1.
Fife (instrument)
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A fife /ˈfaɪf/ is a small, high-pitched, transverse flute, that is similar to the piccolo, but louder and shriller due to its narrower bore. The fife originated in medieval Europe and is used in military. Someone who plays the fife is called a fifer, the word fife comes from the German Pfeife, or pipe, which comes from the Latin word pipare. The fife is an instrument usually consisting of a tube with 6 finger holes. Some have 10 or 11 holes for added chromatics, the fife also has an embouchure hole, across which the player blows, and a cork or plug inside the tube just above the embouchure hole. Some nineteenth-century fifes had a key pressed by the finger of the right hand in place of a seventh finger hole. Fifes are made mostly of wood, grenadilla, rosewood, mopane, pink ivory, cocobolo, boxwood and other woods are superior, maple and persimmon are inferior. Some Caribbean music makes use of bamboo fifes, Military and marching fifes have metal reinforcing bands around the ends to protect them from damage. Fifes used in strenuous conditions sometimes have a lathe-turned, knob-like decoration at the ends for similar reasons. Some fifes are entirely made of metal or plastic, some modern fifes are of two-piece construction with a sliding tuning joint similar to some recorders. The standard fife is an A-flat transposing instrument, meaning that prevailing scoring conventions dictate that the C position on a fife-part staff should correspond to a concert A-flat, the standard fife sounds a minor sixth above written. Fifes pitched in the keys of D and of C are also common, fifes in various other keys are sometimes played in musical ensembles. A common convention specific to fife music and contradictory to those above is for music to be written in the key of D regardless of the key in which the fife in question sounds. Like the Irish flute and the tinwhistle, the fife is a simple system flute. These flutes are unable to play all chromatic pitches, while many of the pitches they can play are grossly out of tune. This tuning irregularity is part of the sound of the fife. An experienced fife player can play 3 full octaves although the fingering patterns necessary for playing in the octave can be daunting to a beginner. Marching bands typically play only in the second and third octave since these are the loudest and most penetrating, in medieval Europe, the fife was used in some folk music traditions to accompany dancing by all social classes
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Glenrothes
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Glenrothes is a town situated in the heart of Fife, in east-central Scotland. It is located approximately 30 miles from both Edinburgh, which lies to the south and Dundee to the north. The town had a population of 39,277 in 2011 as recorded by the census, making it the third largest settlement in Fife and the 18th most populous settlement in Scotland. The motto of Glenrothes is Ex terra vis, meaning Out of the earth, strength, which dates back to the founding of the town. Planned in the late 1940s as one of Scotlands first post-second world war new towns its original purpose was to house miners who were to work at a newly established coal mine, the Rothes Colliery. The Glenrothes Development Corporation, a public body, was established to develop, manage. The GDC supported by the local authority oversaw the governance of Glenrothes until the wind-up of the GDC in 1995, Glenrothes is the administrative capital of Fife containing both the Fife Council and Police Scotland Fife Division headquarters. Home to Fifes main concentration of specialist manufacturing and engineering companies, Public services and service industries are also important to the towns economy. Major employers include Bosch Rexroth, Brand Rex, Fife College, Glenrothes is unique in Fife as the majority of the towns centre is contained indoors, within Fifes largest indoor shopping centre, the Kingdom Shopping Centre. The town has won multiple awards in the Beautiful Scotland and Britain in Bloom contests for the quality of its parks. It has numerous outdoor sculptures and artworks, a result of the appointment of town artists in the development of the town. Public facilities include a sports and leisure centre, two golf courses, major parks, a civic centre and theatre and a college campus. The A92 trunk road provides the access to the town passing through Glenrothes and connecting it to the wider Scottish motorway. A major bus station is located in the centre providing regional and local bus services to surrounding settlements. The name Rothes comes from the association with the north-east Scotland Earl of Rothes, the Leslie family historically owned much of the land upon which Glenrothes has been built and their family name gave the adjacent village of Leslie its name. Glen was added to prevent confusion with Rothes in Moray and to reflect the location of the town within the Leven valley, the different areas of Glenrothes have been named after the hamlets already established, the farms which once occupied the land or historical country houses in the area. Glenrothes was designated in 1948 under the New Towns Act 1946 as Scotlands second post-war new town, the planning, development, management and promotion of the new town was the responsibility of the Glenrothes Development Corporation, a quango appointed by the Secretary of State for Scotland. The corporation board consisted of eight including an chairman and deputy chairman
4.
Cupar
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Cupar is a town, former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland. It lies between Dundee and Glenrothes, according to a 2011 population estimate, Cupar had a population around 9,000, making it the ninth largest settlement in Fife, and the civil parish a population of 11,183. It is the county town of Fife, before the council moved to Glenrothes. The town is believed to have grown around the site of Cupar Castle, the area became a centre for judiciary as the county of Fife and as a market town catering for both cattle and sheep. Although written information of a charter for the town was lost. During the middle of the 14th century, the burgh started to pay customs on taxable incomes, which probably meant that royal burgh status was granted sometime between 1294 and 1328. The oldest document, referring to the burgh, was a grant by Robert II in 1381 to give a port at Guardbridge on the River Eden to help boost trade with Flanders. This grant was officially recognised by James II in 1428, Cupar is represented by several tiers of elected government. Cupar Community Council is the lowest and its statutory role is to communicate local opinion to local and central government. Fife Council, the local authority for Cupar based in Glenrothes, is the executive, deliberative and legislative body responsible for local governance. The Scottish Parliament is responsible for devolved matters such as education, health, the Cupar area supports three multi-member wards with eleven councillors sitting on the committee of Fife Council. County Buildings on Catherine Street are the headquarters for the east region of Fife Council. Cupar forms part of the North East Fife, electing one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system, the constituency is represented by Stephen Gethins, MP of the Scottish National Party. For the purposes of the Scottish Parliament, Cupar forms part of the North East Fife constituency, the North East Fife Scottish Parliament constituency created in 1999 is one of nine within the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region. Each constituency elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament and the region elects seven members to produce a form of proportional representation. The constituency is represented by Rod Campbell for the SNP, currently, Scotland returns two SNP MEPs, two Labour MEPs, only one Conservative and Unionist MEP, and no Liberal Democrat MEPs, to the European Parliament. The 2001 census reported a population of 8,506, which increased slightly to around 8,980 in 2008, the demographic make-up resembles the rest of Scotland. The 30–44 age group formed the largest portion of the population, the median age of males and females was 39 and 43 years respectively, compared to 37 and 39 years for the whole of Scotland
5.
