at the time. Literacy rates of the Scottish immigrants ran at 90–95%. By 1860, Scots made up 50% of the ethnic composition of Western Victoria, Adelaide, Penola and Naracoorte. Other settlements in New South Wales included New England, the Hunter Valley and the Illawarra.

Much settlement followed the Highland Potato Famine, Highland Clearances and the Lowland Clearances of the mid-19th century. In the 1840s, Scots-born immigrants constituted 12% of the non-Aboriginal population. Out of the 1.3 million migrants from Britain to Australia in the period from 1861 to 1914, 13.5% were Scots. Just 5.3% of the convicts transported to Eastern Australia between 1789 and 1852 were Scots.

A steady rate of Scottish immigration continued into the 20th century and substantial numbers of Scots continued to arrive after 1945. From 1900 until the 1950s, Scots favoured New South Wales, as well as Western Australia and Southern Australia. A strong cultural Scottish presence is evident in the Highland Games, dance, Tartan Day celebrations, clan and Gaelic-speaking societies found throughout modern Australia.

### Canadian Gaels (Albannach Canèidianach)

**Scottish Canadians** are people of Scottish descent or heritage living in Canada. As the third-largest ethnic group in Canada and amongst the first Europeans to settle in the country, Scottish people have made a large impact on Canadian culture since colonial times. According to the 2016 Census of Canada, the number of Canadians claiming full or partial Scottish descent is 4,799,010, or 13.93% of the nation's total population. However, some demographers have estimated that the number of Scottish Canadians could be up to 25% of the Canadian population. Prince Edward Island has the highest population of Scottish descendants at 41%.

The Scots have influenced the cultural mix of Nova Scotia for centuries and constitute the largest ethnic group in the province, at 29.3% of its population. The name of Nova Scotia literally means *"New Scotland"* in Latin, and its flag was designed as a combination of the Scottish Saltire and the Royal Arms of Scotland.

Nova Scotia was briefly colonized by Scottish settlers in 1620, although by 1624 the Scottish settlers had been removed by treaty and the area was turned over to the French until the middle of the 18th century. Scottish settlement greatly accelerated during the resettlement of Loyalists in Nova Scotia following the end of the American revolutionary war, and especially following the Highland Clearances in Scotland.

The Gaelic influences of Scottish immigrants continue to play an important role in defining the cultural life of the province, especially in its music. According to the 2006 census about 900 Nova Scotians are fluent in Gaelic languages (the census does not distinguish between Scottish Gaelic/Canadian Gaelic and Irish Gaelic), and about 6,015 in all of Canada. However, the Nova Scotian Office of Gaelic Affairs estimates there are currently around 2000 Scottish Gaelic speakers in the province and notes the enduring impact of institutions such as the Gaelic College in Cape Breton.

### Scots Americans (Albannach Ameireaganach)

**Scots Americans** are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scotch-Irish Americans, descendants of Ulster Scots, and communities emphasize and celebrate a common heritage. The majority of Scotch-Irish Americans originally came from Lowland Scotland and Northern England before migrating to the province of Ulster in Ireland (see *Plantation of Ulster*) and thence, beginning about five generations later, to North America in large numbers during the eighteenth century. Today, the number of Scottish Americans is believed to be around 25 million, and celebrations of ‘Scottishness’ can be seen through major Tartan Day parades and Burns Night celebrations.

Significant emigration from Scotland to America began in the 1700s, accelerating after the Jacobite rising of 1745, the steady degradation of clan structures, and the Highland Clearances. Even higher rates of emigration occurred after these times of social upheaval. In the 1920s, Scotland experienced a reduction in total population of 0.8%, totally absorbing the natural population increase of 7.2%: the USA and Canada were the most common destinations of these emigrants.

## Food (Biadh / Fuid)

From the journeyman down to the lowest cottar, meat was an expensive commodity, and would be consumed rarely. For the lower echelons of mediaeval Scots, it was the products of their animals rather than the beasts themselves which provided nourishment.

