The national emblem of Scotland is a thistle. It is a purple plant with big thorns.

The Scottish flag, St. Andrews Cross, is blue with a white cross from corner to corner.

Here you can see the coat of arms of Scotland.

Bagpipe is a Scottish national musical instrument.

The official language is English, although Gaelic is spoken in the north and west of Scotland.

The population of Scotland is a little over 5 million people.

Scotland is a very small country. It is the most northern part of the island of Great Britain and is not far away from the Arctic Circle. It is 274miles (441 kilometers) long. Its widest point is 154 miles (248 kilometers). Its narrowest is only 25 miles (40 kilometers). Because of Scotland's narrowness, it is never possible to get far away from the sea. The river Tweed and the Cheviot Hills form Scotlands southern border with England. The Northwest Channel separates southwestern Scotland from Northern Ireland. The northwest coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. The east coast faces the North Sea, which separates Scotland from the mainland of Europe.

There are three main regions – the Highlands, the Lowlands and the Southern Uplands.

The Highlands in the north of Scotland is a region of mountains and rivers, a country of great sea-locks, small towns and villages.

Ben Nevis in Scotland is the highest mountain in Great Britain. It is 1343 metres high.

The climate of Scotland is temperate and oceanic and tends to be very changeable.

The west of Scotland is usually warmer than the east, due to the influence of the Atlantic ocean.

Scotland is rich in beautiful lakes.

The largest lake in Scotland is Lock Lomond. It is 23 miles (37 kilometers) long and 5 miles (8 kilometers) at its widest point.

Lock Ness is the most famous lake, it is 35 kilometers long.

It is well- known for its monster. Some people claim to have seen a creature 30 feet (9 metres) long in the lake.

There is a museum of Lock Ness monster visited by millions of people every year. It has more than 4,000 written reports and drawings of the monster made by those people who have seen it.

The most important rivers in Scotland are the Tay, the Clyde, the Tweed and the Spey.

The Tay is the longest river, it is 120 miles (193) kilometres long.

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland and the seat of the Scottish Parliament.

Edinburgh has been the capital of Scotland since the 15 th century.

The city lies on nine hills and goes down those hills to the sea. The highest hill is three hundred metres above the sea.

At the top of the highest hill in Edinburgh is Edinburgh Castle. It was the home of Scotlands royal family until 1603 when King James the 6th of Scotland became king of England and moved to London.

Holyrood Palace is the Queen's official residence when she is in Edinburgh.

Edinburgh is divided into two parts: the Old Town and the New Town.

In the old town the streets are narrow.

Royal Mile is the main street in Edinburgh.

Princes Street has a lot of rich shops on one side and gardens on the other side.

Edinburgh is one of the greenest and architecturally most beautiful cities in Northern Europe and known as Athens of the North.

Robert Burns is Scotlands national poet. There is a monument to him in Edinburgh.

Scotland is famous for its romantic castles.

Men in Scotland wear kilts. They want to show other people that they are Scottish. To make a kilt, you need about six metres of tartan!