Scottish National Party
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The Scottish National Party is a Scottish nationalist and social-democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence and its leader, Nicola Sturgeon, is the current First Minister of Scotland. With the advent of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, the SNP became the second largest party, serving two terms as the opposition. The SNP came to power in the 2007 Scottish general election, forming a minority government, before going on to win the 2011 election, after which it formed Scotlands first majority government. The SNP is the largest political party in Scotland in terms of membership, reaching over 120,000 members in July 2016, currently the party has 63 MSPs,54 MPs and approximately 400 local councillors. The SNP also currently has 2 MEPs in the European Parliament, the SNP is a member of the European Free Alliance. The party does not have any members of the House of Lords, the SNP was formed in 1934 through the merger of the National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party, with Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham as its first president. Young was imprisoned for refusing to be conscripted, the SNP first won a parliamentary seat at the Motherwell by-election in 1945, but Robert McIntyre MP lost the seat at the general election three months later. They next won a seat in 1967, when Winnie Ewing was the winner of a by-election in the previously safe Labour seat of Hamilton. This brought the SNP to national prominence, leading to the establishment of the Kilbrandon Commission, the SNP hit a high point in the October 1974 general election, polling almost a third of all votes in Scotland and returning 11 MPs to Westminster. This success was not surpassed until the 2015 general election, however, the party experienced a large drop in its support at the 1979 General election, followed by a further drop at the 1983 election. In May 2011, the SNP won a majority in the Scottish Parliament with 69 seats. The No vote prevailed in a campaign, prompting the resignation of First Minister Alex Salmond. Forty-five percent of Scottish voters cast their ballots for independence, with the Yes side receiving less support than late polling predicted. The SNP rebounded from the loss in the referendum at the UK general election in May 2015, led by Salmonds successor as first minister. The party went from holding six seats in the House of Commons to 56, all but three of the fifty nine constituencies in the country elected an SNP candidate. BBC News described the result as a Scots landslide. The party gained an additional 1. 1% of the vote from the 2011 election
6.
Scottish Labour Party
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The Scottish Labour Party is the Scotland branch of the British Labour Party. Labour hold 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and two of six Scottish seats in the European Parliament, after these, Scottish Labour entered a coalition with the Scottish Liberal Democrats, forming a majority Scottish Executive. It remained the second largest party after the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, Scottish Labour lost 13 of its 37 seats, becoming the third largest party for the first time after being surpassed by the Scottish Conservative Party. Kezia Dugdale is the directly elected Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, the Scottish Labour Party is administered by the Scottish Executive Committee, which is responsible to the Labour Partys National Executive Committee. The Scottish Executive Committee is made up of representatives of party members, elected members and party affiliates, for example, trade unions, the current Scottish general secretary is Brian Roy. His predecessor was Ian Price, who succeeded Colin Smyth in 2013, the Scottish Labour headquarters is currently at Bath Street, Glasgow. It was formerly co-located with the offices of Unite the Union at John Smith House,145 West Regent Street, the party holds an annual conference during February/March each year. In 2008, Scottish Labour Party membership was reported as 17,000, in September 2010, the party issued 13,135 ballot papers to party members during the Labour Party leadership election. These did not necessarily equate to 13,135 individual members – due to the electoral structure. The party has declined to reveal its membership figures since 2008, in November 2014 the partys membership was claimed by an unnamed source reported in the Sunday Herald to be 13,500. Other recent reports in the media have quoted figures of as low as 8,000, in December 2014 the newly elected leader Jim Murphy claimed that the figure was about 20,000 on the TV programme Scotland Tonight. According to the accounts it submitted to the Electoral Commission the party had an income from membership of £115,636 in 2013, the Labour Party campaigned for the creation of a devolved Scottish Parliament as part of its wider policy of a devolved United Kingdom. Donald Dewar led Labours campaign for the first elections to the Scottish Parliament on 6 May 1999, Labour won the most votes and seats, with 56 seats out of 129, a clear distance ahead of the second-placed Scottish National Party. Labour also won 53 of the 73 constituency seats, Dewar became the inaugural First Minister of Scotland. Dewar died only a year later on 11 October 2000, a new first minister was elected in a ballot by Scottish Labours MSPs and national executive members, because there was insufficient time to hold a full leadership election. On 27 October, Henry McLeish was elected to succeed Dewar, Labours dominance of Scotlands Westminster seats continued in the 2001 general election, with a small loss of votes but no losses of seats. The press called the affair Officegate, after McLeishs resignation, Jack McConnell quickly emerged as the only candidate, and was elected First Minister by the Parliament on 22 November 2001. The coalition between Labour and the Liberal Democrats was narrowly re-elected at the 2003 Scottish Parliament election, with Labour losing 7 seats, the SNP also lost seats, though other pro-independence parties made gains
7.
Annabelle Ewing
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Annabelle Janet Ewing is a Scottish politician, lawyer and Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs in the Scottish Government. She is the Scottish National Party Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Mid Scotland and she was formerly the Minister for Youth and Womens Employment 2014−16. She is a former Member of Parliament for Perth 2001−05 and she attended the Craigholme School for Girls in Glasgow and the University of Glasgow, where she graduated with a law degree. Before becoming an MP, Annabelle Ewing was a European Community competition lawyer in Brussels and her mother is former SNP President, Winnie Ewing, who in the past was a member of three different parliaments — Westminster, the Scottish Parliament and the European Parliament. She is sister to MSP Fergus Ewing, and sister-in-law to the late Margaret Ewing, who was also an MSP and a former Westminster MP. Ewing is a member of both Shelter and Amnesty International. Ewing was first selected as a SNP candidate for the UK Parliament to contest a by-election for Hamilton South in 1999, Labour had a comfortable majority at the 1997 election and despite a swing of 16% to the SNP in 1999, Labours Bill Tynan won the contest. In the 2005 election, following a boundary revision, she contested the new constituency of Ochil and South Perthshire. She was later selected to contest the Falkirk East seat in the 2007 election on behalf of the SNP as a replacement for the selected candidate. On 3 May 2007 she achieved a 9% swing from Labour to the SNP in Falkirk East, however this was not enough to displace the incumbent Cathy Peattie. She contested Ochil and South Perthshire for a time at the 2010 election, failing again to take it from Gordon Banks. At the 2011 election Ewing was elected to the Scottish Parliament as a member for the Mid Scotland. She was promoted to the Scottish Government on 21 November 2014 in Nicola Sturgeons first reshuffle and she becomes Minister for Youth and Womens Employment. Biography pages at Scottish Parliament website profile at Scottish government website Official website Guardian They Work For You The Public Whip
8.
