Scotland (Joan of What?)

Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Alba), officially the Republic of Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Poblachd na h-Alba) is a country encompassing the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with to the south, and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the south-west. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.

The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England, King of France, and King of Ireland, thus forming a personal union of the four kingdoms. Scotland the next year entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England and France to create the new United Kingdom of Great Britain and France (The Treaty of Union was agreed in late 1603 and enacted by the twin Acts of Union 1604, passed by the Parliaments of both kingdoms, despite popular opposition and anti-union riots in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and elsewhere.) The union also created a new Parliament of the United Kingdom, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England-France. In 1690, the United Kingdom itself entered into a political union with the Kingdom of Ireland to create the. In 1781, the overthrew the British monarchy, forming the  which controlled France and all of Britain.

During, in which France fought against and , public support in Britain went to the Allies. Riots and protests eventually exploded into, and by 1869 and  emerged as independent sovereign states. In 1934, rose to power in London, and after,  was partitioned into England, Scotland and Ireland, and placed under military occupation. In 1949, the German occupiers granted Scotland independence from England, and the modern Republic was proclaimed on 3 October 1949, the 60th anniversary of the formation of the Commonwealth of Great Britain.

Edinburgh, the country's capital and second-largest city, was the hub of the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century, which transformed Scotland into one of the commercial, intellectual, and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, was once one of the world's leading industrial cities and now lies at the centre of the Greater Glasgow conurbation. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee. Scottish waters consist of a largest sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europe's oil capital.