Moscow State Pedagogical University
the department of sociology,
economics and law
chair of English language
Course paper on the topic
“Scotland”
by Gribacheva Alexandra,
a student of the 3rd year
Moscow 2000
The plan:
Introduction.
I. A few words about this work.
II. Scotland – how does it look like?
1.Geographical position.
2.Climate
3.Plant & animal life.
4.Natural resources.
5.Population.
6.Scotland’s government.
The main part.
I. Early peoples of Scotland & their relations.
II. “… we will never consent to subject ourselves to the dominion
of the English…”
III. Scotland’s beautiful capital.
1.Introduction
2.Edinburgh’s Castle
3.The Military Tattoo
4.St. Giles’ Cathedral.
5.Edinburgh’s museums.
6.Where life is one long festival.
Conclusion.
I.“Scottishness”.
1.”A wee dram”.
2.Scottish national dress.
3.A few words about tartan.
4.The national musical instrument of the Scots.
5.Highland’s dances and games.
6.The famous Loch Ness.
7.St. Andrew’s Cross.
II.Scotland for every season.
Appendices.
Practical part.
Literature.
I. Introduction.
I.A few words about this work.
Though Scotland is a part of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland it still remains an individual country with its own
traditions, customs, history and the way of life. In one word, Scotland is
not England at all. It is a country with a unique culture full of ancient
legends, bright contrasts and mysterious castles. Secrets and mystery
always appear immediately when you open a book about Scotland.
But unfortunately you can come across such a problem as lack of
literature on this topic. I was lucky to find several books that gave
exhaustive information about this magic country. I was so exited by the
Scottish national heroes and by this independent nation that I decided to
find out more information about them.
Some people say that if you haven’t been in Venice you haven’t seen Italy
at all. I can say that if you haven’t been in Scotland you haven’t seen
Britain at all. As for me I was lucky to visit the capital of England
London. But alas! I didn’t have any opportunity to visit or just to have a
glimpse of Scotland, a land of festivals, kilts and bagpipes.
It seemed to me that after visiting London I know everything about Britain.
And only after reading several books about Scotland I realized how wrong I
had been. Now I can just say: “I wish I were in Scotland!”
I was seized with an idea of studying more about it and that is why I
decided to take this topic for my course paper. I am not sure that I will
be able to tell everything that I found out about this country and its
people. But I promise to depict all unforgettable events and traditions of
the Scottish people that impressed me most of all.
II.Scotland – what does it look like?
1.Geographical position
Scotland, administrative division of the kingdom of Great Britain,
occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Scotland is
bounded on the north by the Atlantic Ocean; on the east by the North Sea;
on the southeast by England; on the south by Solway Firth, which
partly separates it from England, and by the Irish Sea; and on the west by
North Channel, which separates it from Ireland, and by the Atlantic Ocean.
As a geopolitical entity Scotland includes 186 nearby islands,
the majority of which are contained in three groups-namely, the Hebrides,
also known as the Western Islands, situated off the western coast; the
Orkney Islands, situated off the northeastern coast; and the Shetland
Islands, situated northeast of the Orkney Islands. The largest of the other
islands is the Island of Arran. The area, including the islands, is 78,772
sq km (30,414 sqmi).
Scotland has a very irregular coastline. The western coast in
particular is deeply penetrated by numerous arms of the sea, most of which
are narrow submerged valleys, known locally as sea lochs[1], and by a
number of broad indentations, generally called firths. The principal firths
are the Firth of Lorne, the Firth of Clyde, and Solway Firth.
Scotland is characterized by an abundance of streams and lakes (lochs).
Notable among the lakes, which are especially numerous in the central and
northern regions, are Loch Lomond (the largest), Loch Ness, Loch Tay, and
Loch Katrine.
Many of the rivers of Scotland, in particular the rivers in the west,
are short, torrential streams, generally of little commercial importance.
The longest river of Scotland is the Tay; the Clyde, however, is the
principal navigational stream, site of the port of Glasgow. Other chief
rivers include the Forth, Tweed, Dee, and Spey.
Like the climate of the rest of Great Britain, that of Scotland is
subject to the moderating influences of the surrounding seas. As a result
of these influences, extreme seasonal variations are rare, and temperate
winters and cool summers are the outstanding climatic features. Low
temperatures however, are common during the winter season in the
mountainous districts of the interior. In the western coastal region, which
is subject to the moderating effects of the Gulf Stream, conditions are
somewhat milder than in the east.
3.Plant and Animal Life
The most common species of trees indigenous to Scotland are oak and
conifers-chiefly fir, pine, and larch. Large forested areas, however, are
rare, and the only important woodlands are in the southern and eastern
Highlands. Except in these wooded areas, vegetation in the elevated regions
consists largely of heather, ferns, mosses, and grasses. Saxifrage,
mountain willow, and other types of alpine and arctic flora occur at
elevations above 610 m (2000 ft). Practically all of the cultivated plants
of Scotland were imported from America and the European continent.
