Fun & Interesting Facts about Scotland

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, apart from being its second largest city.

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland. Aberdeen and Dundee are amongst the other major cities in the country.

The Kingdom of Scotland was an independent state until 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union led to a union with the Kingdom of England, resulting in the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

The main religions of Scotland are Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) Scottish Episcopal Church and Roman Catholicism.

The official currency of Scotland is Pound Sterling.

English (official) and Gaelic are the main languages of Scotland.

The official animal of Scotland is Unicorn.

The motto of Scotland is ‘No one provokes me with impunity’.

Scotland is the second largest country in the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

Though Scotland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, its legal system is still separate from that of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland

Scotland comprises of approximately 790 islands, out of which around 130 are inhabited.

Edinburgh was the first city in the world to have its own fire-brigade.

Ben Nevis, at 1,343 m, forms the highest point in Scotland. While, the lowest point in the country is Bed of Loch Morar, at 987 ft (300 m) below sea level.

Scottish surnames are divided in two main categories, namely Gaelic names and Germanic names.

The Bank of Scotland, founded in 1695, is the oldest surviving bank in the UK. It was also the first bank in Europe to print its own banknotes

Scotland has its own parliament, which was elected for the first time in 1999. It is responsible for the social work service, education, health services and local government.

Scotland is very well known in the world for its whisky, popularly known as Scotch whisky.

Television, telephone, video cassette recorder, finger printing, home of golf, tarmacadam, tyres are penicillin were all Scottish inventions.

Scotland boasts of over 600 square miles of freshwater lakes, known as lochs, of which the most famous one is Loch Ness.