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Because of Scotland's highly irregular outline and the deeply indented arms of sea [usually called Lochs when narrow and Firths when broad] it has 2.300 miles [3700 km] of coastline. The Orkney and Shetland islands lie off the northern coast of the mainland and the Hebrides off the western coast. |
Scotland's main rivers are the Clyde, the Forth, the Tay and the Tweed. The largest freshwater loch is Loch Lomond. Scotland could be divided into three main geographical areas. The Southern uplands a region of high rolling moorland cut by numerous valleys' compromises the regions of Dumfries, Galloway and Borders. The Central lowlands includes the regions of Central, Fife, Lothian, Strathclyde and Tayside. Separated from the lowlands by the Grampian Mountains are the Highlands of the North. A rough mountainous area divided by the Great Glen and has Ben Nevis, the highest peak in Great Britain. The church of Scotland is Presbyterian, but there are no restrictions on religious liberty. English is the universal language, less then 1.000 people, primarily in the far North still speak only Gaelic. Less then 80.000 people speak both languages. The Universities are in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, St. Andrews, Dundee, Stirling, Strathclyde and Heriot-Watt. |