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The Scottish people or Scots (Scots: Scots fowk; Scottish Gaelic: Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic peoples , the Picts and Gaels , who founded the Kingdom of Scotland (or Alba ) in the 9th century.
Scotland is the "Home of Golf", and is well known for its courses. As well as its world-famous Highland Games (athletic competitions), it is also the home of curling, and shinty, a stick game similar to Ireland's hurling. Scotland has 4 professional ice hockey teams that compete in the Elite Ice Hockey League. Scottish cricket is a minority game.
The difficulties with Pictish history and archaeology arise from the fact that the people who were called Picts were a fundamentally heterogeneous group with little cultural uniformity. Care is needed to avoid viewing them through the lens of what the cultural historian Gilbert Márkus calls the "Ethnic Fallacy". [ 7 ]
The national literature of Scotland created in the late medieval period employed legend and history in the service of the crown and nationalism, helping to foster a sense of national identity, at least within its elite audience. The epic poetic history of the Brus and Wallace helped outline a narrative of united struggle against the English enemy.
People lived in Scotland for at least 8,500 years before Britain's recorded history. At times during the last interglacial period (130,000–70,000 BC) Europe had a climate warmer than today's, and early humans may have made their way to Scotland, with the possible discovery of pre-Ice Age axes on Orkney and mainland Scotland. [5]
The Cross of St. Andrew, or Saltire, the national flag of Scotland, which was adopted as a national symbol in the late Middle Ages. Scottish national identity, including Scottish nationalism, are terms referring to the sense of national identity as embodied in the shared and characteristic culture, languages, and traditions [1] of the Scottish people.
Peoples of Northern Britain according to Ptolemy's 2nd-century Geography. The Caledonians (/ ˌ k æ l ɪ ˈ d oʊ n i ən z /; Latin: Caledones or Caledonii; Ancient Greek: Καληδῶνες, Kalēdōnes) or the Caledonian Confederacy were a Brittonic-speaking tribal confederacy in what is now Scotland during the Iron Age and Roman eras.
The fauna of Scotland is generally typical of the north-west European part of the Palearctic realm, although several of the country's larger mammals were hunted to extinction in historic times. Scotland 's diverse temperate environments support 62 species of wild mammals, including a population of wild cats and important numbers of grey and ...