The Shape of Scotland

Scotland, geographically, is that portion of Great Britain which lies north of the English boundary; it also comprises the Outer and Inner Hebrides and other islands off the west coast, and the Orkney and Shetland islands off the north coast. With England lying to the south, it is thus bounded on the North and West by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the East by the North Sea.

It is separated from England by the Solway Firth, the Sark, Scotsdyke (an old embankment in 55°3' N., connecting the Sark with the Esk), the Esk (for one mile), the Liddel, the Kershope, the Cheviot Hills, the Tweed and a small area known as the "liberties " of Berwick.

The mainland lies between 58° 40' 30" (at Dunnet Head in Caithness) and 54° 38' N. (Mull of Galloway in Wigtownshire), and 1° 45' 32" (Buchan Ness in Aberdeenshire) and 6° 14' W. (Ardnamurchan Point in Argyllshire).

Including the islands, however, the extreme latitude north is 60° 51' 30" (Out Stack in the Shetlands) and the extreme longitude west 8° 35' 30" (St Kilda). The greatest length from Cape Wrath in Sutherland to the Mull of Galloway is 274 m., and the greatest breadth from Buchan Ness to Applecross in the shire of Ross and Cromarty 154 m., but from Bonar Bridge at the head of Dornoch Firth to the head of Loch Broom it is only 26 m. wide, and 30 m. from Grangemouth on the Forth to Bowling on the Clyde.

The coast-line is estimated at 2300 m., the arms of the sea being so numerous and in several cases penetrating so far inland that few places are beyond 40 m. from salt water. The total area is 19,069,500 acres or 29,796 sq. m., exclusive of inland waters (about 608 sq. m.), the foreshore (about 498 sq. m.) and tidal water (about 608 sq. m.).

The name Scotland for this geographical area of northern Britain (the Caledonia of the ancients-a name still poetically used for Scotland) originated in the 11th century, when (from the tribe of Scots) part of it was called Scotia (a name previously applied to what is now Ireland); and the name of Scotland became firmly established in the 12th and 13th centuries.

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