| Republic of Scotland Poblachd na h-Alba | |||||
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| Anthem: Flower of Scotland |
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| Capital | Edinburgh | ||||
| Largest | Glasgow | ||||
| Languages | English • Scots • Scottish Gaelic | ||||
| Demonym | Scottish | ||||
| Government | Unitary presidential constitutional republic | ||||
| - | President | Nicola Sturgeon | |||
| - | Vice President | John Swinney | |||
| - | President of the Scottish Parliament | Ken Macintosh | |||
| - | Chief Justice | Brian Gill | |||
| Legislature | Scottish Parliament | ||||
| Independence | England | ||||
| - | British Revolution | 1868–9 | |||
| - | Commonwealth of Great Britain | 3 October 1869 | |||
| - | World War III | 1938–46 | |||
| - | Partition of Britannia | 10 May 1946 | |||
| - | End of German occupation | 3 October 1949 | |||
| - | Constitution adopted | 10 January 1950 | |||
| Area | |||||
| - | Land | 77,933 km2 30,090 sq mi |
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| Population | |||||
| - | 2015 estimate | 5,373,000 | |||
| GDP (nominal) | 2013 estimate | ||||
| - | Total | § 245.3 billion | |||
| - | Per capita | § 45,904 | |||
| Gini (2015) | ▼ 32.0 medium |
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| HDI (2015) | ▲ 0.928 very high |
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| Currency | Euro (€) (EUR) |
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| Time zone | GMT (UTC+0) | ||||
| - | Summer (DST) | British Summer Time (UTC+1) | |||
| Date formats | dd/mm/yyyy | ||||
| Drives on the | left | ||||
| Internet TLD | .sc | ||||
| Calling code | +44 | ||||
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 England 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 United Kingdom of Great Britain, France and Ireland. In 1781, the French Revolution overthrew the British monarchy, forming the French First Republic which controlled France and all of Britain.
During World War I, in which France fought against Prussia and Cygnia, public support in Britain went to the Allies. Riots and protests eventually exploded into revolution, and by 1869 Great Britain and Ireland emerged as independent sovereign states. In 1934, Fascists rose to power in London, and after World War III, Fascist Britain 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 European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europe's oil capital.
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