Willie Rennie
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William Cowan Rennie is a Scottish politician and current Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats after he succeeded the post in May 2011. After college, Rennie spent most of his career as a Liberal Democrat election campaigner. He became the Member of Parliament for Dunfermline and West Fife after a win in February 2006. He later lost this seat to Labour in the May 2010 UK general election and he briefly served as a Special Government Adviser for the Liberal Democrat Scottish Secretaries of State Danny Alexander MP and Michael Moore MP at the Scotland Office. He was then elected to the Scottish Parliament in the May 2011 election, despite the overall collapse of the party in the election, he was elected as an additional member for the Mid Scotland and Fife region. He was soon after elected unopposed as leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, since the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, Rennie has held the constituency seat of North East Fife. Rennie was born in Fife and grew up in Strathmiglo, where his family ran the village shop and his mother was secretary of the local community association and his grandfather was the local Minister. Rennie went to Bell Baxter High School in Cupar, Fife, before going to Paisley College of Technology, after that, he received a Diploma in Industrial Administration at Glasgow College. Rennie lives in Kelty with his wife Janet and their two sons, Alexander and Stephen and he is a keen runner and is a member of Dunfermlines Carnegie Harriers. He was also runner-up in the 2006 Scottish Coal-Carrying Championships held in Kelty, Rennie was one of the 50 MPs who ran a mile to raise money for Sport Relief finishing close behind the winner, David Davies. While a student at the Paisley College of Technology he was president of the student union. Rennie ran the Scottish Young Liberal Democrats and after went on to work for the English Liberal Democrats in Cornwall. He then went on to work for the Liberal Democrats campaigns department, in the House of Commons, he was a member of the Liberal Democrat shadow defence team, chair of their parliamentary campaigns unit, and a member of the Commons Defence Select Committee. In the General Election of 6 May 2010, Rennie lost his seat to the Labour candidate Thomas Docherty and he was then for a time Special Adviser to the new Liberal Democrat Scottish Secretary Michael Moore MP. He was the only new Liberal Democrat MSP to win a seat in this election, after the resignation of the Scottish Liberal Democratss leader Tavish Scott, Willie Rennie stood in the resulting leadership election. He was the candidate to be nominated, and was declared elected when the nominations closed on 17 May. He vowed to stand up to the SNP bulldozer majority, in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, the Liberal Democrats again elected five MSPs, while gaining two constituency seats and holding their existing two with increased majorities. Rennie was elected in North East Fife, gaining it from the SNP with a 9. 5% swing, Willie Rennie was appointed as an honorary patron of Armed Forces Legal Action in April 2014
9.
Shirley-Anne Somerville
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Shirley-Anne Somerville is a Scottish National Party politician who has been the Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science in the Scottish Parliament since May 2016. She has been the Member of Scottish Parliament for the Dunfermline constituency since 2016 and she was formerly an MSP for the Lothians region from 2007 to 2011. She was a director of Yes Scotland between May 2012 and November 2013, on the launch of the cross-party Yes Scotland campaign in 2012, Somerville was announced as its director of communities. She later stood as the SNP candidate in the Dunfermline by-election, 24th October 2013 and she did not return to her position in Yes Scotland after the by-election. In the Scottish Parliament election of 2016, Somerville again stood in the Dunfermline constituency and this time she was successful in securing the seat, defeating Cara Hilton on a majority of 4,558 votes. Government of the 3rd Scottish Parliament biography pages on Scottish Parliament website profile on Scottish Government website profile on SNP website
10.
David Torrance (politician)
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David Herd Torrance is a Scottish National Party politician, and an elected member of the Scottish Parliament for the Kirkcaldy constituency from 2011. Born in Kirkcaldy, David Torrance was educated at Balwearie High School and Adam Smith College, David is a member of the Scout Association, and has been Scout Leader since 1979. He is also the Assistant District Commissioner for Kirkcaldy District Scouts, David Torrance joined the Scottish National Party in 1981 and was a Fife local Councillor in Fife Council from 1995 until being elected as an MSP in 2011. David worked for British Gas, Alcan Chemicals, and Bosch Rexroth before going into politics full-time in 2007, working for Christopher Harvie MSP
11.
Scottish Gaelic
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Scottish Gaelic or Scots Gaelic, sometimes also referred to as Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish. The 2011 census of Scotland showed that a total of 57,375 people in Scotland could speak Gaelic at that time, the census results indicate a decline of 1,275 Gaelic speakers from 2001. A total of 87,056 people in 2011 reported having some facility with Gaelic compared to 93,282 people in 2001, only about half of speakers were fully literate in the language. Nevertheless, revival efforts exist and the number of speakers of the language under age 20 has increased, Scottish Gaelic is neither an official language of the European Union nor the United Kingdom. Outside Scotland, a group of dialects collectively known as Canadian Gaelic are spoken in parts of Atlantic Canada, mainly Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. In the 2011 census, there were 7,195 total speakers of Gaelic languages in Canada, with 1,365 in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island where the responses mainly refer to Scottish Gaelic. About 2,320 Canadians in 2011 also claimed Gaelic languages as their mother tongue, with over 300 in Nova Scotia, aside from Scottish Gaelic, the language may also be referred to simply as Gaelic. In Scotland, the word Gaelic in reference to Scottish Gaelic specifically is pronounced, outside Ireland and Great Britain, Gaelic may refer to the Irish language. Scottish Gaelic should not be confused with Scots, the Middle English-derived language varieties which had come to be spoken in most of the Lowlands of Scotland by the modern era. Prior to the 15th century, these dialects were known as Inglis by its own speakers, from the late 15th century, however, it became increasingly common for such speakers to refer to Scottish Gaelic as Erse and the Lowland vernacular as Scottis. Today, Scottish Gaelic is recognised as a language from Irish. Gaelic in Scotland was mostly confined to Dál Riata until the 8th century, when it began expanding into Pictish areas north of the Firth of Forth, by 900, Pictish appears to have become extinct, completely replaced by Gaelic. An exception might be made for the Northern Isles, however, however, though the Pictish language did not disappear suddenly, a process of Gaelicisation was clearly underway during the reigns of Caustantín and his successors. By a certain point, probably during the 11th century, all the inhabitants of Alba had become fully Gaelicised Scots, by the 10th century, Gaelic had become the dominant language throughout northern and western Scotland, the Gaelo-Pictic Kingdom of Alba. Its spread to southern Scotland, was even and totalizing. Place name analysis suggests dense usage of Gaelic in Galloway and adjoining areas to the north and west as well as in West Lothian, less dense usage is suggested for north Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, the Clyde Valley and eastern Dumfriesshire. In south-eastern Scotland, there is no evidence that Gaelic was ever widely spoken, the area shifted from Cumbric to Old English during its long incorporation into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria
12.
Shires of Scotland
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The counties or shires of Scotland are geographic subdivisions of Scotland established in the Middle Ages. They ceased to be used for government purposes after 1975 under the Local Government Act 1973. Today, local government in Scotland is based upon council areas, which sometimes incorporate county names, counties continue to be used for the purpose of lieutenancy and land registration purposes, though the lieutenancy areas are not entirely identical. Malcolm III appears to have introduced sheriffs as part of a policy of replacing previous forms of government with Norman feudal structures and this policy was continued by Edgar, Alexander I, and in particular David I. David completed the division of the country into sheriffdoms by the conversion of existing thanedoms, the earliest sheriffdom south of the Forth which we know of for certain is Haddingtonshire, which is named in a charters of 1139 as Hadintunschira and in another of 1141 as Hadintunshire. Stirlingshire appears in a charter of 1150 under the name Striuelinschire, the shires of the Highlands were completed only in the reign of King Charles I. In 1305 Edward I of England, who had deposed John Balliol issued an Ordinance for the Government of Scotland, the document listed the twenty-three shires then existing and either appointed new sheriffs or continued heritable sheriffs in office. ^Note a, Gospatric was mentioned as sheriff in a number of charters of Earl David, the shire was one of those surrendered to Edward III of England in 1334. The remaining shires were formed either by the expansion of the Kingdom of Scotland. Many of the new shires had highly irregular boundaries or detached parts as they united the various possessions of the heritable sheriffs, C.1326, Argyll, lordship subdued by Alexander II in 1222. Norwegian claims over the area ended in 1266. First record of appointment of sheriff dates from 1326,1369, Kirkcudbright formed when area between Rivers Nith and Cree granted to Archibald the Grim. Archibald appointed a steward to administer the area, hence it became a stewartry, the islands formed part of Kintyre district of Argyll. A heritable sheriff was appointed to the shire in 1388,1402, Renfrew, separated from the Shire of Lanark by Robert III. 1503, Ross formed from part of Argyll by act of 1503, the Barony of Tarbert was annexed to Cromarty in 1685, but later returned. 1503, Caithness, Separated from the Shire of Inverness by act of 1503 during the reign of James IV. Under the legislation the sheriff of Caithness was to sit at Dornoch and Wick,1581, Orkney was erected into a lordship with the right of sheriffship. It was annexed to the Crown in 1612, although the term continued to be applied to the area
13.
Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, 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, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of 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. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
14.
Firth of Tay
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The firth has a maximum width of 3 mi at Invergowrie. Two bridges span the firth, the Tay Road Bridge and the Tay Rail Bridge, the firth has one major island, the marshy Mugdrum Island. The Firth of Tay in Antarctica was discovered in 1892-93 by Captain Thomas Robertson of the Dundee whaling expedition and he also named nearby Dundee Island in honour of the main city on the firth. The Firth of Tay and Eden Estuary were designated a Ramsar sites on 28 July 2000, as a Special Protection Area on 2 February 2000, several parts are within a site of special scientific interest - Inner Tay Estuary, Monifieth Bay, Tayport-Tentsmuir Coast. The Invergowrie Bay section is a nature reserve. The Firth of Tay is outstanding for its sand and mudflats, its population of common seals and for its wintering birds such as oystercatcher, bar-tailed godwit, shelduck. There is good access to much of the shoreline and many good wildlife watching opportunities, at some 15 km in length, the reedbed on the north shore of the inner estuary is thought to be the most extensive in Britain
15.
Firth of Forth
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The Firth of Forth is the estuary of the River Forth in Scotland, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north and Lothian to the south. It was known as Bodotria in Roman times, in the Norse sagas it was known as the Myrkvifiörd. Geologically, the Firth of Forth is a fjord, formed by the Forth Glacier in the last glacial period, the Kincardine Bridge, the Clackmannanshire Bridge, the Forth Road Bridge and the Forth Bridge carry traffic across the firth. Queensferry Crossing, alongside the Forth Road Bridge, was expected to open in 2016 but has since been delayed until May 2017. From 1964 to 1982, a tunnel existed under the Firth of Forth, the shafts leading into the tunnel were filled and capped with concrete when the tunnel was closed, and it is believed to have filled with water or collapsed in places. In July,2007, a passenger service completed a two-week trial between Portobello, Edinburgh and Kirkcaldy, Fife. The trial of the service was hailed as an operational success. It was estimated the service would decrease congestion for commuters on the Forth road, despite the initial success, the project was cancelled in December,2011. Historic villages line the Fife shoreline, Limekilns, Charlestown and Culross, established in the 6th century, the firth is important for nature conservation and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The Firth of Forth Islands SPA is home to more than 90,000 breeding seabirds every year, there is a bird observatory on the Isle of May. The youngest person to swim across the Firth of Forth was 13-year-old Joseph Feeney, in 2008, a controversial bid to allow oil transfer between ships in the firth was refused by Forth Ports. SPT Marine Services had asked permission to transfer 7.8 million tonnes of oil per year between tankers, but the proposals were met with determined opposition from conservation groups
16.
Perth and Kinross
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Perth and Kinross is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Fife, Highland, the council boundaries correspond broadly, but not exactly, with the former counties of Perthshire and Kinross-shire. Perthshire and Kinross-shire shared a joint county council from 1929 until 1975, act 1994. 2% with an 86. 9% turnout rate. Perth and Kinross Council Scottish Local Government areas and history, archived from the original on 2013-03-02. The Perthshire Diary -365 history stories Perth City A Vision of Britain Through Time, A vision of Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross at DMOZ
17.
Clackmannanshire
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Clackmannanshire is a historic county and council area in Scotland, bordering the council areas of Stirling, Fife and Perth & Kinross. As Britains smallest historic county, it is often nicknamed The Wee County, when written, Clackmannanshire is commonly abbreviated to Clacks. Clackmannan, the old county town, is named after the ancient stone associated with the pre-Christian deity Manau or Mannan, the stone now rests on a larger stone beside the Tollbooth and Mercat Cross at the top of Main street, Clackmannan. Clackmannanshire became known for the weaving mills powered by the Hillfoots burns, other industries included brewing, glass manufacture, mining and ship building. Now capitalising on its position and transport links, Clackmannanshire attracts service industries. The County of Clackmannan is one of Scotlands 33 historic local government counties, bordering on Perthshire, Kinross-shire, Stirlingshire, the county town was originally Clackmannan, but by 1822 neighbouring Alloa had outgrown Clackmannan and replaced it as the county town. Some rationalisation of the county boundaries was undertaken in 1889-1890, and in 1971 the Muckhart and Glendevon areas, in 1975, under the Local Government Act 1973, the 33 historic counties lost their administrative status, and a new hierarchy of regions and districts was created. Clackmannanshire became part of the Central Region, under the name Clackmannan District, together with Stirling District, the historic name was restored in 1996, under the Local Government etc Act 1994. The area was to have the name Clackmannan, but following local pressure this was changed to Clackmannanshire by the council using its own powers. In terms of population, Clackmannanshire is the smallest council area in mainland Scotland, with a population of 51,400, around half of live in the main town and administrative centre. The motto of Clackmannanshire is Look Aboot Ye, in 2007 a re-branding exercise led to the area adopting the slogan More Than You Imagine. In the 18 September 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum, Clackmannanshire reported a turnout of 88. 6% and it became the first area to announce its result with 16,350 people voting in favour of independence and 19,036 voting against. The Ochil Hills lie in the part of the area. Strathdevon is immediately to the south of the escarpment formed by the Ochil Fault. Strathdevon mostly comprises a lowland plain a few hundred metres either side of the River Devon, there is also the Black Devon river that flows past the town of Clackmannan to join the Forth near Alloa. Clackmannanshires coat of arms is blazoned, Or, a saltire gules, upon a chief vert, the red saltire on gold is taken from the arms of the Clan Bruce. According to legend, Robert Bruce mislaid his gauntlets while visiting the county, the green chief represents the countys agriculture, while the black and white pale is taken from the arms of the Clan Erskine whose chief the Earl of Mar lives at Alloa Tower. The main industries are agriculture, brewing, and formerly coal mining, in 2006, permission was given for a waterfront development of the Docks area of Alloa, which has been in decline since the 1960s
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Picts
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The Picts were a tribal confederation of peoples who lived in what is today eastern and northern Scotland during the Late Iron Age and Early Medieval periods. They are thought to have been ethnolinguistically Celtic, where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from the geographical distribution of brochs, Brittonic place name elements, and Pictish stones. Picts are attested to in records from before the Roman conquest of Britain to the 10th century. Picts are assumed to have been the descendants of the Caledonii, Pictland, also called Pictavia by some sources, gradually merged with the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata to form the Kingdom of Alba. Alba then expanded, absorbing the Brittonic kingdom of Strathclyde and Northumbrian Lothian, Pictish society was typical of many Iron Age societies in northern Europe, having wide connections and parallels with neighbouring groups. Archaeology gives some impression of the society of the Picts, what the Picts called themselves is unknown. The Latin word Picti first occurs in a written by Eumenius in AD297 and is taken to mean painted or tattooed people. Their Old English name gave the modern Scots form Pechts and the Welsh word Fichti and it is generally accepted that this is derived from *Qritani, which is the Goidelic/Q-Celtic version of the Britonnic/P-Celtic *Pritani. From this came Britanni, the Roman name for those now called the Britons and it has been suggested that Cruthin referred to all Britons not conquered by the Romans—those who lived outside Roman Britannia, north of Hadrians Wall. A Pictish confederation was formed in Late Antiquity from a number of tribes—how, some scholars have speculated that it was partly in response to the growth of the Roman Empire. Pictland had previously described by Roman writers and geographers as the home of the Caledonii. These Romans also used names to refer to tribes living in that area, including Verturiones, Taexali. But they may have heard these other names only second- or third-hand, from speakers of Brittonic or Gaulish languages, Pictish recorded history begins in the Dark Ages. It appears that Picts were not the dominant power in Northern Britain for that entire period, the Gaels of Dál Riata controlled what is present day Argyll for a time, although they suffered a series of defeats in the first third of the 7th century. The Angles of Bernicia overwhelmed the adjacent British kingdoms, one of which, the Picts were probably tributary to Northumbria until the reign of Bridei mac Beli, when, in 685, the Anglians suffered a defeat at the Battle of Dun Nechtain that halted their northward expansion. The Northumbrians continued to dominate southern Scotland for the remainder of the Pictish period, a later Pictish king, Caustantín mac Fergusa, placed his son Domnall on the throne of Dál Riata. Pictish attempts to achieve a dominance over the Britons of Alt Clut were not successful. The Viking Age brought great changes in Britain and Ireland, no less in Scotland than elsewhere, in a major battle in 839, the Vikings killed the king of Fortriu, Eógan mac Óengusa, the king of Dál Riata Áed mac Boanta, and many others
19.
