Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0053/00532.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 38KB | 644 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00532}
$Pretitle{405}
$Title{United Kingdom
Introduction}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC}
$Affiliation{Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC}
$Subject{scotland
scottish
local
development
government
north
per
britain
economic
state}
$Date{1990}
$Log{Table 1.*0053201.tab
Table 2.*0053202.tab
Table 3.*0053203.tab
}
Country:     United Kingdom
Book:        Scotland
Author:      Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC
Affiliation: Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC
Date:        1990

Introduction

     Scotland has been united politically with England and Wales for nearly
three centuries and the economies of the three countries have long been
integrated. Yet Scotland has retained a strong sense of national identity as
well as many distinctive characteristics and institutions.

     The past few decades have seen an extension of the responsibilities of
the Secretary of State for Scotland (a member of the Cabinet of the United
Kingdom Government), whose departments, with headquarters in Edinburgh, are
concerned with a large range of domestic, social and economic affairs. These
arrangements are reflected in the Westminster Parliament, in which there are
specially constituted committees of the House of Commons for considering
matters of concern to Scotland, including the stages of Scottish legislation.
Proposals for a significant measure of legislative devolution, involving the
establishment of a Scottish Assembly with responsibility for a wide range of
domestic affairs, were embodied in the Scotland Act 1978. Under the terms of
the Act a referendum was held in March 1979. An insufficient percentage voted
in favour and subsequently the Act was repealed.

     Major changes have occurred in the Scottish economy, with considerable
growth in the few technology industries and the service sector, while
Scotland's traditional heavy industries have declined. There are now more
people employed in the electronics industry than in the traditional industries
of coalmining, steelmaking and shipbuilding combined. One very significant
influence on the economy in the recent past has been the discovery and
exploitation of oil and gas resources in the continental shelf under the North
Sea, much of the oil and gas being brought ashore in Scotland. Investment from
overseas is also playing an important part in industrial development.

     The beauty and variety of Scotland's countryside and coast, the
opportunities for a range of sports and recreations and the many sites of
historical interest attract large numbers of visitors, and tourism has become
an important industry. At the same time there is wide recognition of the need
to protect the land from uncontrolled industrial and other development, and
many organisations are working, with government co-operation, to preserve and
improve the environment in town and countryside.

     The education system in Scotland aims to provide children with a broad
and balanced curriculum which offers opportunities for specialisation and
study in depth, and technical and vocational education to prepare them for the
rapidly changing world of work.

     There is a strong interest in the arts in Scotland, which has a
distinguished cultural and artistic heritage. One of Britain's foremost
cultural events is the Edinburgh International Festival of Music and Drama,
held in August.

     The royal family has a close and special relationship with Scotland. On
State occasions the Queen uses Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh (the royal palace of
the Scottish monarchs and still the State residence of the Sovereign in
Scotland); privately she spends a substantial part of each year at the royal
residence of Balmoral (Grampian). Prince Charles and his two brothers, like
their father, the Duke of Edinburgh, were educated at Gordonstoun in
north-east Scotland.

The Country and the People

     Scotland forms the northern part of Great Britain. It has a short land
border with England to the south; in the north and west it is bounded by the
Atlantic Ocean, and in the east by the North Sea. The mainland stretches 440
km (275 miles) from north to south, has a maximum width of 248 km (154 miles)
and is fringed by numerous islands, of which the principal groups are the
Orkney and Shetland Islands to the north and the Hebrides to the west. The
total land area is 78,772 sq km (30,414 sq miles), comprising 32 per cent of
the land area of Britain. The coastline, including the islands, measures some
10,140 km (6,300 miles).

     The landscape has many contrasts, with mountains and lowlands, deep glens
(narrow valleys) and coastal plains, forests, rivers and lochs (lakes). On the
Atlantic side long inlets penetrate the land, forming sea lochs similar to the
fiords of Norway, while on the east coast the North Sea has worn away the
softer sands and formed wide estuaries with good anchorages. The country is
divided broadly into three regions. The Highlands and Islands in the north and
west account for just over half of the total area and contain the most ancient
of the British geological formations and some of the highest mountains: Ben
Nevis, at 1,343 m (4,406 ft), is the highest in Britain. The Central Lowlands,
comprising a tract of undulating country with several hill ranges, contains
the main centres of population and industry as well as fertile farmlands. The
Southern Uplands, including the Border Country, is a largely agricultural and
pastoral area with rounded hills and many rivers.

     Scotland's climate is temperate, influenced by the Gulf Stream from the
North Atlantic. Rainfall varies from an annual average of about 190 cm (80
inches) in the mountainous parts of the north and west to 75 cm (30 inches) in
the east. During some winters the upland areas, particularly in the Highlands,
experience heavy snowstorms with severe drifting. A feature of the summer in
Scotland is the long twilight. In the far north there is no complete darkness
at midsummer. Except on the mountain tops there is little fog or mist.

     In mid 1987 the population of Scotland was estimated at 5,112,100,
compared with 5,235,600 in 1971. The rate of natural increase has declined
over a number of years, and there has been a small net loss of population
through emigration to England and Wales and overseas (about 236,700 between
1971 and 1987). Some 80 per cent of the people live in the central belt, which
contains the cities of Glasgow (population 715,600) Edinburgh, the capital
(438,700), and Dundee (175,700). The other main city, Aberdeen (213,200), lies
north of the central belt. Over the past few decades there has been some
movement of population away from the cities to the neighbouring districts and
to the five new towns of Cumbernauld, East Kilbride, Glenrothes, Irvine and
Livingston (see p 28), whose combined populations are about a quarter of a
million.

     The density of population in Scotland is relatively low, with 65 people
per square kilometre compared with 233 in Britain as a whole. It ranges from
3,614 people per square kilometre in Glasgow to 8 in the Highland region.

     Scottish people in the lowlands have for centuries spoken 'Scots', a
dialect derived from the Northumbrian branch of Old English. This has its own
recognised literary tradition and has seen a revival in poetry in the
twentieth century. Many words and phrases from the Scots tongue are retained
in the everyday English which is spoken throughout Scotland. Scots Gaelic, a
language of ancient Celtic origin, is spoken by some 88,000 people, mainly in
the islands and north-west of Scotland and in Glasgow. It is an indigenous
language with its own literary background.

History

     The Roman occupation of Britain in the first century A.D. did not extend
north of Hadrian's Wall, which the Romans built between the rivers Solway and
Tyne. By about the beginning of the sixth century Scotland is known to have
been divided among four peoples: Picts, mainly from north of the Forth-Clyde
line: