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The rich History of Scotland dates back to 10,000 years ago, when humans first began to inhabit Scotland after the end of the Devensian glaciations, the last ice age. The History of Scotland has passed through Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age civilization but very less has been retained as testimony to those periods. There are no written records related to those periods have been discovered yet. People lived in Scotland for at least 8,500 years before recorded history dealt with Britain. Mesolithic hunter and gatherers formed the first known settlements, and archaeologists have dated an example at Cramond near Edinburgh to around 8500 BC.
The written history of Scotland starts when the Romans invaded Britain. The Romans added southern Britain to their empire as a province named Britannia. But they were unable to suppress the fierce tribes from the north. To keep these tribes from invading Britannia, Emperor Hadrian built a massive wall across the island from sea to sea.
In the 5th Century Celtic immigrants from Ireland known as Scots, settled in the north of the Clyde. The Scots were already Christians when they left Ireland. In the 9th Century, Kenneth Mac Alpine, king of the Scots, included the Pictish kingdom to his own empire. In and around10th Century this land came to be known as Scotland.
After the Normans conquered England in 1066, many Anglo-Saxons from England started to settle in the Lowlands of Scotland. Here the Scots gradually adopted English ways of living. During this time feudalism was established, and the chiefs of the clans became nobles. Scotland prospered as the small towns started growing trade increased.
In the later Middle Ages, the history of Scotland took new turns. At this time Scotland suffered from weak kings and powerful nobles. For two centuries there was a constant struggle between the Crown and the barons. Border clashes with England were very common at this time. James IV of Scotland married Margaret, daughter of Henry VII of England, in 1503. When Henry VIII went to war with France in 1512, however, James IV invaded England.
The age old rivalry between Scotland and England ended finally in 1707 when the parliaments of both nations agreed to the Act of Union. This act merged the parliaments of the two nations and established the Kingdom of Great Britain.At the end of the 18th Century history of Scotland was enriched and is termed as the most creative period. David Hume won world fame in philosophy and history, Adam Smith in political economy, and Robert Burns in poetry. In the next generation Sir Walter Scott made the land and history of Scotland known throughout the world.
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