Scotland

Caledonia was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the part of Scotland that lies north of the River Forth. For other uses of the name, see Caledonia.

Scotland
Country
Continent:	Europe
Capital:	Edinburgh
National Language:	English and Scottish Gaelic
Government:	Devolved parliamentary legislature within a constitutional monarchy
Status in OTL:	Active within the United Kingdom

Scotland is a country that occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It is part of the United Kingdom, and shares a land border to the south with England. It is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland consists of over 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, King James VI of Scotland became King of England (as James I) and King of Ireland, thus forming a personal union of the three kingdoms. Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. The Treaty of Union was agreed in 1706 and enacted by the twin Acts of Union 1707 passed by the Parliaments of both countries, despite some popular opposition and anti-union riots in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and elsewhere. Great Britain itself subsequently entered into a political union with Ireland on 1 January 1801 to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Scotland maintained a separate legal system after union. In 1999, a devolved legislature, the Scottish Parliament, was reconvened with authority over many areas of home affairs following a referendum in 1997. Despite a growing movement for complete Scottish independence in the early 21st century, a referendum held for that purpose on 18 September 2014 was narrowly defeated.

Scotland in "The Breaking of Nations"

Scotland left the United Kingdom not long after Brexit. Scotland rejoined the European Union, and the rump U.K. still grappled with Brexit.

In 2031, Scotland's prime minister, Nicola Sturgeon was the second world leader to recognize Pacifica, much to the relief of acting president Nicole Yoshida; Xi Jinping of China had been the first.

Scotland in Crosstime Traffic

In the home timeline, Scottish nationalists had begun using violence in the United Kingdom, blowing up British postal trucks on multiple occasions.

Scotland in In High Places

After the Great Black Deaths wiped out 80% of Europe's population in the 14th century, Scotland remained a minor independent kingdom in the 21st.

Scotland in In the Presence of Mine Enemies

Susanna Weiss considered Scotland to be "a cold, gloomy, rocky place." However, she believed that Scotch whisky almost justified its existence.

Charlie Lynton, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 2010.

Scotland in "The Last Article"

In 1947, William Joyce (also known as "Lord Haw-Haw") reported that rebels in Scotland were publicly hanged. Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru heard the story on the radio while listening for news on the Qutb Road Massacre.

Scotland in "The Old Grind"

In 910, the giantess Fenia left Orkney and swam to Scotland. She found little of interest in the Highlands save a few haggard, tattooed warriors who ran away as she approached. She decided that the country only amounted to slim pictings.

Scotland in Ruled Britannia

When Spain invaded and conquered England in 1588, Scotland remained independent. It was ruled by King James VI, the Protestant son of the late Mary Queen of Scots.

Though Scotland was a traditional enemy of England, Scottish kings often visited the English capital of London, where a palace with a park was maintained for their uses. However, James, wary of the militant Catholic government of Spanish-backed Queen Isabella, did not visit England during the decade it was part of the Spanish Empire.

Postings on the Anglo-Scottish border were considered extremely undesirable for Spanish soldiers occupying England, and were often assigned as a disciplinary measure. Most Spaniards viewed the Scottish as at least as barbaric as the Irish. Lope de Vega frightened his lazy servant Diego with tales of the brutality of the Scots, and their penchant for taking heads. He also convinced Diego that servants who were sacked by their masters were sent to the Anglo-Scottish border to become cannon fodder against the Scots. It wasn't true, but Diego believed it.

William Shakespeare wrote a popular play set in Scotland.

Scotland in "The Sea Mother's Gift"

Traders from Orkney occasionally visited the Great Island. On one such occasion, people from Dett's village rescued Gefalal.

Scotland in Through Darkest Europe

The Kingdom of Scotland was a kingdom in the British Isles. It was bordered by the Kingdom of England to the south. Scotland had sufficient off-shore oil to make them a player in the game of international finance.

The incumbent Thane of Cawdor attended the funeral of Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Italy. Khalid al-Zarzisi couldn't gauge the importance of the Thane's title compared with the titles of other attendees.

Scotland in The War That Came Early

In mid-1940, as the Second World War entered its second year, Rudolf Hess, Deputy Führer of Germany, parachuted into Scotland on a mission to make peace between Britain and Germany, and form an alliance against the Soviet Union. He was found near Dundee by Sgt. Alistair Walsh, who was on-leave in Scotland at the time, and taken to the authorities.

Scotland in "The Yorkshire Mammoth"

Though the Ice Age had abated millennia ago, it left a number of glaciers in northern Scotland, in places such as Yorkshire, that persisted into the 20th century.

Mega fauna such as cave bears, dire wolves, and saber-toothed tigers vanished from England, Wales and Scotland during the Roman period, but survived in Ireland until the Norman invasion. The woolly rhinoceros went extinct during reign of either Elizabeth I or James I at the latest.