oral presentation: SCOTLAND!

Hello, we are Antonela, Mariana and Stefi and today we going to explain how the life is in Scotland. First and I’m going to introduce a little bit how this country is.

INTRODUCTION
Well, Scotland is a country that is a part of United Kingdom. It is occupying the northeast part of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west.

The capital is Edinburgh, which has got more of 600.000 people; although the largest city is Glasgow, which has got more of 800.000 people. Scotland is on 112populated country
Scotland was independent until 1707, when Scotland entered into a political union to create the

Kingdom of Great Britain. This union resulted from the Treaty of Union agreed in 1706.
The money that is actually in use is British Pounds (£), which are accept throughout the United Kingdom, but also there are some shops outside Scotland that refusing them. One pound approximately equals one euro and twenty cents.
1£ = 1,20 €

Hi my name is Mariana ans now I'm going to talk about the Scotland's history.

SCOTLAND'S HISTORY:
The Scotland history begins around 10,000 years ago, when humans began to inhabit what is now Scotland, after the ens of ice age.

The recorded history of Scotland begins with the arrival of the Roman Empire in Bbritain.
Scotland seemed a peripheral country slow to gain adbances, but over time began to improve.

For the IIIth century until the XIIIth century the Celts were in charge of the Scoltish Crown, which began in 840 and the last was Alexander III, who completed his regn in 1249.

Talking about the geographical orientation of Scotland and his strong reliance on trade routes by sea. Scotland was independed to the south. with the Baltic contries, with France and the European continent. Following the Acts of Union which united Scotland with England ans started the Industrial Revolution. Scotland became one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouse of Europ.

THE FLAG
The flag of Scotland known as the Saltire or St. Andrew’s cross. The flag has got a while cross with a blue background. Scotland has got more symbols which are official and unofficial such as the thistle, the nation’s floral emblem, the textile pattern tartan, which signifies a particular Scottish clan.

The motto of Scotland is ‘anyone I offended with impunity’ it’s connected to the thistle.The national hymn of Scotland is ‘Flower of Scotland’ and ‘Scotland the brave’. They compete with each other. However, there’s not an official hymn.St Andrew’s Day is an official festival of Scotland. This celebration is on 30th November. Also they celebrate the Tartan day which recent innovation from Canada.There are 2 official shields:

1. The first: ‘Lion rampant’The shield has got a yellow background, which represents the gold; the lion in the centre is surrounded by a flowered red band.

2. The second: was used by the crown of Scotland. There’s a lion surrounded by a shield of armoury. There are horses, shields, lion rampant and a flag.

CULTURE
The music is very important part of Scotland’s culture. The traditional instrument is the bagpipe, but there are more relevant instruments like violins or the accordions, because they are always present in traditional music festivals and concerts.
Also American music, like Country has been influenced by Scottish music. And there are famous singers like Amy McDonald, who is from Scotland.
Scotland’s literature includes texts in different languages like Scottish, Ancient Languages, Latin, English and more.
National television is "BBC Scotland" and the most popular newspapers are Daily Record, The Herald and The Scotsman.

WEAR
The traditional wear is the kilt, which is made of wool with a Tartan design. Tartan design is more or less like this photo, but it can be different colors like green and black, red and black, blue…
A person who lives there uses the kilt when he has got an important meeting like weddings, baptisms, communions…
Kilt is placed around the waist and covers up the knees. Also they can wear a bag.

LANGUAGES
There are two kind of languages: the Celtic Languages, including the Ancient Languages. These languages are spoken by only one per cent of population.
Also there are the Germanic Languages, including Scottish and Scottish English, which has been influenced by Ancient Languages.

RELIGION
IN 1560 the Church of Scotland became National Church of Scotland.
In 2001, forty per cent of population was members of Church, but in 2005 only twelve per cent were members.
There are some Catholics, that it is the stronger religion in Scotland. And there are some Protestants. Also there’s another religion which is Islam. Only one per cent of believers in a religion are Islamic.

Geology

The main land of Scotland comprises the northern third of the land mass of the island of Great Britain.From a geological perspective the country has three main sub-divisions.

-highlands and islands

-Central lowlands

-Southern uplands

Climate

The climate of Scotland is temperate and oceanic, and tends to be very changeable. However, temperatures are generally lower than in the rest of the UK, with the coldest ever UK temperature of -27.2ºC.

Winter maximums average 6ºC in the lowlands, with summer maximums averaging 18ºC.Tiree, in the Inner Hebrides, is one of the sunniest places in the country. The western highlands of Scotland are the wettest place. Heavy snowfall is not common in the lowlands.

Flora and fauna

Mountain HareScotland’s wildlife is typical of the north west of Europe. There are important populations of seals. The Golden Eagle is something of a national icon.TwinflowerOn the high mountain tops species including ptarmigan, mountains hare and stoat can be seen in winter months.

The flora of the country is varied. Although the number of native vascular plants is low by world standards, Scotland's substantial bryophyte flora is of global importance.

GASTRONOMI AND TYPICAL PRODUCTS:
Scotland's cooking share many characteristick of England cooking.
In genaral, Scottish cuisme is characterized by her simplicity, using natural products by milk, meat, fish, fruits and vegetables, they also like use spices and herbs.

The haggis is the best know Scottish dish.
It consists on a heavy sausage that is traditionally served with potatoes.
It is a spicy dish with intense flavor, but there are many recipes. Usually cooked with lamb or sheep (lung, liver or heart), mixed with onions, oatmeal, herbs and spices, all this stuffed inside a baf made of animal's stomach and boiled for many hours.

This dish is traditionally eaten on Burns Supper every 25th Jenuary, the day which commemorates Scotland's national poets Robert Buns.

The most internation ans popular drink in Scotland is whisky. In U.S.A is called simply Scotch.
The origen of wisky in Scotland seems to date the IVth or Vth centuary, when the most brought the continent distillation, but it is final explosion occurred in the IXth century, when they desveluped new models of production.