Portal:Scotland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
edit The Scotland Portal
 |
 |
|
 |
||
Scotland (Gaelic: Alba) is a nation in northwest Europe and a constituent country of the United Kingdom. With a population of 5,094,000 and an area of 78,782 km², Scotland occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain.
Scotland shares a 60 mile (96 km) land border to the south with England, and 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 south-west. Scottish waters border those of Norway, the Faeroes, Iceland and Ireland. Apart from the mainland, Scotland consists of over 790 islands, giving it a coastline of approximately 6200 miles (9,900 km).
The Kingdom of Scotland was united in 843, by Kenneth MacAlpin, King of Scots, and is thus one of the oldest still-existing countries in the world. Scotland existed as an independent state until the Act of Union, 1 May 1707.
The flag of Scotland - the Saltire or St Andrew's Cross - is thought to be the oldest national flag still in use. Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and Saint Andrew's Day, on 30 November, is Scotland's national day. There are currently attempts to create a national holiday on this day.
Scottish people have played prominent parts in many important inventions and discoveries.
edit Featured article: Bud Neill
Bud Neill (1911–1970) was an innovative Scottish cartoonist who drew cartoon strips for a number of Glasgow based newspapers between the 1940s and 1960s. Following his death, his work has attained cult status with a worldwide following.
Neill was born in Partick and he moved with his family shortly after birth to Troon in Ayrshire. Growing up there, he spent his Saturday afternoons at the local cinema, and was particularly enthralled by silent movie Westerns This fuelled Neill's childhood imagination, and proved to be a formative influence for his future career. His other great passion in childhood was a love of horses and he would often barter some mucking out and grooming duties in return for the opportunity to ride the horses at the local stables.
Returning to Glasgow after a year spent in Canada in the late 1930s, Neill eventually found employment with the Glasgow Evening Times in 1944, and produced a series of cartoons themed around Glasgow life during wartime. This went on to spawn his most famous cartoon strip, Sheriff Lobey Dosser of Calton Creek. Started in 1949, Calton Creek was a fictional outpost of the wild west in Arizona, mainly populated with Glaswegians. The immense popularity of Neill's work led to the Lobey Dosser stories being published as small one shilling booklets after they stopped appearing in the newspapers.
Such was the affection that Glaswegians had for the cartoons that a commemorative statue was commissioned in 1992. Designed by two students from Glasgow School of Art, the statue features the two main characters "Lobey Dosser" and "Rank Bajin" astride "El Fideldo", Lobey's trusty two-legged horse. The statue was erected in Woodlands Road across from The Halt pub where the idea was first conceived.
edit Featured picture: The Thin Red Line
The Thin Red Line was a famous military action by the 93rd (Highland) Regiment during the Crimean War. The 93rd, led by Sir Colin Campbell, took part in actions at Alma and Sevastopol before routing a Russian cavalry charge on October 25, 1854, at Balaklava.
This painting by Robert Gibb is housed at the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders regimental museum at Stirling Castle.
edit Did you know...
- ... that Fowlsheugh cliffs attract 170,000 breeding seabirds annually, and may be one of the few nature reserves with more vertical than horizontal land area?
- ...that Beinn a' Ghlò is a large mountain in Scotland that has three Munro summits, and is an SSSI?
- ...that Edinburgh University did not teach Scottish history until 1901, when a new professor, Peter Hume Brown, insisted that it was not revolutionary to study its national history?
- ...that, according to the Lanercost Chronicle, Richard de Inverkeithing, Bishop of Dunkeld, was poisoned by King Alexander III of Scotland so that the king could take the bishop's movable possessions?
- ...that pioneering Scottish Victorian photographer, John Thomson, was honoured by having one of the peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro named "Point Thomson" on his death in 1921?
edit Categories
edit Things you can do
Please visit the Scottish Wikipedians' notice board and help to write new Scotland-related articles, and expand and improve existing ones.
edit WikiProjects
edit Scotland on Wikipedia
- On 1 March, 2006, Scottish Wikipedians' notice board participant Nach0king created Wikipedia's one millionth article: Jordanhill railway station (in Glasgow).
- Scotland is the 38th most often referenced article on the English language Wikipedia. It has 15,633 incoming links, placing it just above articles such as Sweden, Poland and Paris, and just below Europe, China and California. Read more.
- Scotland was in the top 500 most visited articles on the English Wikipedia in February 2004. It ranked as 350th with 2844 hits, just above God and not far below Britney Spears. Read more.
- Scotland has an article in 69 different languages on Wikipedia.
edit Scottish topics
edit Other Scotland-related WikiMedia
 |
Wikinews Scottish news |
 |
Wikibooks Scottish books |
 |
Commons Scottish images |
 |
Wikisource Scottish texts |
