This is my third attempt at posting this today and my ipad kept jumping off the page > . >.
I thought it would be cool for us to post some facts about our countries/local areas. I'll start (btw, if this already exists, I'm sorry, but I couldn't see it).
I live in Scotland, a country within the UK.
1) Scotland unified in roughly the 10th century CE. England unified under the Normans in 1066. Wales and Ireland followed after that. This means that Scotland is the oldest country within the UK. The UK itself formed on the first of January, 1707
2) The UK's makeup is probably a tad confusing to non-UK citizens. Indeed, it must have been confusing to those who created it as they did not actually define whether or not Scotland and England (the merging of which formed the "original" UK) remained countries. However, legally the UK is made up of several countries rather than several states as is the case with the likes of the US, or Australia.
3) London (UK capital) is massive. I mean, it's huge. Roughly 1/3 of the total UK population live in or around London. London itself is divided into two "cities". These are called the City of London (also central London) and the City of Westminster (also Greater London). Central London has a very small population predominantly full of rich people. Greater London has a population that is higher than Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland's total combined populations.
4) Our old style currency was called Pounds, Shillings, and Pence. Due to its Latin name (librae, solidi, and denarii), the shorthand for pounds, shillings, and pence was L.S.D. L.S.D. the drug was commonly known as "pounds, shillings, pence" in the UK.
5) Brits are (supposedly) renowned for not learning other languages. This is strange, because there are 10 languages native to the British Isles. These are English, British Sign Language, Welsh, Cornish, Irish, Manx (Isle of Mann, which is actually not part of the UK), Scots (which I speak), Scots Gaelic (my mother language), Anglorami, and Shelta.
6) The UK is part of an island chain. The two main islands are Great Britain (Wales, mainland England, and mainland Scotland) and Éire (mainland Ireland). Éire comprises of two countries, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The border between the two is a former militarised zone and is the UK's only land border. There are 6,289 islands in and around the UK, most of which are around Scotland. Understandably, not all are inhabited. Many are actually privately owned.
I think that's a good start.
