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Scotland has four major cities.  They are [[Aberdeen]], [[Dundee]], [[Edinburgh]] and [[Glasgow]]. [[Inverness]] and [[Stirling]] were granted city status recently but are in fact smaller than some of the larger Scottish towns like Paisley and Perth.

Scotland has four major cities.  They are [[Aberdeen]], [[Dundee]], [[Edinburgh]] and [[Glasgow]]. [[Inverness]] and [[Stirling]] were granted city status recently but are in fact smaller than some of the larger Scottish towns like Paisley and Perth.

In the year 722 BC, the Assyrians conquered the Kingdom of Israel and sent the Ten Tribes of Israel into exile.<ref>[http://www.britam.org Revealing the Lost Ten Tribes Amongst Western Peoples]</ref> The British historian Bede describes how the Scots had arrived in Ireland (at the time known as Scotia) after journeying from Scythia in longboats, and were from there travelled on to Scotland (which they called Alban - Alba is still the [[Gaelic]] name for Scotland). Ancient Scottish art attributed to a people now called Picts shows characteristics peculiar to Scythian art. After the Crucificxtion, Christ's apostle Andrew, came to Scotland to preach to these descendants of the Scythians.<ref>[http://www.domestic-church.com/CONTENT.DCC/19981101/SAINTS/standrew.htm Saint Andrew the Apostle

Scotland has been inhabited since the first [[Mesolithic]] hunter-gatherers are thought to have migrated to Scotland.<ref>At least 8500 years before recorded history dealt with Britain, according to the uniformitarian timescale. [http://www.scotlandhistory.net/ Scotland History], Wormland, Jenny. Scotland: a History. 2005, Oxford: Oxford University Press. p.1</ref>

]</ref> St. Andrew then became the patron saint of Scotland, the Scottish flag incorporating the Cross of Saint Andrew.  The Scots crowned their Kings on the Stone of Destiny, the stone that Jacob used as a pillow when he had a dream in which he saw a stairway to heaven with angels ascending and descending (Genesis 28:10-22).  

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.

The [[Romans]] never managed to conquer the Scots, 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. In spite of this, there was interaction between the Scots and Romans. Many Scots leaving to serve the Roman empire, such as Pontius Pilate, who was born in the hamlet of Fortingall.<ref>[http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/towns/townfirst1306.html Fortingall ]</ref> Pontius Pilate was related to the Scots King, Metallanus. At the the time Metallanus was on good terms with the government of Caesar in Rome. Pilate first went to Rome and was later appointed the Roman Procurator of Judea. To this day, the Royal Scots, one of the oldest regiments in the British Army claim descendance from Pontius Pilate's bodyguard. There still exists at Caesaria in Palestine, an ancient stone slab which is called the Pilate Stone, upon on which is inscribed in Latin "Hiberieum Pontius Pilatus". The Romans referred to northerly regions of the British Isles as Hibernia.

 

From the late 13th century the Kingdom of England began to threaten Scotland's indpendence. The Scots presenting the [[Pope]] with the Declaration of Arbroath  stating their intention, to remain free, reiterating their right to do so as descendants of the Scythians, one of the exiled Ten Tribes.

 

:"Most Holy Father and Lord, we know and from the chronicles and books of the ancients we find that among other famous nations our own, the Scots, has been graced with widespread renown. They journeyed from Greater Scythia by way of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Pillars of Hercules, and dwelt for a long course of time in Spain among the most savage tribes, but nowhere could they be subdued by any race, however barbarous."

 

:"...for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself."

 

Scotland's independence was finally secured by the brave deeds of the knight William Wallace and King Robert the Bruce.

==Union with England==

==Union with England==