Monarchy
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The actual power of the monarch may vary from purely symbolic, to partial and restricted, to completely autocratic. Traditionally and in most cases, the monarchs post is inherited and lasts until death or abdication, occasionally this might create a situation of rival claimants whose legitimacy is subject to effective election. Finally, there have been cases where the term of a reign is either fixed in years or continues until certain goals are achieved. Thus there are widely divergent structures and traditions defining monarchy, Monarchy was the most common form of government until the 19th century, but it is no longer prevalent. Currently,47 sovereign nations in the world have monarchs acting as heads of state,19 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. The monarchs of Cambodia, Japan, and Malaysia reign, the word monarch comes from the Greek language word μονάρχης, monárkhēs which referred to a single, at least nominally absolute ruler. In current usage the word usually refers to a traditional system of hereditary rule. Depending on the held by the monarch, a monarchy may be known as a kingdom, principality, duchy, grand duchy, empire, tsardom, emirate, sultanate, khaganate. The form of societal hierarchy known as chiefdom or tribal kingship is prehistoric, the Greek term monarchia is classical, used by Herodotus. The monarch in classical antiquity is often identified as king, the Chinese, Japanese and Nepalese monarchs continued to be considered living Gods into the modern period. Since antiquity, monarchy has contrasted with forms of democracy, where power is wielded by assemblies of free citizens. In antiquity, monarchies were abolished in favour of such assemblies in Rome, much of 19th century politics was characterised by the division between anti-monarchist Radicalism and monarchist Conservativism. Many countries abolished the monarchy in the 20th century and became republics, advocacy of republics is called republicanism, while advocacy of monarchies is called monarchism. In the modern era, monarchies are more prevalent in small states than in large ones, most monarchs, both historically and in the modern day, have been born and brought up within a royal family, the centre of the royal household and court. Growing up in a family, future monarchs are often trained for the responsibilities of expected future rule. Different systems of succession have been used, such as proximity of blood, primogeniture, and agnatic seniority. While most monarchs have been male, many female monarchs also have reigned in history, rule may be hereditary in practice without being considered a monarchy, such as that of family dictatorships or political families in many democracies. The principal advantage of hereditary monarchy is the continuity of leadership
20.
Lieutenancy areas of Scotland
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The lieutenancy areas of Scotland are the areas used for the ceremonial lord-lieutenants, the monarchs representatives, in Scotland. The lord-lieutenants titles chosen by the monarch and her advisers are mainly based on placenames of the traditional counties of Scotland. In 1794 permanent lieutenancies were established by Royal Warrant, by the Militia Act 1797, the lieutenants appointed for the Counties, Stewartries, Cities, and Places were given powers to raise and command County Militia Units. Lieutenancy areas are different from the current local government council areas and they also differ from other subdivisions of Scotland including sheriffdoms and former regions and districts. The Lord Provosts of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow also act ex officio as lord-lieutenants and this is a unique right in the United Kingdom, all other lord-lieutenants are appointed by the monarch, rather than being elected politicians. The regions and districts were themselves superseded in 1995, but the lieutenancy areas remain the same, the Lord-Lieutenants Order 1975, Statutory Instrument 1975 No.428. The Lord-Lieutenants Order 1996, Statutory Instrument 1996 No.731, subdivisions of Scotland List of burghs in Scotland List of places in Scotland Media related to Maps of traditional counties of Scotland at Wikimedia Commons
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England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
22.
