Changes

== History ==

== History ==

Scotland has been inhabited for at least 8500 years before recorded history<ref>http://www.scotlandhistory.net/</ref>, dating back to when the first [[Mesolithic]] hunter-gatherers are thought to have migrated to Scotland. These inhabitants showed advanced knowledge of astronomy, creating several [[Stonehenge]]-like monuments.

Scotland has been inhabited for at least 8500 years before recorded history<ref>http://www.scotlandhistory.net/</ref><ref>Wormland, Jenny.  Scotland: a History.  2005, Oxford: Oxford University Press. p.1</ref>, dating back to when the first [[Mesolithic]] hunter-gatherers are thought to have migrated to Scotland. These inhabitants showed advanced knowledge of astronomy, creating several [[Stonehenge]]-like monuments.

At the time of the [[Romans]] the tribes in what became Scotland were similar to those further south, and can be considered to be [[Celtic]] peoples.  Those from the North-East were called ‘Picti’ (Picts) by Roman writers, which could mean ‘painted people' and refer to tattoos.  The Romans never subdued these northern tribes, and after a brief period when the Antonine Wall between the Firths of Forth and Clyde was the Roman Empire’s northern frontier, they drew back and had [[Hadrian’s Wall]] as the frontier.  They did try and influence the tribes between the two Walls, and when kingdoms like Strathclyde emerged in the early [[Dark Ages]], their rulers often bore Roman names or titles, the dynasties having been founded by Roman officials. The Scots themselves began arriving as settlers in the West of Scotland at this time (AD 400-500).  They were from  a part of the north of [[Ireland]] and spoke Old Irish, which changed to become Scottish [[Gaelic]], and eventually replaced Pictish.  They sometimes warred with the Picts and [[Briton]]s and sometimes allied with them, but a unified kingdom under the Scottish king Kenneth Mac Alpin was established in AD 843, called ‘Alba’ (still the [[Gaelic]] name for Scotland).  This kingdom took over Strathclyde in the early 11th century to form the basis of Mediaeval Scotland.  [[Normans]] and their decscendents such as Robert the Bruce ('de Brus' was a Norman surname) became important nobles in Scotland.

At the time of the [[Romans]] the tribes in what became Scotland were similar to those further south, and can be considered to be [[Celtic]] peoples.  Those from the North-East were called ‘Picti’ (Picts) by Roman writers, which could mean ‘painted people' and refer to tattoos.  The Romans never subdued these northern tribes, and after a brief period when the Antonine Wall between the Firths of Forth and Clyde was the Roman Empire’s northern frontier, they drew back and had [[Hadrian’s Wall]] as the frontier.  They did try and influence the tribes between the two Walls, and when kingdoms like Strathclyde emerged in the early [[Dark Ages]], their rulers often bore Roman names or titles, the dynasties having been founded by Roman officials. The Scots themselves began arriving as settlers in the West of Scotland at this time (AD 400-500).  They were from  a part of the north of [[Ireland]] and spoke Old Irish, which changed to become Scottish [[Gaelic]], and eventually replaced Pictish.  They sometimes warred with the Picts and [[Briton]]s and sometimes allied with them, but a unified kingdom under the Scottish king Kenneth Mac Alpin was established in AD 843, called ‘Alba’ (still the [[Gaelic]] name for Scotland).  This kingdom took over Strathclyde in the early 11th century to form the basis of Mediaeval Scotland.  [[Normans]] and their decscendents such as Robert the Bruce ('de Brus' was a Norman surname) became important nobles in Scotland.