The Gaels gave Scotland its name from 'Scoti', a racially derogatory term used by the Romans to describe the Gaelic-speaking 'pirates' who raided Britannia in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Scotland begins in the 1st century AD when the Romans invaded Britain. The Romans added southern Britain to their empire as the province Britannia. They were unable, however, to subdue the fierce tribes in the north. To keep these tribes from invading Britannia, Emperor Hadrian had a massive wall built across the island from sea to sea.
The Romans called the tribes of the north 'Caledoni' and named their land Caledonia. The name Caledonia has often been applied to Scotland, especially in poetry. The Picts, known as the 'painted people' were one of the Celtic tribes who inhabited Scotland.
In the 5th century Celtic immigrants from Ireland, called Scots, settled north of the Clyde. After the Normans conquered England in 1066, many Anglo-Saxons from England settled in the Lowlands of Scotland. Here the Scots gradually adopted English ways. Feudalism was established, and the chiefs of the clans became nobles. Towns grew, trade increased, and Scotland prospered.
The medieval period saw the gradual expansion of the Scottish kingdom, as kings and queens came and went at a steady pace. The best known early Scottish king, Macbeth, was killed in battle in 1057, and the Kingdom of Alba became a feudal society by the 12th century. The Treaty of Falaise, signed by William I, ushered in a period of relative peace in Scotland.
In 1296, Edward I invaded Scotland, massacring the townspeople of Berwick and stripping the Scottish King John Balliol of his arms of Scotland. In response, in 1297 the Scottish Knight William Wallace and Esquire Andrew Moray raised an army of Scots and on 11 September 1297 inflicted a decisive defeat over the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.
In the later Middle Ages, Scotland suffered from weak kings and powerful nobles. For two centuries there was a constant struggle between the Crown and the barons. Border clashes with England also continued.
The age-old rivalry between Scotland and England ended formally in 1707 when the parliaments of both nations agreed to the Act of Union. This act merged the parliaments of the two countries and established the Kingdom of Great Britain.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Scotland was part of the one of the greatest intellectual and scientific outpourings ever recorded. The Age of Enlightenment saw Scottish thinkers and artists – the likes of Robert Burns, William Adam, Sir Walter Scott and Adam Smith – transform the way the Scotts see and understand the world
General history of Scotland
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