Local government in Scotland
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Local government in Scotland is organised through 32 unitary authorities designated as Councils which consist of councillors elected every five years by registered voters in each of the council areas. Councils receive the majority of their funding from the Scottish Government, AEF consists of three parts, Revenue Support Grants, Non-Domestic Rates, and Income and Specific Grants. Councils obtain additional income through the Council Tax, that the council itself sets, Scottish councils co-operate through, and are represented collectively by, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. The history of Scottish local government mainly surrounds involves the counties of Scotland, the counties have their origins in the sheriffdoms or shires over which a sheriff exercised jurisdiction. Malcolm III appears to have introduced sheriffs as part of a policy of replacing native Celtic forms of government with Anglo Saxon and this was continued by his sons Edgar, Alexander I and in particular David I. David completed the division of the country into sheriffdoms by the conversion of existing thanedoms, from the seventeenth century the shires started to be used for local administration apart from judicial functions. In 1667 Commissioners of Supply were appointed in each sheriffdom to collect the land tax, the commissioners eventually assumed other duties in the county. In 1858 police forces were established in each county under the Police Act 1857, as a result of the dual system of local government, burghs often had a high degree of autonomy. Between 1890 and 1975 local government in Scotland was organised with county councils and this system was further refined by the passing of the Local Government Act 1947. The only exceptions to this were the three Island Councils, Western Isles, Shetland and Orkney which had the powers of Regions. The Conservative government of John Major decided to abolish this system, the changes took effect in 1996 with shadow councillors elected in 1995 to oversee the smooth transition of control. The power vested in local authorities is administered by elected councillors, there are currently 1,222, each paid a part-time salary for the undertaking of their duties. In total, there are 32 unitary authorities, the largest being the City of Glasgow with more than 600,000 inhabitants, councillors are subject to a Code of Conduct instituted by the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. Act 2000 and enforced by the Standards Commission for Scotland, if a person believes that a councillor has broken the code of conduct they make a complaint to the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland. The Commissioner makes a determination on whether there is a need for an investigation, each council elects a Convener and Depute Convener to chair meetings of the Council and to act as a figurehead for the area. Most councils use the term Provost, the office of Provost or Convener is roughly equivalent to that of a Mayor in other parts of the United Kingdom. Traditionally these roles are ceremonial and have no significant administrative functions, Lord Provosts in the four city councils have the additional duty of acting as Lord Lieutenant for their respective city. The Leader of the Council is elected as the leader of the largest political grouping of councillors, the Leader of the Council has no executive or administrative powers designated by statute, but the position is salaried
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Dunfermline
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Dunfermline is a town and former Royal Burgh, and parish, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground 3 miles from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The earliest known settlements in the area around Dunfermline likely date as far back as the Neolithic period, the area was not regionally significant until at least the Bronze Age. The town was first recorded in the 11th century, with the marriage of Malcolm III, King of Scotland, as his Queen consort, Margaret established a new church dedicated to the Holy Trinity, which evolved into an Abbey under their son, David I in 1128. Following the burial of Alexander I in 1160, the abbey graveyard confirmed its status as the place of Scotlands kings and queens up to. The town is a service centre for west Fife. Dunfermline retains much of its significance, as well as providing facilities for leisure. Employment is focused in the sector, with the largest employer being Sky UK. Other large employers in the area include Amazon, Best Western, CR Smith, FMC Technologies, Lloyds, there have been various interpretations of the name, Dunfermline. The first element, dun translated from Gaelic, has accepted as a hill. The rest of the name is problematic, the first record of a settlement in the Dunfermline area was in the Neolithic period. This evidence includes finds of an axe, some flint arrowheads. A cropmark which is understood to have used as a possible mortuary enclosure has been found at Deanpark House. By the time of the Bronze Age, the area was beginning to some importance. Important finds included an axe in Wellwood and a gold torc from the Parish Churchyard. The first historic record for Dunfermline was made in the 11th century, following her marriage to King Malcolm III, Queen Margaret encouraged her husband to convert the small culdee chapel into a church for Benedictine monks. The founding of new church of Dunfermline was inaugurated around 1072. The foundations of the church evolved into an Abbey in 1128, under the reign of their son, Dunfermline Abbey would play a major role in the general romanisation of religion throughout the kingdom. At the peak of its power the abbey controlled four burghs, Dunfermline had become a burgh between 1124 and 1127, if not before this time
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Kirkcaldy
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Kirkcaldy is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about 11.6 miles north of Edinburgh and 27.6 miles south-southwest of Dundee, the town had a population of 49,460, which was recorded in 2011, making it Fifes second-largest settlement and the 11th most populous settlement in Scotland. Kirkcaldy has long been nicknamed the Lang Toun in reference to the early towns 0. 9-mile main street, as indicated on maps of the 16th and 17th centuries. The street later reached a length of nearly 4 miles, connecting the burgh to the settlements of Linktown, Pathhead, Sinclairtown and Gallatown. The formerly separate burgh of Dysart was merged into Kirkcaldy in 1930, the area around Kirkcaldy has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. The first document to refer to the town was in 1075, David I later gave the burgh to Dunfermline Abbey, which had succeeded the church, a status which was officially recognised by Robert I in 1327. The town only gained its independence from Abbey rule when it was created a burgh by Charles I in 1644. From the early 16th century, the establishment of a harbour at the East Burn confirmed the early role as an important trading port. The town also began to develop around the salt, coal mining, the production of linen which followed in 1672 was later instrumental in the introduction of floorcloth in 1847 by linen manufacturer, Michael Nairn. In 1877 this in turn contributed to linoleum, which became the towns most successful industry, the town expanded considerably in the 1950s and 1960s, though the decline of the linoleum industry and other manufacturing restricted its growth thereafter. The town is a service centre for the central Fife area. It has a pool, theatre, museum and art gallery. Kirkcaldy is also known as the birthplace of philosopher and economist Adam Smith. In the early 21st century, employment is dominated by the service sector, other main employers include NHS Fife, Forbo-flooring, Fife College and R Hutchison Ltd. The name Kirkcaldy means place of the fort or place of Caleds fort. It is derived from the Pictish caer meaning fort, caled, which is Pictish hard or a name, and -in. Caled may describe the fort itself or be an epithet for a local hard ruler, an interpretation of the last element as din rather than -n is incorrect. The Old Statistical Account gives a derivation from culdee, which has been repeated in later publications, the discovery of 11 Bronze Age cist burials which date from 2500 BC and 500 BC suggests that this is the most ancient funerary site in the area
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North-East Fife (district)
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North-East Fife was one of three local government districts in the Fife region of Scotland from 1975 -1996. The districts of Cupar and St Andrews, the councils headquarters were at Cupar. The district was abolished by the Local Government etc, act 1994 in 1996, when the region and three districts were replaced by the unitary Fife council area
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Unitary authority
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Typically unitary authorities cover towns or cities which are large enough to function independently of county or other regional administration. Sometimes they consist of national sub-divisions which are distinguished from others in the country by having no lower level of administration. In Canada, each province creates its own system of local government, in certain provinces there is only one level of local government in that province, so no special term is used to describe the situation. British Columbia has only one municipality, Northern Rockies Regional Municipality. In Ontario the term single-tier municipalities is used, for a similar concept and their character varies, and while most function as cities with no upper level of government, some function as counties or regional municipalities with no lower municipal subdivisions below them. They exist as individual divisions, as well as separated municipalities. In Germany, kreisfreie Stadt is the equivalent term for a city with the competences of both the Gemeinde and the Kreis administrative level, the directly elected chief executive officer of a kreisfreie Stadt is called Oberbürgermeister. The British counties have no directly corresponding counterpart in Germany and this German system corresponds to statutory cities in Austria and in the Czech Republic. Until 1 January 2007, the municipalities of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, in New Zealand, a unitary authority is a territorial authority that also performs the functions of a regional council. There are five unitary authorities, they are, Gisborne District Council, Nelson City Council, Tasman District Council, Marlborough District Council, and Auckland Council. The Chatham Islands, located east of the South Island, have a council with its own special legislation, constituted with powers similar to those of a regional authority. In Poland, a miasto na prawach powiatu, or shortly powiat grodzki is a, typically big, city which is responsible for district administrative level. In total,65 cities in Poland have this status, a single-tier system has existed in Northern Ireland since 1973. Northern Ireland is divided into 11 districts for local government purposes and their functions include waste and recycling services, leisure and community services, building control and local economic and cultural development. They are not planning authorities, but are consulted on some planning applications, the collection of rates is handled by the Land and Property Services agency. Category, Subdivisions of Northern Ireland Local authorities in Scotland are unitary in nature, Act 1994 created a single tier of local government throughout Scotland. On 1 April 1996,32 local government areas, each with a council, replaced the previous two-tier structure, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar uses the alternative Gaelic designation Comhairle. The phrase unitary authority is not used in Scottish legislation, although the term is encountered in publications, Local authorities in Wales are unitary in nature but are described by the Local Government Act 1994 as principal councils, and their areas as principal areas
