28th March 2009 - by Albert Beetons
Some Fun Facts About Scotland
The Gaelic word for Scotland is Alba.
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom (in
the North West of Europe), occupying the northern third of the
island of Great Britain.
Scotland is a mountainous country and shares a border with
England to the South and is bounded by the North Sea to the
East, the Atlantic Ocean to the North / West, and the North
Channel and Irish Sea to the South West.
Scotland consists of over 790 islands (with around 130
inhabited) in addition to the mainland, including the Northern
Isles, (sometimes known as the Shetland Islands) and the
Hebrides.
Edinburgh is the country's capital and second largest city as
well as one of Europe's largest financial centres. It was also
the first city in the world to have its own fire brigade.
The largest city in Scotland is Glasgow.
The highest point in Scotland is Ben Nevis at 1,343m.
Scotland is famous for its fresh water lochs (lakes) - there
are over 600 square miles of them. The most famous is Loch Ness
where a dinosaur like monster is said to lurk in the water but
this has not been proven.
Famous Scottish inventors include Alexander Graham Bell
(Telephone) and Alexander Fleming (Penicillin).
Culture lovers from around the world come to Edinburgh for its
famous arts festival.
The national flag of Scotland is known as the Saltire or St.
Andrew s Cross.
"Flower of Scotland" is popularly held to be the National
Anthem of Scotland. Scotland the Brave is used for the Scottish
team at the Commonwealth Games.
The largest lake in Scotland is Loch Lomond: 60sq km (40 km
long).
St Andrew s Day (30 November) is the national day, although
Burns Night tends to be more widely observed.
Scotland currently has a population of just over 5 million.
Edinburgh, like Rome, was built on seven hills.
Tourism is recognised as a key contributor to the Scottish
economy. A briefing published in 2002 by the Scottish
Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) for the Scottish
Parliament s Enterprise and Life Long Learning Committee stated
that tourism accounted around 5 of GDP and 7.5 of employment in
Scotland.
Famous musicians from Scotland include Annie Lennox, Wet Wet
Wet, Travis and Simple Minds.
Members of the European Union can apply for jobs in Scotland
and other nationalities can apply for a visa subject to meeting
requirements.
The most famous football teams in Scotland are Glasgow Celtic
and Glasgow Rangers.
Scottish music is an important aspect of the nation s culture,
with both traditional and modern influences. A well known
traditional Scottish instrument is the Great Highland Bagpipes,
a wind instrument consisting of three drones and a melody pipe
(called the chanter), which are fed continuously by a reservoir
of air in a bag.
The thistle is Scotland's Floral emblem.
There are many famous universities in Scotland including the
University of St. Andrews, Edinburgh University and Glasgow
University.
The currency in Scotland is Pound Sterling.
The longest river is the Tay at 121 miles.
Scotland is in the Greenwich Mean Time time zone.
Source: http://articlesabroad.com
| 
BlinkList
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Fark
Furl
Google Bookmarks
Livejournal
Ma.gnolia
Netvouz
Newsvine
Reddit
Spurl
Stumbleupon
Wists
Yahoo My Web
Blogmarks
Diigo
Slashdot
Smarking
Technorati
