The Isles now lay at Alexander's feet, and in 1266 Haakon's successor concluded the Treaty of Perth by which he ceded the Isle of Man and the Western Isles to Scotland in return for a monetary payment.

Conversely the use of true brass seems to have declined in Western Europe during this period in favour of gunmetals and other mixed alloys but by the end of the first Millennium AD brass artefacts are found in Scandinavian graves in Scotland, brass was being used in the manufacture of coins in Northumbria and there is archaeological and historical evidence for the production of brass in Germany and The Low Countries areas rich in calamine ore which would remain important centres of brass making throughout the medieval period, especially Dinant – brass objects are still collectively known as dinanterie in French.

However, in areas such as the Western Isles of Scotland, timber was unavailable from the Neolithic onwards.

In reality, the Western Isles contains the highest density of lake-settlement in Scotland, yet they are recognised under varying terms besides crannog.

In the Western Isles of Scotland the Sluagh, or fairy host was regarded as composed of the souls of the dead flying through the air, and the feast of the dead at Hallowe ' en was likewise the festival of the fairies.

* Gregory, D. " History of the Western Highlands and Isles of Scotland " ( 1881 ).

* Martin, Martin, " A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland " ( 1693 ) 1st Edition, ( 1716 ) 2nd Edition.

Ironically, given the status of the Western Isles as the last Gàidhlig-speaking stronghold in Scotland, the Gaelic language name for the islands – Innse Gall – means " isles of the foreigners " which has roots in the time when they were under Norse colonisation.

This system is used in the Upper House in India, Australia ( Senate, Tasmanian and Australian Capital Territory Houses of Assembly and the Legislative Councils in New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria ), Ireland, Northern Ireland ( assembly, local government and European elections, but not national ), Malta, local government elections in Scotland and selected ( optional ) local governments in New Zealand.

Originating in either Western Scotland or Ireland, the sparr was widely used by the galloglass.

The first literary reference to the island, where it is called Rokol, is found in Martin Martin's A Description of the Western isles of Scotland published in 1703.

Henry VII made peace with France in 1492 and the war against Scotland was abandoned because of the Western Rebellion of 1497.

Scotland took its present form when it regained territory from the Norse between the 13th and the 15th centuries ; the Western Isles and the Isle of Man remained under Scandinavian authority until 1266.

8. 9 % of Western Australians were born in England, 2. 4 % in New Zealand, 1. 2 % in Scotland, 1. 1 % in South Africa, and 1. 1 % in Italy.

* 1266 – The war between Scotland and Norway ends as King Alexander III of Scotland and King Magnus VI of Norway agree to the Treaty of Perth, which cedes the Western Isles and Isle of Man to Scotland in exchange for a large monetary payment.

Then, in December 1965 and March 1966, Nature and The Lancet published the first preliminary reports by British cytogeneticist Patricia Jacobs and colleagues at the MRC Human Genetics Unit at Western General Hospital in Edinburgh of a chromosome survey of 315 male patients at The State Hospital outside Carstairs, Lanarkshire — Scotland ’ s only special security hospital for the developmentally disabled — that found nine patients, ages 17 to 36, averaging almost 6 ft. in height ( avg.

The Outer Hebrides (, ) also known as the Western Isles and the Long Island, is an island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland.

The Western Isles became part of the Norse kingdom of the Suðreyjar, which lasted for over 400 years until sovereignty was transferred to Scotland by the Treaty of Perth in 1266.

There are also more than 7, 500 freshwater lochs in the Western Isles, about 24 % of the total for the whole of Scotland.

* The war between Scotland and Norway ends as King Alexander III of Scotland and King Magnus VI of Norway agree to the Treaty of Perth, which cedes the Western Isles and Isle of Man to Scotland in exchange for a large monetary payment.

He noted the post-Reformation shift of Europe's economic centre away from Catholic countries such as France, Spain and Italy, and toward Protestant countries such as the Netherlands, England, Scotland and Germany.

With the intellectual benefits of having established Europe's first public education system since classical antiquity Scottish thinkers began questioning assumptions previously taken for granted ; and with Scotland's traditional connections to France, then in the throes of the Enlightenment, the Scots began developing a uniquely practical branch of humanism to the extent that Voltaire said, " We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilization.