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Demography of Scotland
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The demography of Scotland includes all aspects of population, past and present, in the area that is now Scotland. Scotland has a population of 5,295,000, the population growth rate in 2011 was estimated as 0. 6% per annum according to the 2011 GROS Annual Review. Covering an area of 78,782 square kilometres, Scotland has a density of 67. 2/km2. Other concentrations of population include the northeast coast of Scotland, principally the regions around the cities of Aberdeen and Inverness, the Highlands of Scotland and the island group of Eilean Siar have the lowest population densities at 9/km2. Glasgow has the highest population density at 3, 289/km2, from 1 April 2011 the GROS merged with the National Archives of Scotland to become the National Records of Scotland. In conjunction with the rest of the United Kingdom, the National Records for Scotland is also responsible for conducting a census of population. The most recent one took place in March 2011 with the due to take place in 2021. In the United Kingdom a census was taken every 10 years from 1801 with the exception of 1941 due to the Second World War, Population data for years prior to that is provided from directories and gazetteers Notes a. There was no census in 1941 however there was a National Registrar of the Civilian Population in 1939 b, data for 1961 onwards rounded to nearest thousand c. The age distribution based on the 2011 census was as follows, the 2001 and 2011 censuses recorded the following ethnic groups, A question on national identity was asked in the 2011 census, what do you feel is your national identity. Respondents could identify themselves as having more than one national identity, the remainder chose other national identities. The council areas with at least 90% of the population stating some Scottish national identity were North Lanarkshire, Inverclyde, East Ayrshire, the lowest proportions of people stating some Scottish national identity were in Edinburgh and Aberdeen. The council areas with the highest proportions of people stating British as their national identity were Argyll and Bute and Shetland. Below is a table of national identity sorted by council area based on the results of the 2011 census, The statistics from the 2011 census, English is by far the most commonly spoken language in Scotland. Two regional languages of Scotland, Scottish Gaelic and Scots, are protected under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, abilities in these languages for those aged three and above were recorded in the UK census 2011 as follows. Several other languages are spoken amongst immigrants to Scotland, the most commonly spoken of these is Polish. In the 2011 census 54,186 respondents aged three and over said that Polish was their language, amounting to 1. 06% of the total population of Scotland aged three and over. Glaciers then scoured their way across most of Britain, and only after the ice retreated did Scotland again become habitable, mesolithic hunter-gatherer encampments formed the first known settlements, and archaeologists have dated a site near Biggar to around 8500 BC
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St Andrews
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St Andrews is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland,10 miles southeast of Dundee and 30 miles northeast of Edinburgh. The town is home to the University of St Andrews, the third oldest university in the English-speaking world, according to some rankings, it is ranked as the third best university in the United Kingdom, behind Oxbridge. The University is an part of the burgh and during term time students make up approximately one third of the towns population. St Andrews has a population of 16,800, the town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle. There has been an important church in St Andrews since at least the 8th century, the settlement grew to the west of St Andrews cathedral with the southern side of the Scores to the north and the Kinness burn to the south. The burgh soon became the capital of Scotland, a position which was held until the Scottish Reformation. The famous cathedral, the largest in Scotland, now lies in ruins, St Andrews is also known worldwide as the home of golf. Visitors travel to St Andrews in great numbers for several courses ranked amongst the finest in the world, as well as for the sandy beaches. The Martyrs Memorial, erected to the honour of Patrick Hamilton, George Wishart, the civil parish has a population of 18,421. The earliest recorded name the area is Muckross, after the founding of a religious settlement in Muckross in around 370 AD, the name changed to Cennrígmonaid. This is Old Gaelic and composed of the elements cenn, ríg and this became Cell Rígmonaid and was anglicised Kilrymont. The modern Gaelic spelling is Cill Rìmhinn, the name St Andrews derives from the towns claim to be the resting place of bones of the apostle Andrew. According to legend, St Regulus brought the relics to Kilrymont and this is the origin of a third name for the town Kilrule. The first inhabitants who settled on the fringes of the rivers Tay. This was followed by the people who settled around the modern town around 4,500 BC as farmers clearing the area of woodland. In AD877, king Causantín mac Cináeda built a new church for the Culdees at St Andrews and later the same year was captured and executed after defending against Viking raiders. In AD906, the became the seat of the bishop of Alba. In 940 Constantine III abdicated and took the position of abbot of the monastery of St Andrews, the establishment of the present town began around 1140 by Bishop Robert on an L-shaped vill, possibly on the site of the ruined St Andrews Castle
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University of St Andrews
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The University of St Andrews is a British public research university in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland, St Andrews was founded between 1410 and 1413, when the Avignon Antipope Benedict XIII issued a papal bull to a small founding group of Augustinian clergy. St Andrews is made up from a variety of institutions, including three constituent colleges and 18 academic schools organised into four faculties, the university occupies historic and modern buildings located throughout the town. The academic year is divided into two terms, Martinmas and Candlemas, in term time, over one-third of the towns population is either a staff member or student of the university. It is ranked as the third best university in the United Kingdom in national league tables, the Times Higher Education World Universities Ranking names St Andrews among the worlds Top 50 universities for Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities. St Andrews has the highest student satisfaction amongst all multi-faculty universities in the United Kingdom, St Andrews has many notable alumni and affiliated faculty, including eminent mathematicians, scientists, theologians, philosophers, and politicians. Six Nobel Laureates are among St Andrews alumni and former staff, a charter of privilege was bestowed upon the society of masters and scholars by the Bishop of St Andrews, Henry Wardlaw, on 28 February 1411. Wardlaw then successfully petitioned the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII to grant the university status by issuing a series of papal bulls. King James I of Scotland confirmed the charter of the university in 1432, subsequent kings supported the university with King James V confirming privileges of the university in 1532. A college of theology and arts called St Johns College was founded in 1418 by Robert of Montrose, St Salvators College was established in 1450, by Bishop James Kennedy. St Leonards College was founded in 1511 by Archbishop Alexander Stewart, St Johns College was refounded by Cardinal James Beaton under the name St Marys College in 1538 for the study of divinity and law. Some university buildings that date from this period are still in use today, such as St Salvators Chapel, St Leonards College Chapel, at this time, the majority of the teaching was of a religious nature and was conducted by clerics associated with the cathedral. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the university had mixed fortunes and was beset by civil. He described it as pining in decay and struggling for life, in the second half of the 19th century, pressure was building upon universities to open up higher education to women. In 1876, the University Senate decided to allow women to receive an education at St Andrews at a roughly equal to the Master of Arts degree that men were able to take at the time. The scheme came to be known as the L. L. A and it required women to pass five subjects at an ordinary level and one at honours level and entitled them to hold a degree from the university. In 1889 the Universities Act made it possible to admit women to St Andrews. Agnes Forbes Blackadder became the first woman to graduate from St Andrews on the level as men in October 1894
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Medieval university
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A medieval university is a corporation organized during the High Middle Ages for the purposes of higher learning. The university is regarded as a formal institution that has its origin in the Medieval Christian setting. With the increasing growth and urbanization of European society during the 12th and 13th centuries, learning became essential to advancing in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and teachers also gained prestige. Demand quickly outstripped the capacity of cathedral schools, each of which was run by one teacher. In addition, tensions rose between the students of schools and burghers in smaller towns. As a result, cathedral schools migrated to cities, like Bologna, Rome. Without any express authorisation of King, Pope, Prince or Prelate, in many cases universities petitioned secular power for privileges and this became a model. Emperor Frederick I in Authentica Habita gave the first privileges to students in Bologna, Hastings Rashdall considered that the integrity of a university was only preserved in such an internally regulated corporation, which protected the scholars from external intervention. The University of Paris was formally recognized when Pope Gregory IX issued the bull Parens scientiarum and this was a revolutionary step, studium generale and universitas existed even before, but after the issuing of the bull, they attained autonomy. By the year 1292, even the two oldest universities, Bologna and Paris, felt the need to seek similar bulls from Pope Nicholas IV. By the 13th century, almost half of the highest offices in the Church were occupied by degreed masters, in addition, some of the greatest theologians of the High Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas and Robert Grosseteste, were products of the medieval university. The development of the medieval university coincided with the reintroduction of Aristotle from Byzantine. As he puts it Copernicus, Galileo, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, sociological and historical accounts of the role of the university as an institutional locus for science and as an incubator of scientific thought and arguments have been vastly understated. Initially medieval universities did not have facilities such as the campus of a modern university. Classes were taught wherever space was available, such as churches and homes, a university was not a physical space but a collection of individuals banded together as a universitas. Soon, however, universities began to rent, buy or construct buildings specifically for the purposes of teaching, Universities were generally structured along three types, depending on who paid the teachers. The first type was in Bologna, where students hired and paid for the teachers, the second type was in Paris, where teachers were paid by the church. These structural differences created other characteristics, at the Bologna university the students ran everything—a fact that often put teachers under great pressure and disadvantage
31.
Golf
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Golf is a club and ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not utilize a standardized playing area, the game is played on a course with an arranged progression of 18 holes. Each hole on the course must contain a tee box to start from, there are other standard forms of terrain in between, such as the fairway, rough, sand traps, and hazards but each hole on a course is unique in its specific layout and arrangement. Stroke play is the most commonly seen format at all levels, while the modern game of golf originated in 15th-century Scotland, the games ancient origins are unclear and much debated. Some historians trace the sport back to the Roman game of paganica, one theory asserts that paganica spread throughout Europe as the Romans conquered most of the continent, during the first century BC, and eventually evolved into the modern game. Others cite chuiwan as the progenitor, a Chinese game played between the eighth and 14th centuries, the game is thought to have been introduced into Europe during the Middle Ages. Another early game that resembled modern golf was known as cambuca in England, the Persian game chaugán is another possible ancient origin. In addition, kolven was played annually in Loenen, Netherlands, beginning in 1297, to commemorate the capture of the assassin of Floris V, a year earlier. The modern game originated in Scotland, where the first written record of golf is James IIs banning of the game in 1457, as an unwelcome distraction to learning archery. James IV lifted the ban in 1502 when he became a golfer himself, with golf clubs first recorded in 1503-1504, to many golfers, the Old Course at St Andrews, a links course dating to before 1574, is considered to be a site of pilgrimage. In 1764, the standard 18-hole golf course was created at St Andrews when members modified the course from 22 to 18 holes. Golf is documented as being played on Musselburgh Links, East Lothian, Scotland as early as 2 March 1672, which is certified as the oldest golf course in the world by Guinness World Records. The oldest surviving rules of golf were compiled in March 1744 for the Company of Gentlemen Golfers, later renamed The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, Andrews Golf Club in Yonkers, New York. The levels of grass are varied to increase difficulty, or to allow for putting in the case of the green, while many holes are designed with a direct line-of-sight from the teeing area to the green, some holes may bend either to the left or to the right. This is commonly called a dogleg, in reference to a dogs knee, the hole is called a dogleg left if the hole angles leftwards and dogleg right if it bends right. Sometimes, a holes direction may bend twice, this is called a double dogleg, a regular golf course consists of 18 holes, but nine-hole courses are common and can be played twice through for a full round of 18 holes. Early Scottish golf courses were laid out on links land. This gave rise to the golf links, particularly applied to seaside courses
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Earl of Fife
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The Earl of Fife or Mormaer of Fife was the ruler of the province of Fife in medieval Scotland, which encompassed the modern counties of Fife and Kinross. Due to their ancestry, the Earls of Fife were the highest ranking nobles in the realm. Held by the MacDuff family until it passed by resignation to the Stewarts, the earldom was revived in 1759 with the style of Earl Fife for William Duff, a descendant of the MacDuffs. His great-great-grandson, the 6th Earl Fife, was made Earl of Fife in 1885, the Mormaers of Fife, by the 12th century, had established themselves as the highest ranking native nobles in Scotland. They frequently held the office of Justiciar of Scotia - highest brithem in the land -, the Mormaers function, as with other medieval Scottish lordships, was partly kin-based. Hence, in 1385, the Earl of Fife, seen as the successor of the lordship, is called capitalis legis de Clenmcduffe. The lordship existed in the Middle Ages until its last earl, Murdoch, the deputy or complementary position to mormaer or earl of Fife was leadership as Chief of Clan MacDuff. There is little doubt that the style MacDuib, or Macduff, derives from the name of King Cináed III mac Duib, compare, for instance, that Domhnall, Lord of the Isles, signed a charter in 1408 as MacDomhnaill. The chieftaincy of the clan was not always held by the mormaer, for example, at the Battle of Falkirk, it is the head of the clan who led the men of Fife, rather than the Mormaer. The Macduff line continued without interruption until the time of Isabella, the child of Donnchad IV, Earl of Fife. She succeeded her father as suo jure Countess of Fife on his death in 1358 and she married four times, but all her husbands died within a few years of their marriage. In 1371 she was persuaded to name Robert Stewart, Earl of Menteith as her heir and he thus succeeded her as twelfth Earl of Fife on her death in 1389. Duke Robert was succeeded as Duke of Albany, Earl of Fife, Duke Murdoch was forfeited and executed in 1425, due to his fathers part in the death of Prince David, Duke of Rothesay. Thus the earldom of Fife came to an end, the arms of the earldom of Fife are or, a lion rampant gules, that is, a red lion rampant on gold. The Fife lion also appears in the first quarter of the Duke of Fifes arms, the earldom of Fife was resurrected in 1759 for William Duff, after he proved his descent from the original Earls of Fife. This title was in the Peerage of Ireland, notwithstanding that Fife is in Scotland, the title of Earl of Fife in the Peerage of the United Kingdom was created in 1885 by Queen Victoria for Alexander Duff, 6th Earl Fife. When it became clear that Alexander was not going to have a son, after his death in 1912, the dukedom of Fife passed to his eldest daughter Lady Alexandra, and his other titles, including the 1759 earldom, became extinct. The fourth and current Duke of Fife is David Carnegie, the grandson of Duke Alexanders younger daughter
