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The History of Scotland - Referat
The History of Scotland
Starting 12.000 years ago until 6000 years ago, the first men moved to Scotland. They walked across the former land-bridge from Norway to Scotland. The first inhabitants were people of the middle Stone Age. Later on, approximately 4500 b.c. they became farmer. This time is called new Stone Age. First archaeological traces were found, which were 8000 years old.
Between the year 82 and the year 208 the Roman tried to invade into Scotland. However, they failed. Therefore, the Roman Hadrian armed the border between Scotland and the south. The Hadrianswall was build between 122 and 128. At that time, the different tribes of the north were not unified. But 843 Kenneth Mac Alpin unified the Scots and the Picts and they formed a nation. This lasted until the reign of King Macbeth in the year 1057.
However, 1057 Malcolm the 3rd killed Macbeth and became King of Scotland. At that time, the influence of England became strong in Scotland. This lead to the unification of England and Scotland, under the King of England, Edward the 1st. However, the Scots did not like that. In the year 1314 the Scots, lead by Robert the bruth, fought against the British king, King Edward the 2nd, and won. Therefore, Scotland became again independent. This was signed by the catholic pope.
The situation remained difficult. In 1603, James the VI became both, King of England and King of Scotland. But both kingdoms remained independent. However, tensions remained between Scotland and England. In the Year 1692 36 members of the MacDonald family were killed. The King of England had given the order to kill these people. This event still is an important date for the Scottish nation. In 1702 a formal union between England and Scotland was formed. This was written down in the Act of Union. Scotland and England became Great Britain. The Scottish parliament was dissolved and the members were sent to Westminster. Still the Scots were not happy. In 1746 one man called Bonnie Prince Charles led the last Scottish upraise. However, he was defeated.
This also had strong influence on the living of the Crofters. Starting 1780 the Highlands were cleared from the Crofters which means that these farmers were send away from their fields or killed to give room for large sheep farms owned by landlords. The next big change started around 1820 with the start of the industrial revolution.
Some important dates from the last years: 1975 the first oil was found in the North See. In 1997 the Scottish parliament was re-installed under Tony Blair. Finally, The British were bringing back the parliament they once destroyed. In 1999 this Scottish parliament was elected by the Scottish peopled. They now do have a limited independence. The parliament can decide for example about the Scottish income tax and about other local issues.
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