Scottish Highlands in the context of Clan Cameron

The Lowlands (Scots: Lallans or Lawlands, pronounced [ˈlɑːlən(d)z, ˈlo̜ːl-]; Scottish Gaelic: a' Ghalldachd, lit. 'place of the foreigners', pronounced [ə ˈɣauɫ̪t̪əxk]) is a cultural and historical region of Scotland.

The region is characterised by its relatively flat or gently rolling terrain as opposed to the mountainous landscapes of the Scottish Highlands. This area includes cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow and is known for its fertile farmland, historic sites, and urban centres. It is the more populous and industrialised part of Scotland compared to the sparsely populated Highlands.

The geography of Scotland is varied from rural lowlands to unspoilt uplands, and from large cities to sparsely inhabited islands. Located in Northern Europe, Scotland comprises the northern part of the island of Great Britain as well as 790 surrounding islands encompassing the major archipelagos of the Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands and the Inner and Outer Hebrides. The only land border is with England, which runs for 96 miles (154 kilometres) in a northeasterly direction from the Solway Firth in the west to the North Sea on the east coast. Separated by the North Channel, the island of Ireland lies 13 nautical miles (24 kilometres) from Mull of Kintyre on the Scottish mainland. Norway is located 190 nmi (350 km) northeast of Scotland across the North Sea. The Atlantic Ocean, which fringes the coastline of western and northern Scotland and its islands, influences the temperate, maritime climate of the country.

Scotland contains the majority of mountainous terrain in the UK. The topography of Scotland is distinguished by the Highland Boundary Fault which traverses the Scottish mainland from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. The faultline separates two distinctively different physiographic regions; namely the Highlands to the north and west and the Lowlands to the south and east. The more rugged Highland region contains the majority of Scotland's mountainous terrain, including the highest peak, Ben Nevis.

Ben Nevis (/ˈnɛvɪs/ NEV-iss; Scottish Gaelic: Beinn Nibheis, Scottish Gaelic pronunciation: [pe(ɲ) ˈɲivɪʃ]) is the highest mountain in Scotland, the United Kingdom, and the British Isles. Ben Nevis stands at the western end of the Grampian Mountains in the Highland region of Lochaber, close to the town of Fort William.

The mountain is a popular destination, attracting an estimated 150,000 visitors a year, around three-quarters of whom use the Mountain Track from Glen Nevis. The mountain has hosted a foot race since 1898. The 700-metre (2,300 ft) cliffs of the north face are among the highest in Scotland, providing classic scrambles and rock climbs of all difficulties for climbers and mountaineers. They are also the principal locations in Scotland for ice climbing. The cliffs of the north face can be viewed from the Charles Inglis Clark Memorial Hut, a private alpine hut.

Taiga or tayga (/ˈtaɪɡə/ TY-gə; Russian: тайга́, IPA: [tɐjˈɡa]), also known as boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, and larches. The taiga, or boreal forest, is the world's largest land biome. In North America, it covers most of inland Canada, Alaska, and parts of the northern contiguous United States. In Eurasia, it covers most of Sweden, Finland, much of Russia from Karelia in the west to the Pacific Ocean (including much of Siberia), much of Norway and Estonia, some of the Scottish Highlands, some lowland/coastal areas of Iceland, and areas of northern Kazakhstan, northern Mongolia, and northern Japan (on the island of Hokkaido).

The principal tree species, depending on the length of the growing season and summer temperatures, vary across the world. The taiga of North America is mostly spruce; Scandinavian and Finnish taiga consists of a mix of spruce, pines and birch; Russian taiga has spruces, pines and larches depending on the region; and the Eastern Siberian taiga is a vast larch forest.

The Privy Council of Scotland (c. 1490 — 1 May 1708) was a body that advised the Scottish monarch. During its existence, the Privy Council of Scotland was essentially considered as the government of the Kingdom of Scotland, and was seen as the most important element of central government.