The only large indigenous mammal in Scotland is the deer. Both the red
deer and the roe deer are found, but the red deer, whose habitat is the
Highlands, is by far the more abundant of the two species. Other indigenous
mammals are the hare, rabbit, otter, ermine, pine marten, and
wildcat. Game birds include grouse, blackcock, ptarmigan, and waterfowl.
The few predatory birds include the kite, osprey, and golden eagle.
Scotland is famous for the salmon and trout that abound in its streams and
lakes. Many species of fish, including cod, haddock, herring, and various
types of shellfish, are found in the coastal waters.
4.Natural Resources
Scotland, like the rest of the island of Great Britain, has
significant reserves of coal. It also possesses large deposits of zinc,
chiefly in the south. The soil is generally rocky and infertile, except for
that of the Central Lowlands. Northern Scotland has great hydroelectric
power potential and contains Great Britain's largest hydroelectric
generating stations. Beginning in the late 1970s, offshore oil deposits in
the North Sea became an important part of the Scottish economy. The most
important city here is Aberdeen which is the oil centre of the country.
Ships and helicopters travel from Aberdeen to the North Sea oil rigs.
Therefore, Scotland is rather rich in natural resources and sometimes can
even condition to England.
5.Population
The people of Scotland, like those of Great Britain in general, are
descendants of various racial stocks, including the Picts, Celts,
Scandinavians, and Romans. Scotland is a mixed rural-industrial society.
Scots divide themselves into Highlanders, who consider themselves of purer
Celtic blood and retain a stronger feeling of the clan, and Lowlanders, who
are largely of Teutonic blood.
Government in Scotland is in four tiers. A new Scottish Parliament was
elected in 1999, following devolution of powers from the United Kingdom
Parliament in London. This is the first time Scotland has had its own
parliament in 300 years. The Scottish Parliament, which sits in Edinburgh,
is responsible for most aspects of Scottish life. The national parliament
in Westminster (London) retains responsibility for areas such as defence,
foreign affairs and taxation. The European Parliament in Brussels (Belgium)
exercises certain powers vested in the European Union.
The Scottish Parliament is supported by the Scottish Executive also
based in Edinburgh. The Scottish Government is led by a First Minister. A
Secretary of State for Scotland remains part of the UK Cabinet, and is
supported by the Scotland Office (previously the Scottish Office) based in
Glasgow, with offices in Edinburgh and London.
Top of Form 1
Bottom of Form 1
Local government is divided into 29 unitary authorities and three island
authorities, having been subject to a major reorganization in 1995.
Scotland has its own legal system, judiciary and an education system which,
at all levels, differs from that found "south of the border" in England and
Wales.
Scotland also has its own banking system and its own banknotes.
Edinburgh is the second financial centre of the UK and one of the major
financial centres of the world.
I.Early peoples of Scotland and their relations.
(see Appendices, page 23)
Most historians agree that the first man appeared in Scotland as long ago
as 6,000 BC. Bone and antler fishing spears and other rudimentary
implements found along the western part of the country serve as evidence to
support this theory. The Beaker civilization [2]arrived three thousand
years later, and is notable for its henges (of which Stonehenge is one of
the most famous). The Beaker people eventually spread as far north as
Orkney.
As a result of its geography, Scotland has two different societies.
In the center of Scotland mountains stretch to the far north and across to
the west, beyond which lie many islands. To the east and to the south the
lowland hills are gentler, and much of the countryside is like England,
rich, welcoming and easy to farm. North of the “Highland Line”[3] people
stayed tied to their own family groups. South and east of this line society
was more easily influenced by the changes taking place in England.
Scotland was populated by four separate groups of people. The main
group, the Picts, lived mostly in the north and northeast. They spoke
Celtic as well as another, probably older, language completely unconnected
with any known language today, and they seem to have been the earliest
inhabitants of the land.
The non-Pictish inhabitants were mainly Scots. The Scots were Celtic
settlers who started to move into the western Highlands from Ireland in the
fourth century.
In 843 the Pictish and Scottish kingdoms were united under a Scottish
king, who could also probably claim the Picts throne through his mother, in
this way obeying both Scottish and Pictish rules of kingship.
The third inhabitants were the Britons, who inhabited the Lowlands,
and had been part of the Romano-British world. They had probably given up
their old tribal way of life by the sixth century.
Finally, there were Angels from Nothambria who had pushed northwards
into the Scottish Lowlands.
