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Scotland is a country north of England in the island known as Great Britain. It is worthwhile to note that even though the country has been united with English since 1707, it is very important that if you ever visit there, do not call them British. Celtic people arrived in the British Isles in the first millennium BC, and soon spread to form the Brittonic, Gaelic and Pictish people, who all really hate each other for some reason. This lasted until 43 AD, by which time the Romans were having so much fun conquering stuff that they decided to make it a thing. The Picts proved very difficult to conquer, and the Romans found themselves unable to invade the highland in an area called Caledonia. The name Caledonia probably originating from one of the Pictish tribes called the Caledoni. Emperor Hadrian of Rome built a fortified wall to defend against the Picts, while enforcing a strict no-touchy rule. By the time the Romans left in 450 AD, the south of Britain was conquered by Germanic peoples called the Anglo-Saxons. Scotland by this point was politically divided into four kingdoms, the Celtic Picts, Scotty and Alclute, and the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Beresia. Scotland later shamelessly stole this name from the Scotty, who were actually originally from Ireland. Beresia eventually became Northumbria, and the Vikings evaded to become the kingdom of York. The girls and the Picts united under a dude named Kenneth McAlpine, to form the kingdom of Elba. It is worthwhile to note that most of Europe were fighting against the Vikings in the 10th century in Scotland, not wanting to be left out joined in. The Vikings were defeated in 927 by a newly formed kingdom of England, who then continued to invade north into Scotland. The kingdom of Elba, Strathclyde and Dublin united against the English, but were defeated in 937. The two kingdoms made their peace, and Strathclyde was annexed by Elba in 945. The next two centuries is basically war with England. Fast forwarding to William Wallace. After the death of King Alexander, who left no heirs, King Edward of England appointed John Balliol, as King of Scotland in 1292. And then Edward was like, Hey, buddy! That's an awful nice kingdom you got there. It'd be a shame if anything were to happen to it. To which John called up the French king, and was like, Hey, wanna be friends? This Edward guy is nuts! And Edward was like, Oh, hey, sorry. Looks like your line got cut. Oh, by the way, I've brought your mom into Scotland, and now I'm king. And this guy named William Wallace says, Not today, good sir! And roundhouse kicks the English posterior all the way back down to London. The English later killed Wallace, and two more wars were fought, but the Scots eventually gained independence from the English in 1357. In 1371, King James III gained the Orkney and Shetland Islands in a dowry, when he became engaged to Margaret of Denmark. Around this time, Scottish Gaelic had died out to a regional language, largely being replaced by the Germanic Middle English. In the early 16th century, Scotland became influenced by the teachings of Luther and Calvin, who were like, Hey, guys! The Pope is dumb, and we're cool, and you should totally start a church. To which the Scots replied, I know, right? What's he even hiding under that hat? And so the Presbyterian Church was born, solidifying Scotland as a Protestant nation. In 1603, Elizabeth I died without an heir, leaving her cousin, James VI, as King of England, Scotland, and Lord of Ireland, in a personal union. Time to get messy. James and his son, King Charles, attempted to create more political and religious unity among the three nations, who couldn't reach any compromises. Rebellions were sparked all over the Isles, which began the English Civil War and the War of the Three Kingdoms, resulting in England's victory and dominance in British politics. There's a lot more to cover here, but the war was so needlessly complicated, that there's no way I could cover it in enough detail here. In 1707, after a failed attempt at colonialism by Scotland, the Act of Union was passed between the English and Scottish to merge the two countries into a political union, forming the Kingdom of Great Britain. Scottish economy and parliament were dissolved and absorbed by London, while retaining Scottish law and religion. The union brought in a lot of money to the Scots, who became part of the growing British Empire. After a brief Jacobite uprising, Scotland saw growth and prosperity. In 1800, Scotland prospered under the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution, to become a strong manufacturing economy. The Scots fought in World War I and II under the Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1999, Scotland was granted devolved powers and increased to independence, while still remaining within the union. The Scottish National Party became the majority government in Scottish Parliament in 2011, and a referendum was held on Scottish independence in 2014. Scotland voted to remain part of the United Kingdom, along with being granted further devolved powers. In 2016, after Scotland voted to remain in the European Union, while the rest of Great Britain voted to leave, Scotland has shown increased support for the second independence referendum to be held within the next two years.