This is evident today in traditional Scots fare, with its emphasis on dairy produce. A typical meal in medieval Scotland consisted of a pottage of herbs and roots (and when available some meat, usually seafood, or stock for flavouring), with bread and eggs, cheese or kelp when possible.The mobile nature of Scots society required food that should not spoil quickly. It was common to carry a small bag of oatmeal that could be transformed into a basic porridge or oatcakes using a *girdle* (griddle). It is thought that Scotland's national dish, haggis, originated in a similar way: A small amount of offal or low-quality meat, carried in the most inexpensive bag available, a sheep or pig's stomach. It has also been suggested that this dish was introduced by Norse invaders who were attempting to preserve their food during the long journey from Scandinavia.

During the Early Modern period, French cuisine played a role in Scottish cookery due to cultural exchanges brought about by the "Auld Alliance". When Mary, Queen of Scots returned to Scotland, she brought an entourage of French staff who revolutionised Scots cooking and created some of Scotland's unique food terminology. These terms include Ashet (*assiette*), a large platter; Cannel (*cannelle*), cinnamon; Collop (*escalope*); Gigot, French for a leg of mutton; Howtowdie (*hétoudeau*), a boiling fowl in Old French; Syboe (*ciboule*), spring onion.

## Sport (Spòrs)

### Highland Games (Geamannan Gàidhealach / Hieland Gemmes)

**Highland games** are events held in spring and summer in Scotland and other countries with a large Scottish diaspora, as a way of celebrating Scottish and Celtic culture, especially that of the Scottish Highlands. Certain aspects of the games are so well known as to have become emblematic of Scotland, such as the bagpipes, the kilt, and the heavy events, especially the caber toss. While centred on competitions in piping and drumming, dancing, and Scottish heavy athletics, the games also include entertainment and exhibits related to other aspects of Scottish and Gaelic cultures.

The Cowal Highland Gathering, better known as the *Cowal Games*, is held in Dunoon, Scotland, every August. It is the largest Highland games in the world, attracting around 3,500 competitors and somewhere in the region of 23,000 spectators from around the globe. Worldwide, however, it is exceeded in terms of spectators by three gatherings in the United States: the estimated 30,000 that attend Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina, the New Hampshire Highland Games & Festival which attracts over 35,000 annual and the even larger gathering—the largest in the Northern Hemisphere—that has taken place every year since 1866. This event is currently held on Labor Day weekend in Pleasanton, California, and their Sesquicentennial Games held on 5–6 September 2015, attracted record crowds close to 50,000.

The games are claimed to have influenced Baron Pierre de Coubertin when he was planning the revival of the Olympic Games. De Coubertin saw a display of Highland games at the Paris Exhibition of 1889.

### Golf (Goilf / Gowf)

**Golf in Scotland** was first recorded in the Scottish late Middle Ages, and the modern game of golf was first developed and established in the country. The game plays a key role in the national sporting consciousness.

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, known as the R&A, was the world governing body for the game (except in the United States and Mexico). The R&A, a separate organisation from the club, was created in 2004 as the governing body. The Scottish Ladies' Golfing Association was founded in 1904 and the Scottish Golf Union (SGU) in 1920. They merged in 2015 into a new organization, Scottish Golf.

To many golfers, the Old Course at St Andrews, an ancient links course dating to before 1574, is considered to be a site of pilgrimage. There are many other famous golf courses in Scotland, including Carnoustie, Gleneagles, Muirfield, Kingsbarns, Turnberry and Royal Troon. The world's first Open Championship was held at Prestwick in 1860, and Scots golfers have the most victories at the Open at 42 wins, one ahead of the United States.

### Shinty (Camanachd)

**Shinty** (Scottish Gaelic: *camanachd, iomain*) is a team game played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played mainly in the Scottish Highlands and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread in Scotland, and was even played in northern England into the second half of the 20th century and other areas in the world where Scottish Highlanders migrated.

While comparisons are often made with field hockey the two games have several important differences. In shinty a player is allowed to play the ball in the air and is allowed to use both sides of the stick, called a *caman*, which is wooden and slanted on both sides. The stick may also be used to block and to tackle, although a player may not come down on an opponent's stick, a practice called hacking. Players may also tackle using the body as long as it is shoulder-to-shoulder.