The best-placed teams in the domestic leagues of England and Scotland qualify for Europe's premier competition, the UEFA Champions League, where the competition's anthem, written by English composer Tony Britten, is played before each game.

Excavated dwellings at Skara Brae ( Orkney, Scotland ), Europe's most complete Neolithic village.

The Links Market in Kirkcaldy, Fife is Europe's longest street fair and the oldest in Scotland.

His strongman victories include the 1989 Pure Strength contest in Scotland, the 1991 and 1993 International Power Challenge, the 1992 Scandinavian Strongest Man ( Finland ), the 1992 Nordic Strongest Man ( Denmark ), the 1994 Europe's Strongest Man, the 1995 World Muscle Power Championship, and the 1995 and 1997 Viking Challenge.

Likewise, in the same month the Royal Bank of Scotland Group ( Europe's largest debit card issuer which includes the NatWest, Coutts and Ulster Bank brands ) switched from Maestro to Visa Debit, a process that will take two years to complete ..

Having cleared his name in Scotland Lymond takes on an unlikely alias in order to infiltrate the French Court and protect the future Mary-Queen of Scots from her would-be assassins, but in the whirl and rush of Europe's most decadent and reckless Court, he finds it increasingly difficult to remember where play-acting ends and self-destructive excess begins.

Europe's matches were also stopped by rain, but at least the team with the best win-loss ratio qualified, Ireland scraping through with a three-run victory over Scotland in Aberdeen, while Bermuda continued on their fine ICC Trophy run, winning both matches of the Americas group to qualify for the semi-finals ahead of Canada.

Previously unknown crannogs in Scotland and Ireland are still being found as underwater surveys continue to investigate loch beds for completely submerged examples The largest concentrations of crannogs in Ireland are found in the Drumlin Belt of the midlands, the north and the northwest.

They are found throughout Britain and Ireland, with the largest number in Scotland.

It is the largest capacity stadium in Scotland, with around 67, 000 seats.

Fort William ( ( ən ˈkʲɛrəs ̪ t ̪ ən ), " The Garrison ") is the second largest settlement in the highlands of Scotland and the largest town: only the city of Inverness is larger.

Glasgow Central Mosque, the largest mosque in Scotland.

The use of Scots and English became prominent in recent times but the Hebrides still contain the largest concentration of Scottish Gaelic speakers in Scotland.

Lewis and Harris is the largest island in Scotland and the third largest in the British Isles, after Great Britain and Ireland.

In the 2007 Scottish Parliamentary election, the SNP became the largest political party in the Scottish Parliament for the first time, governing as a minority administration, with party leader Alex Salmond as First Minister of Scotland.

Skara Brae () is a stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney archipelago of Scotland.

The uninhabited islands include Mousa, known for the Broch of Mousa, the finest preserved example in Scotland of these Iron Age round towers, St Ninian's Isle connected to Mainland by the largest active tombolo in the UK, and Out Stack, the northernmost point of the British Isles.

There are frequent charter flights from Aberdeen to Scatsta near Sullom Voe, which are used to transport oilfield workers and this small terminal has the fifth largest number of international passengers in Scotland.

Scotland at, is second largest, accounting for about a third of the area of the UK.

The largest of the new churches were the Lutherans ( mostly in Germany, the Baltics and Scandinavia ) and the Reformed churches ( mostly in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Scotland ).

In addition to works in North America, the Singer Corporation also had the honour of creating the largest clock face in the world, the Singer's clock at its Clydebank, Scotland factory which opened in 1885 and closed in 1980.

Lewis and Harris has an area of and is the largest island in Scotland and the third largest in the British Isles, after Great Britain and Ireland.

In Scotland, a jury in a criminal trial consists of 15 jurors, which is thought to be the largest in the world.

Arbroath or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus in Scotland, and has a population of 22, 785.

This hoard is the largest Viking treasure trove found so far in Scotland.

The Ring of Brodgar ( or Brogar, or Ring o ' Brodgar ) is a Neolithic henge and stone circle on the Mainland, the largest island in Orkney, Scotland.

Marine investigations in the area have also identified new species of anemone, rediscovered the fan mussel ( the UK's largest and rarest bivalve mollusc-thought to be found only in Plymouth Sound and a few sites off the west of Scotland ) and a number of shipwreck sites, including HMS Drake ( 1901 ), which was torpedoed and sank just off the island in 1917.

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland.