Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Alba, Scots: Scotland) is a nation in northwest Europe and one of the four constituent countries^[3] of the United Kingdom. It occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shares a land border to the south with England. It is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. Apart from the mainland, Scotland consists of over 790 islands.^[4]Edinburgh, the country's capital and second largest city, is one of Europe's largest financial centres.^[5] Scotland's largest city is Glasgow, which is the centre of the Greater Glasgow conurbation. Greater Glasgow is home to approximately 40% of Scotland's population. Scottish waters consist of a large sector^[6] of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union.

The Kingdom of Scotland was an independent state until 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union (despite widespread protest across Scotland)^[7] resulted in a union with the Kingdom of England to create the Kingdom of Great Britain.^[8][9] Scotland's legal system continues to be separate from those of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland; and Scotland still constitutes a discrete jurisdiction in public and in private law.^[10] The continued independence of Scots law, the Scottish education system, and the Church of Scotland have all contributed to the continuation of Scottish culture and Scottish national identity since the Union.^[11] However, Scotland is no longer a separate sovereign state and does not have independent membership of either the United Nations or the European Union.

The written history of Scotland began with the arrival of the Roman Empire in southern and central Great Britain, when the Romans occupied what is now England and Wales, administering it as a province called Britannia. Roman occupation of Scotland was a series of brief interludes. In 83/4 AD the general Gnaeus Julius Agricola defeated the Caledonians at the battle of Mons Graupius, and Roman forts were briefly set along the Gask Ridge close to the Highland Line (none are known to have ever been constructed beyond that line). Three years after the battle the Roman armies had withdrawn to the Southern Uplands.^[15] They erected Hadrian's Wall to control tribes on both sides of the wall,^[16] but it effectively became the main northern border for the Romans throughout much of the later occupation of Britain, although they held the Antonine Wall in the Central Lowlands for two short periods. The last of these was during the time of Emperor Septimius Severus from 208 until 210.^[17] The extent of Roman occupation of any significant part of Scotland was limited to a total of about 40 years, although their influence on the southern section of the country occupied by Brythonic tribes such as the Votadini and Damnonii would still have been considerable.^[16]