In the range of its functions the council was often more important than the Estates in the running the country. Its registers include a wide range of material on the political, administrative, economic and social affairs of the Kingdom of Scotland. The council supervised the administration of the law, regulated trade and shipping, took emergency measures against the plague, granted licences to travel, administered oaths of allegiance, banished beggars and gypsies, dealt with witches, recusants, Covenanters and Jacobites and tackled the problem of lawlessness in the Highlands and the Borders.

Scots is a West Germanic language variety descended from Early Middle English. As a result, Modern Scots is a sister language of Modern English. Scots is classified as an official language of Scotland, a regional or minority language of Europe, and a vulnerable language by UNESCO. In a Scottish census from 2022, over 1.5 million people in Scotland (of its total population of 5.4 million people) reported being able to speak Scots.

Most commonly spoken in the Scottish Lowlands, the Northern Isles of Scotland, and northern Ulster in Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots), it is sometimes called Lowland Scots, to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language that was historically restricted to most of the Scottish Highlands, the Hebrides, and Galloway after the sixteenth century; or Broad Scots, to distinguish it from Scottish Standard English. Many Scottish people's speech exists on a dialect continuum ranging between Broad Scots and Standard English.

Caledonia (/ˌkælɪˈdoʊniə/; Latin: Calēdonia [kaleːˈdonia]) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the forested region in the central and western Scottish Highlands, particularly stretching through parts of what are now Lochaber, Badenoch, Strathspey, and possibly as far south as Rannoch Moor, known as Coed Celedon (Coed Celyddon using the modern alphabet) to the native Brython (Britons). Today, it is used as a romantic or poetic name for all of Scotland. During the Roman Empire's occupation of Britain, the area they called Caledonia was physically separated from the rest of the island by the Antonine Wall. It remained outside the administration of Roman Britain.

Latin historians, including Tacitus and Cassius Dio, referred to the territory north of the River Forth as "Caledonia", and described it as inhabited by the Maeatae and the Caledonians (Latin: Caledonii).

Scotland was divided into a series of kingdoms in the Early Middle Ages, i.e. between the end of Roman authority in southern and central Britain from around 400 AD and the rise of the kingdom of Alba in 900 AD. Of these, the four most important to emerge were the Picts, the Gaels of Dál Riata, the Britons of Alt Clut, and the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia. After the arrival of the Vikings in the late 8th century, Scandinavian rulers and colonies were established on the islands and along parts of the coasts. In the 9th century, the House of Alpin combined the lands of the Scots and Picts to form a single kingdom which constituted the basis of the Kingdom of Scotland.

Scotland has an extensive coastline, vast areas of difficult terrain and poor agricultural land. In this period, more land became marginal due to climate change, resulting in relatively light human settlement, particularly in the interior and Highlands. Northern Britain lacked urban centres and settlements were based on farmsteads and around fortified positions such as brochs, with mixed farming primarily based on self-sufficiency. In this period, changes in settlement and colonisation meant that the Pictish and Brythonic languages began to be subsumed by Gaelic, Scots, and, at the end of the period, by Old Norse. Life expectancy was relatively low, leading to a young population, with a ruling aristocracy, freemen, and relatively large numbers of slaves. Kingship was multi-layered, with different kings surrounded by their warbands that made up the most important elements of armed forces, and who engaged in both low-level raiding and occasional longer-range, major campaigns.

U-shaped valleys, also called trough valleys or glacial troughs, are formed by the process of glaciation. They are characteristic of mountain glaciation in particular. They have a characteristic U shape in cross-section, with steep, straight sides and a flat or rounded bottom (by contrast, valleys carved by rivers tend to be V-shaped in cross-section). Glaciated valleys are formed when a glacier travels across and down a slope, carving the valley by the action of scouring. When the ice recedes or thaws, the valley remains, often littered with small boulders that were transported within the ice, called glacial till or glacial erratic.

Examples of U-shaped valleys are found in mountainous regions throughout the world including the Andes, Alps, Caucasus Mountains, Himalaya, Rocky Mountains, New Zealand and the Scandinavian Mountains. They are found also in other major European mountains including the Carpathian Mountains, the Pyrenees, the Rila and Pirin mountains in Bulgaria, and the Scottish Highlands. A classic glacial trough is in Glacier National Park in Montana, USA in which the St. Mary River runs. Another well-known U-shaped valley is the Nant Ffrancon valley in Snowdonia, Wales.