Unity between Picts, Scots and Britons was achieved for several
reasons. They shared a common Celtic culture, language and background.
Their economy mainly depended on keeping animals. These animals were owned
by the tribe as a hole, and for this reason land was also held by tribes,
not by individual people. The common economic system increased their
feeling of belonging to the same kind of society and the difference from
the agricultural Lowlands. The sense of common culture may have been
increased by marriage alliances between tribes. This idea of common
landholding remained strong until the tribes of Scotland, called
“clans”[4], collapsed in the eighteenth century.
The spread of Celtic Christianity also helped to unite the people.
The first Christian mission to Scotland had come to southwest Scotland in
about AD 400. Later, in 563, Columba, known as the “Dove of the Church”,
came from Ireland. Through his work both Highland Scots and Picts were
brought to Christianity. He even, so it is said, defeated a monster in Loch
Ness, the first mention of this famous creature. By the time of the Synod
of Whitby in 663, the Picts, Scots and Britons had all been brought closer
together by Christianity.
The Angles were very different from the Celts. They had arrived in
Britain in family groups, but they soon began to accept the authority from
people outside their own family. This was partly due to their way of life.
Although they kept some animals, they spent more time growing crops. This
meant that land was held by individual people, each man working in his own
field. Land was distributed for farming by the local lord. This system
encouraged the Angles of Scotland to develop a non-tribal system of
control, as the people of England further south were doing. This increased
their feeling of difference from the Celtic tribal Highlanders further
north.
Finally, as in Ireland and in Wales, foreign invaders increased the
speed of political change. Vikings attacked the coastal areas of Scotland,
and they settled on many of the islands, Shetland, the Orkneys, the
Hebrides, and the Isle of Man southwest of Scotland. In order to resist
them, Picts and Scots fought together against the enemy raiders and
settles. When they couldn’t push them out of the islands and coastal areas,
they had to deal with them politically. At first the Vikings, or
“Norsemen”, still served the King of Norway. But communications with Norway
were difficult. Slowly the earls of Orkney and other areas found it easier
to accept the king of Scots as their overlord, rather than the more distant
king of Norway.
However, as the Welsh had also discovered, the English were a greater
danger than the Vikings. In 934 the Scots were seriously defeated by a
Wessex army pushing northwards. The Scots decided to seek the friendship of
the English, because of the likely losses from war. England was obviously
stronger than Scotland but, luckily for the Scots, both the north of
England and Scotland were difficult to control from London. The Scots hoped
that if they were reasonably peaceful the Sassenachs[5] would leave them
along.
Scotland remained a difficult country to rule even from its capital,
Edinburgh. Anyone looking at a map of Scotland can see that control of the
Highlands and islands was a great problem. Travel was often impossible in
winter, and slow and difficult in summer. It was easy for a clan chief or
noble to throw off the rule of the king.
II. “…we will never consent to subject ourselves to the dominion of the
English.”
England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland were once known as the British
Isles. Nowadays this term is normally used only in Geography. In fact, the
people of these isles have seldom been politically or culturally united.
English kings started wars to unite the British Isles from the 12th
century. These wars were wars of conquest and only the Welsh war was a
success.
At that time England was ruled by several ambitious kings, who wanted
to conquer more countries for themselves and to add more titles to their
names. They had, as a rule, absolutely no interest in the people of the
countries that they wished to conquer. It did not concern them that these
wars brought misery to the people in whose land they fought. The result was
generally to create a strong, national, patriotic feeling in the invaded
country, and a great hatred of the invader.
I don’t have much space here to speak about the history of Scotland in
details that is why I’d like to mention one historical episode which shows
the Scottish attitude towards freedom and independence. (For the chronology
of the events in the history of Scotland see Appendices,
page 24).
Although Scottish kings had sometimes accepted the English king as
their “overlord”, they were much stronger than the many Welsh kings had
been. Scotland owes its clan system partly to an Englishwoman, Margaret,
the Saxon Queen of Malcolm III. After their marriage in 1069, she
introduced new fashions and new ideas to the Scottish court – and among the
new ideas was the feudal system of land tenure. Until that time, most of
the country had been divided into seven semi-independent tribal provinces.
Under the feudal system, all land belonged to the king, who distributed it
among his followers in exchange for allegiance and service. But a Highland
chieftain could easily ignore a far-off Lowland king and, as time went by,
the clan chiefs became minor kings themselves. They made alliances with
other clans, had the power of life and death over their followers.
By the 11th century there was only one king of Scots, and he ruled
over all the south and east of Scotland. In Ireland and Wales Norman
knights were strong enough to fight local chiefs on their own. But only the
English king with a large army could hope to defeat the Scots. Most English
kings did not even try, but Edward I was different.
The Scottish kings were closely connected with England. Since Saxon
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