The game was derived from the same root as the Irish game of hurling and the Welsh game of bando, but has developed unique rules and features. These rules are governed by the Camanachd Association. A composite rules shinty–hurling game has been developed, which allows Scotland and Ireland to play annual international matches.

Another sport with common ancestry is bandy, which is played on ice. In fact, in Scottish Gaelic the name for bandy is "ice shinty" (camanachd-deighe) and once upon a time bandy and shinty (and shinney) could be used interchangeably in the English language.

### Curling (Crolaidh / Curlin)

**Curling** is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called rocks, across the ice curling sheet toward the house, a circular target marked on the ice.[2] Each team has eight stones, with each player throwing two. The purpose is to accumulate the highest score for a game; points are scored for the stones resting closest to the centre of the house at the conclusion of each end, which is completed when both teams have thrown all of their stones once.

A game usually consists of eight or ten ends. The player can induce a curved path, described as curl, by causing the stone to slowly rotate as it slides. The path of the rock may be further influenced by two sweepers with brooms or brushes, who accompany it as it slides down the sheet and sweep the ice in front of the stone. "Sweeping a rock" decreases the friction, which makes the stone travel a straighter path (with less curl) and a longer distance. A great deal of strategy and teamwork go into choosing the ideal path and placement of a stone for each situation, and the skills of the curlers determine the degree to which the stone will achieve the desired result.

### Hailes (Clach-mheallain)

**Hailes** or **clacken** is a Scottish ball game which dates to the 18th century and achieved its widest popularity in the nineteenth. It has now virtually died out, replaced by football, except at The Edinburgh Academy, where an exhibition match is played annually. The game is similar to shinty but played with wooden bats known as **clackens**.

### Water Polo (Polo Uisge / Watter Polo)

Water polo is considered to be invented in Scotland with the original rules being written by William Wilson for the Bon Accord Club in Aberdeen in 1877. It was based on a game played in the rivers Dee and Don in Aberdeen. The first game in a pool took place in Glasgow and the Scottish rules were those most adopted during the early years of the sport. Additionally, Scotland provided a number of Olympians to the GB squads that were successful in the early Olympics.

Scotland had a proud tradition of amateur water polo with many strong clubs across the country. However, it took a downturn after the early 1990s at which point it was successfully competing in home countries and 8 nations tournaments. As the rest of the world moved to deep water facilities, increased their training regime and professionalised their coaching structures, Scotland's water polo remained static and fell far behind. The national squad stopped competing in internationals in 2003 with the exception of the women's squad competing at the Commonwealth tournament in Perth in 2006. However, the sport has turned around since 2008 with fast growth of members, clubs and competitions. The national squads are once again competing internationally in the annual Celtic Nations tournament with recent wins in Women's 2010 & 2012 and Men's 2011. Scotland is expected to host the Commonwealth tournament in Aberdeen in April 2014.

## Music (Ceòl / Muisic)

Scottish Instruments include:

The **Great Highland bagpipe** (Scottish Gaelic: *a' phìob mhòr* pronounced [a ˈfiəp ˈvoːɾ] lit. "the great pipe") is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland, and the Scottish analogue to the Great Irish Warpipes. It has acquired widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world.

The bagpipe is first attested in Scotland around 1400, having previously appeared in European artwork in Spain in the 13th century. The earliest references to bagpipes in Scotland are in a military context, and it is in that context that the Great Highland bagpipe became established in the British military and achieved the widespread prominence it enjoys today, whereas other bagpipe traditions throughout Europe, ranging from Portugal to Russia, almost universally went into decline by the late 19th and early 20th century.

The **Celtic harp** is a triangular frame harp traditional to the Celtic nations of northwest Europe. It is known as *cláirseach* in Irish, *clàrsach* in Scottish Gaelic, *telenn* in Breton and *telyn* in Welsh. In Ireland and Scotland, it was a wire-strung instrument requiring great skill and long practice to play, and was associated with the Gaelic ruling class. It appears on Irish and British coins, the coat of arms of the Republic of Ireland, Montserrat, the United Kingdom and Canada as well as the flag of Montserrat.

