We stert oot wi a bittie backgrund tae Scotland, acause its history haes affen haed an affcome tae the kind o registers left ahin.

Fowk haes bade in Scotland for aboot the last 12,000 year. In the first century AD the Romans conquest the soothland pairt o the island o Albion an cawed it Brittania (noo Ingland an Wales) but the hantle tribes tae the north wadna be dauntont an the Romans cryed thae lands ayont the Forth-Clyde line, Caledonia, efter the heidmaist tribe the Caledones. The affspring o the Caledones an ithers, noo cawed the Pechts, cam thegither wi the Gaelic Scots unner ae common kingship in the 8ct an 9t centuries.

In AD 900 screivars in Irland cryed this kinrik Alba – meanin ‘the Gaelic kinrik in Albion’ – but Germanic speakers cawed it Scotland. The sindry fowk in Scotland - Angles, Brets, Gaels, Pechts, an syne Norse, Normans an Fleemins cam thegither as a nation – the Scots – unner a common king, an patron, Saunt Andra, wi the saltire flag. The border wi Ingland wis gree’d at the Treaty o Newcastle in 1237, an Norrowa cedit the Waster Isles tae Scotland bi the Treaty o Perth, in 1266, while the Jarldom o Orkney an Lordship o Shetland cam tae Scotland bi gait o a mairrage treaty wi Denmark in 1469.

The neeborin kings o Ingland had lang socht tae bring the hail islands o Albion an Irland unner thair rule, usin aince mair the auld Roman name Brittania, but this stertit mony weirs wi Scotland that gaed on fae the 1290s until 1652. Amang the kenspeckle kings o thir times wis Robert The Bruce (1306-1329) an Jeems IV (1488-1513) an Scotland affen made common cause wi Fraunce unner a puckle treaties kent as The Auld Alliance.

Throu the Middle Ages fowk o the Scots nation cam tae define thairsels apairt gauin bi whither thay spak Scots Gaelic, or Scots, wi Gaelic regairdit as Heiland, an Scots as Lawland. An in the Norland Isles, in Orkney an Shetland, Norn wis spoken until the 18t century.

In 1560 a pairlament wis held that brak fae the pape in Rome an declared that Scotland wis noo a reformed Calvinist kinrik. Tae worship as a Catholic wad noo be unlawfae until 1829. Catholic Queen Mary tint her throne in 1567 an therefter kings an queens wad be Protestant. As the Protestant heir King Jemmie VI o Scotland took ower the crouns o Ingland an Irland in 1603, but ettlin tae haud in concord the sindry political an releegious disputes o the nobles o the three kinriks led tae weir an the usurpation o Scotland bi the invadin airmy o Oliver Crumell (1652-1660).

The dounfaw o the Stewarts gied birth tae the Jacobites. Feart that Scots wad jyne wi Fraunce again, a puckle nobles fae Ingland an Scotland brocht aboot the Treaty o Union in 1707 tae upmak a new state cryed the Unitit Kinrik wi ae pairlament in Lunnon. The ettles o the Jacobites tae ding doun the union led tae defait at Culloden in 1746, the dingin doun o Gaelic Scotland, an syne the notour Clearances. Muckle industrial chenge in the 19t century endit the auld Scotland for aye, brekkin the Kirk o Scotland apairt in 1843 and drawin Scotland ever mair intae the Breetish Impire.

A faur mair centrified state, an neglect o Scots affairs in Lunnon, led tae caws for hame rule, stertin fae the end the 19t century. Mony Scots haed left the kintra for a new life but thaim that bade haed tae thole dwynin industry an social skaith alang wi the affcome o twa warld weirs. But the estaiblishment aince mair o the Scots pairlament, fae 1999, led tae mair intress again in the culture, leids an history o the kintra, an in the lifes o oor forebears.