Snowdon (/ˈsnoʊdən/), or Yr Wyddfa (Welsh: [ər ˈʊɨ̞̯ðva] ), is a mountain in Snowdonia in North Wales. It has an elevation of 1,085 metres (3,560 ft) above sea level, which makes it both the highest mountain in Wales and the highest in the British Isles south of the Scottish Highlands. Snowdon is designated a national nature reserve for its rare flora and fauna, and is located within Snowdonia National Park.

The rocks that form Snowdon were produced by volcanoes in the Ordovician period, and the massif has been extensively sculpted by glaciation, forming the pyramidal peak of Snowdon and the arêtes of Crib Goch and Y Lliwedd. It is part of the larger Snowdon range, which includes Garnedd Ugain, Yr Aran, and Moel Eilio. There are several lakes on the mountain, the largest of which is Llyn Lydaw (110 acres (45 ha)), located on the eastern flank at 1,430 ft (440 m).

Cawdor (Scottish Gaelic: Caladair) is a village and parish in the Highland council area, Scotland. The village is 5 miles (8 kilometres) south-southwest of Nairn and 12 miles (19 kilometres) east of Inverness. The village is in the Historic County of Nairnshire.

Clan Campbell of Cawdor is a highland Scottish clan and a branch of the larger Clan Campbell. While the clan is recognised by the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, the clan does not have a clan chief recognised by the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs. Also, because the clan does not have a clan chief recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms it is considered an armigerous clan. The head of the Clan Campbell of Cawdor is the Earl Cawdor, since 1993 Colin Campbell.

Shinty (Scottish Gaelic: camanachd, iomain) is a team sport played with sticks and a ball. It is played mainly in the Scottish Highlands and among Highland migrants to the major cities of Scotland. The sport was formerly more widespread in Scotland and even played in Northern England into the second half of the 20th century and other areas in the world where Scottish Highlanders migrated.

While comparisons are made with hockey, the two games have several important differences. In shinty a player is allowed to play the ball in the air and use both sides of the stick. The latter is called a caman, which is wooden and slanted on both sides. The stick may also be used to block and to tackle, although a player may not come down on an opponent's stick, a practice called hacking. Players may also tackle using the body as long as it is shoulder to shoulder.

Land's End (Cornish: Penn an Wlas or Pedn an Wlas) is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on the Penwith peninsula about eight miles (13 km) west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is the English Channel, and to the west the Celtic Sea.

Land's End is the most westerly point of mainland England. However, it is not the westernmost point on mainland Great Britain. This title narrowly goes to Corrachadh Mòr in the Scottish Highlands.

The European potato failure was a food crisis that struck Northern and Western Europe in the mid-1840s. The time is also known as the Hungry Forties. The widespread failure of potato crops, caused by potato blight, with the correspondent lack of other staple foods was the direct cause of the crisis. Excess mortality occurred across all affected areas, with the highest casualty rates occurring in the Scottish Highlands and Ireland via the Highland Potato Famine and Great Famine respectively. Mass emigration occurred as a result.

Ulster Scots, also known as the Ulster-Scots people or Scots-Irish, are an ethnic group descended largely from Lowland Scottish and Northern English settlers who moved to the northern province of Ulster in Ireland mainly during the 17th century. There is an Ulster Scots dialect of the Scots language.

Historically, there have been considerable population exchanges between Ireland and Scotland over the millennia. This group are found mostly in the province of Ulster; their ancestors were Protestant settlers who migrated mainly from the Scottish Lowlands and Northern England during the Plantation of Ulster, which was a planned process of colonisation following the Tudor conquest of Ireland. The largest numbers came from Ayrshire, Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway, Durham, Lanarkshire, Northumberland, Renfrewshire, Scottish Borders, Yorkshire and, to a lesser extent, from the Scottish Highlands.