A **fiddle** is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the style of the music played may determine specific construction differences between fiddles and classical violins. For example, fiddles may optionally be set up with a bridge with a flatter arch to reduce the range of bow-arm motion needed for techniques such as the double shuffle, a form of bariolage involving rapid alternation between pairs of adjacent strings. To produce a "brighter" tone, compared to the deeper tones of gut or synthetic core strings, fiddlers often use steel strings. The fiddle is part of many traditional (folk) styles, which are typically aural traditions—taught "by ear" rather than via written music.

**Accordions** (from 19th-century German *Akkordeon*, from *Akkord*—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type, colloquially referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an *accordionist*. The concertina and bandoneón are related. The harmonium and American reed organ are in the same family, but are typically larger than an accordion and sit on a surface or the floor.

## Language (Cànain / Leid)

### Scots (Beurla Ghallda)

**Scots** is a West Germanic language variety spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots). It is sometimes called **Lowland Scots** or **Broad Scots** to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Goidelic Celtic language that was historically restricted to most of the Highlands, the Hebrides and Galloway after the 16th century. Modern Scots is a sister language of Modern English, as the two diverged independently from the same source: Early Middle English (1150–1300).

Scots is recognised as an indigenous language of Scotland, a regional or minority language of Europe, and a vulnerable language by UNESCO. In the 2011 Scottish Census, over 1.5 million people in Scotland reported being able to speak Scots.

As there are no universally accepted criteria for distinguishing a language from a dialect, scholars and other interested parties often disagree about the linguistic, historical and social status of Scots, particularly its relationship to English. Although a number of paradigms for distinguishing between languages and dialects exist, they often render contradictory results. Broad Scots is at one end of a bipolar linguistic continuum, with Scottish Standard English at the other. Scots is sometimes regarded as a variety of English, though it has its own distinct dialects; other scholars treat Scots as a distinct Germanic language, in the way that Norwegian is closely linked to but distinct from Danish.

### Scots Gaelic (Gàidhlig)

**Scottish Gaelic**, also known as **Scots Gaelic** and **Gaelic**, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as both Irish and Manx, developed out of Old Irish. It became a distinct spoken language sometime in the 13th century in the Middle Irish period, although a common literary language was shared by Gaels in both Ireland and Scotland down to the 16th century. Most of modern Scotland was once Gaelic-speaking, as evidenced especially by Gaelic-language place names.

In the 2011 census of Scotland, 57,375 people (1.1% of the Scottish population aged over 3 years old) reported as able to speak Gaelic, 1,275 fewer than in 2001. The highest percentages of Gaelic speakers were in the Outer Hebrides. Nevertheless, there are revival efforts, and the number of speakers of the language under age 20 did not decrease between the 2001 and 2011 censuses. Outside Scotland, a dialect known as Canadian Gaelic has been spoken in eastern Canada since the 18th century. In the 2016 national census, nearly 4,000 Canadian residents claimed knowledge of Scottish Gaelic, with a particular concentration in Nova Scotia.

Scottish Gaelic is not an official language of the United Kingdom. However, it is classed as an indigenous language under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which the UK Government has ratified, and the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 established a language-development body, *Bòrd na Gàidhlig*.

## Religion (Creideamh / Releegion)

The British Parliament passed the Church of Scotland Act 1921, recognising the full independence of the Church in matters spiritual, and as a result of this and passage of the Church of Scotland (Property and Endowments) Act, 1925, which settled the issue of patronage in the Church, the Church of Scotland was able to unite with the United Free Church of Scotland in 1929. The United Free Church of Scotland was itself the product of the union of the former United Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the majority of the Free Church of Scotland in 1900.

