Scottish History (a Very Pottted version)

The first hunter gatherers came over 7000 years ago and about 5000 years ago the first farmers built settlements.

The best example of ancient settlers houses and Stone Circles from 5000 years ago are on the Island of Orkney at Skara Brae and at Callanish on the Isle of Lewis.

Through the Bronze and Iron Ages the population increased and the locals were called the Picts by the Romans who came in AD 80.

The Romans never conquered all of Scotland which they called Caledonia and left in the 5th Century.

The Vikings earliest recorded attack was on the monastery of Colmcille or St Columba on Iona in 795.

The Vikings affected the North and West of the country and to this day many place names are of Norse derivation. Their influence continued until 1293 when the Scots King Alexander won a battle over them at Largs.

From the 12th Century, many castles were built in Scotland, the best known being Edinburgh, Stirling and Castle Urquhart at Loch Ness but there are hundreds more.

Scotland had to fight off the English Invaders and the main battles were about Stirling Castle - William Wallace (Braveheart) in 1297 and Robert the Bruce in 1314, the latter battle establishing Scotland as a separate country from England.

There was almost constant bickering between the Scotland and England (which amongst other things led to the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots by Elizabeth of England) until the Union of the Crowns in 1606 when Mary's son, James VI of Scotland became James I of Britain. The Union of the Parliaments followed in 1707.

There was a shortlived attempt to bring the Stewarts back to the throne in 1715 and by Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745. This finished with the battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746 on a moor outside Inverness, where Charlie was defeated by his cousin William, Duke of Cumberland. This was not a battle between Scots and English, so much as a civil war. It was the last battle on British soil.