traveldk.com

In 563 this fiery Irish missionary went into self-imposed exile on Iona (known as the “home of christianity” in Europe), and here he founded a monastery. Columban monks travelled widely, consolidating the Christian faith and thus unifying Scotland’s tribes into one nation.

Facing an English onslaught in 1314, the Scots – led by Robert the Bruce – achieved a dazzling victory. By defeating the English, the Scots won back their nation and their pride. Their right to independence was ratified by Papal bull in 1329, though the war with England continued for another 300 years.

To assist France, James IV invaded England in 1513 and met the enemy just over the border at Flodden. In the massacre that followed, 10,000 Scots died, James included, and, as his heir was still an infant, a power struggle and an era of instability ensued.

Scotland was a Catholic country when Mary Queen of Scots ascended the throne. But in 1559, a revolutionary preacher called John Knox fearlessly denounced Catholicism and heralded the Reformation. Protestantism was introduced to Scotland, and for the next 150 years religious intolerance was rife.

When Elizabeth I, Queen of England died without an heir, James VI of Scotland (son of Elizabeth’s cousin Mary) had the strongest claim of succession. He was crowned James I of England in 1603, and his court was moved to London. Scotland retained its parliament and independence, but would now share its monarchs with England.

A disastrous attempt to establish a trading colony in Panama almost bankrupted Scotland, and union with England was necessary for economic survival. The Act of Union (1707) dissolved Scotland’s parliament and the politicians moved south.

In 1745, James VII’s grandson “Bonnie Prince Charlie” secretly sailed from France to Scotland to reclaim the British throne. He amassed an army which fought its way to a panic-stricken London. Short of their goal, the “Jacobites” lost heart and returned north. The Hanoverian army, augmented by royalist Scots, slaughtered the rebels at Culloden, the last battle fought on British soil.

James Watt’s transformation of the steam engine (see Rotative Steam Engine: James Watt (1736–1819)) heralded the advent of the Industrial Revolution, which had a profound effect on Scotland, and Glasgow in particular. The demand for steam forced every coal mine into maximum output, and the production of cotton, linen, steel and machinery boomed. Glasgow became known as “the workshop of the Empire”.

Of the two world wars, it was the 1914–18 war that claimed the most lives: 74,000 Scottish soldiers and almost as many civilians. In addition to this, between 1901 and 1961, 1.4 million Scots emigrated to seek better lives elsewhere.

In a 1997 referendum, the Scots emphatically voted for the reestablishment of a Scottish Parliament. This opened in 1999, returning the political forum to the heart of Scotland after an absence of 292 years.