The 1921 Act recognised the kirk as the national church and the monarch became an ordinary member of the Church of Scotland, represented at the General Assembly by their Lord High Commissioner.[30][31] In the second half of the twentieth century the Church was particularly affected by the general decline in church attendance. Between 1966 and 2006 numbers of communicants in the Church of Scotland dropped from over 1,230,000 to 504,000.[32] Formal membership reduced from 446,000 in 2010 to 398,389 or 7.5% of the total population by yearend 2013.[33] dropping to 380,164 by the end of 2014[34] and 336,000 by 2017.[35] Further dropping to 325,695 by yearend 2018 representing about 6% of the Scottish population.[36] In 2016, the actual weekly attendance at a Kirk service was reckoned to be 136,910.[37]: 16  In the twenty-first century the Church faced financial issues, with a £5.7 million deficit in 2010. In response the church adopted a "prune to grow" policy, cutting 100 posts and introducing job-shares and unpaid ordained staff.[38]

The Scottish Episcopal Church is the member church of the Anglican Communion in Scotland. It is made up of seven dioceses, each with its own bishop. It dates from the Glorious Revolution in 1689 when the national church was defined as presbyterian instead of episcopal in government. The bishops and those that followed them became the Scottish Episcopal Church.

Scotland's third largest church, the Scottish Episcopal Church has 303 local congregations. In terms of official membership, Episcopalians nowadays constitute well under 1 per cent of the population of Scotland, making them considerably smaller than the Church of Scotland that represents 6% of the Scottish population. The all-age membership of the church in 2018 was 28,647, of whom 19,983 were communicant members. Weekly attendance was 12,430. One year earlier, in 2017, church membership had been 30,909, of whom 22,073 were communicant members. For 2013, the Scottish Episcopal Church reported its numbers as 34,119 members (all ages).

The Catholic Church in Scotland overseen by the Scottish Bishops' Conference, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church headed by the Pope. After being firmly established in Scotland for nearly a millennium, the Catholic Church was outlawed following the Scottish Reformation in 1560. Catholic Emancipation in 1793 and 1829 helped Catholics regain both religious and civil rights. In 1878, the Catholic hierarchy was formally restored. Throughout these changes, several pockets in Scotland retained a significant pre-Reformation Catholic population, including Banffshire, the Hebrides, and more northern parts of the Highlands, Galloway at Terregles House, Munches House, Kirkconnell House, New Abbey and Parton House and at Traquair in Peebleshire.

In 1716, Scalan seminary was established in the Highlands and rebuilt in the 1760s by Bishop John Geddes, a well-known figure in Edinburgh during the Scottish Enlightenment. When Robert Burns wrote to a correspondent that "the first [that is, finest] cleric character I ever saw was a Roman Catholick", he was referring to Bishop Geddes. The Gàidhealtachd has been both Catholic and Protestant in modern times. A number of Scottish Gaelic-speaking areas are mainly Catholic, including Barra, Benbecula, South Uist, Eriskay, and Moidart. Poet and novelist Angus Peter Campbell writes frequently about the Catholic Church in his work. (See also the "Religion of the Yellow Stick".)

## Prominent Scots (Albannach Follaiseach)

**Albert Watson/Ailbhe Mac Bhatair** OBE (born 1942) is a Scottish fashion, celebrity and art photographer. He has shot over 100 covers of *Vogue* and 40 covers of *Rolling Stone* magazine since the mid-1970s, and has created major advertising campaigns for clients such as Prada, Chanel and Levis.

**Gary McKinnon/Garaid Mac Fhionghain** (born 10 February 1966) is a Scottish systems administrator and hacker who was accused in 2002 of perpetrating the "biggest military computer hack of all time", although McKinnon himself states that he was merely looking for evidence of free energy suppression and a cover-up of UFO activity and other technologies potentially useful to the public.

**David Scott Jones/Dàibhidh Scotach Mac Iain** (born October 1965) is a Scottish video game programmer and entrepreneur who co-founded video game developers DMA Design (now Rockstar North) in 1987, Realtime Worlds in 2002, and Cloudgine in 2012. Jones created *Lemmings* and *Grand Theft Auto*, which both spawned many successful sequels.

**Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair/Antóin Teàrlach Lynton Blàr** KG (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. On his resignation he was appointed Special Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, a diplomatic post which he held until 2015. He has been the executive chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change since 2016.

**Jerry John Rawlings/Gearalt Iain Mac Rádhulbh** (22 June 1947 – 12 November 2020) was a Ghanaian military officer and politician who led the country from 1981 to 2001 and also for a brief period in 1979. He led a military junta until 1992, and then served two terms as the democratically elected President of Ghana.

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