The northern part of Great Britain and of the United Kingdom. Sparsely populated until Celtic peoples arrived from the Continent during the Bronze and Early Iron Age, the inhabitants of Scotland were named the Picts by the Romans, who established a northerly line at the Antonine Wall for about 40 years. An independent country in the Middle Ages, after the unification of various small Dark Age kingdoms of the Picts, Scots, Britons, and Angles between the 9th and 11th centuries, Scotland successfully resisted English attempts at domination but was amalgamated with her southern neighbour as a result of the union of the crowns in 1603 and of the parliaments in 1707. Broadly divided into Highland and Lowland regions, Scotland has a heavily indented west coast with numerous islands to the west (Inner and Outer Hebrides) and north (Orkney and Shetland Islands). The Highlands to the north and the Southern Uplands north of the English border are sparsely populated, the greater proportion of the Scottish population being concentrated in the Central Lowlands between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. Oil and natural gas, agricultural produce, timber, textiles, whisky, paper, and high-tech electronic goods are amongst its chief industrial products. Scotland is divided into 32 administrative regions (unitary authorities). A referendum on devolution was held in 1997 in which the electorate overwhelmingly voted in favour of a measure of devolution. This included a Scottish Parliament with 129 MPs elected by proportional representation in elections that took place in May 1999; power was transferred to the new body in July. The Scottish Parliament initially had powers to make laws on most domestic matters and to vary the basic rate of income tax, with more powers being transferred over the next decade. The first two elections to the Scottish Parliament resulted in Labour–Liberal Democrat coalition administrations, but the Scottish National Party led by Alex Salmond formed a minority administration in 2007 and gained an absolute majority in 2011. A referendum on whether Scotland should leave the United Kingdom took place in September 2014, and resulted in a clear majority (55% to 45%) for maintaining the Union. Immediately after the result Salmond announced his resignation as leader of the SNP and as First Minister from November. He was succeeded by his former deputy, Nicola Sturgeon.

In the 2015 UK general election, the SNP secured a landslide victory, taking 56 of the 59 Scottish seats, having previously had six MPs. The Scotland Act 2016 gave the Scottish Parliament much greater control over raising as well as spending revenue. In the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections, the SNP just lost their majority and formed a minority administration with the support of the Scottish Greens. The decline of the Labour Party continued, and it lost its position as the official opposition to the Conservatives, under their popular leader, Ruth Davidson. In the 2016 EU referendum, Scotland voted to remain while the UK-wide result was in favour of leaving. The SNP government immediately began arguing for a special relationship with the EU and demands grew for a second independence referendum; this was formally requested by the Scottish Parliament in 2017, but was rejected by the UK prime minister.