The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh. The population in the capital city of Edinburgh is quite small, less than 500,000 people. However, every summer festival comes, the population here will become "bloated" due to tourists from all over the world. It is home to the largest art festival in the world, the Festival Fringe. Every August, it is filled with artists and festival-goers who go from venues large and small to concert halls large and small. In addition, the capital of Edinburgh also has impressive food with many rich choices. This is also one of the attractions of Edinburgh.

Scotland (Scots: Scotland, Scottish Gaelic: Alba [ˈal̪ˠapə] (listen)) is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Scotland is the northern third of Great Britain (an island in the North Atlantic Ocean). Many other islands in the British Isles are also part of Scotland. To the south of Scotland is England, the North Sea is to the east, the Atlantic Ocean is to the west and the Irish Sea is to the south-west.

The capital city of Scotland is Edinburgh on the east coast, but the biggest city is Glasgow on the west coast. Other cities in Scotland are Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness, Perth and Stirling. About five million people live in Scotland. Most of the population lives in the Central Belt, an area between the Scottish Highlands and the Scottish Lowlands.

Unlike most of Great Britain, most of Scotland was not part of the Roman Empire (only the southern half of Scotland -then named Caledonia- was under roman control for a century) and did not become part of Anglo-Saxon England. In the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period, Scotland was an independent kingdom. The Kingdom of Scotland started in the 9th century AD. The kingdom started to share a king with the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Ireland in 1603. In that year, the king of Scotland inherited the two kingdoms of Elizabeth I, and James VI of Scotland became the first king of the whole British Isles. In 1707, the parliament of Scotland joined with the parliament of England to become the Parliament of Great Britain. This formed the United Kingdom of Great Britain. This kingdom joined with the Kingdom of Ireland in 1801 to make the modern United Kingdom.

Throughout its history Scotland has had its own legal system (Scots law), church (the Church of Scotland), schools, and culture.^[20] Since 1999, Scotland has had its own parliament, the Scottish Parliament. It was devolved from the British parliament. The Scottish people have representation in both parliaments. The Scottish Government and the British Government both govern Scotland. On 18 September 2014, a referendum on independence from the United Kingdom took place. A majority (55%) voted to stay in the United Kingdom.^[21][22]

The Flag of Scotland is blue with a white diagonal cross (a saltire). This is the cross of Saint Andrew, who is the patron saint of Scotland. Other symbols used for Scotland are the thistle and the unicorn. An image of a red lion "rampant" (standing on its back legs) on a gold background with a red border is the traditional coat of arms of the Scots monarchy.