The Scots are proud of their country. See A History of Scotland for some reasons why this can be justified even though much of the past was not as glamorous as some may think it was.

Although its land acreage is relatively small, Scotland has a large coastline whilst, thanks to the Orkney & Shetland Islands, its maritime territory is quite significant. Lerwick, the main town of the Shetland Isles, is closer to Bergen in Norway than it is to Edinburgh.

Using the traditional names and boundaries suggested by The Association of British Counties, Scotland has the following 34 counties: Aberdeenshire, Angus/Forfarshire, Argyllshire, Ayrshire, Banffshire, Berwickshire, Buteshire, Cromartyshire, Caithness, Clackmannanshire, Dumfriesshire, Dunbartonshire/Dumbartonshire, East Lothian/Haddingtonshire, Fife, Inverness-shire, Kincardineshire, Kinross-shire, Kirkcudbrightshire, Lanarkshire, Midlothian/Edinburghshire, Morayshire, Nairnshire, Orkney, Peeblesshire, Perthshire, Renfrewshire, Ross-shire, Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire, Shetland, Stirlingshire, Sutherland, West Lothian/Linlithgowshire, Wigtownshire.

There is no single truly traditional and always-accepted method of dividing Scotland into smaller regions, groups of counties, but the following is not uncommon: » Borders : Berwickshire, Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire. » Dumfries and Galloway : Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, Wigtownshire. » Lothian : East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian. » Central-South : Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Peeblesshire, Renfrewshire. » Central-North : Dunbartonshire/Dumbartonshire, Stirlingshire. » Argyll and Bute : Argyllshire, Buteshire. » Perthshire, Tayside and Fife : Clackmannanshire, Fife, Kinross-shire, Perthshire. » Grampian : Aberdeenshire, Angus/Forfarshire, Banffshire, Kincardineshire. » Moray and Nairn : Morayshire, Nairnshire. » The Highlands and The Western Islands : Inverness-shire, Cromartyshire, Ross-shire. » Sutherland and Caithness : Sutherland, Caithness. » The Northern Isles (not shown...

Although Greater London is nowadays treated as an administrative county in its own right, different parts of it are in different counties (Kent, Surrey, Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Essex), having evolved from the City of Westminster (in Middlesex) which grew outwards to meet many other towns and villages which all expanded until there was little space between them and they formed a giant conurbation.

England is sometimes talked about as if it was divided into different Regions, each comprising various counties. There is no formally accepted method of division but the following are not uncommon, although it should be noted that some of them have been 'stretched' to ensure that all of the counties are included somewhere: » North-West : Cumberland, Lancashire, Westmorland » North-East : Durham, Northumberland, Yorkshire » West Midlands : Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire with Bedfordshire » East Midlands : Derbyshire, Huntingdonshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland » East Anglia : Norfolk, Suffolk with Cambridgeshire, Essex » Thames Valley ** : Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire with Wiltshire » South-West...

The island is said to have been called 'Great Britain' to distinguish it from 'Little Britain' which is Brittany (Bretagne), France. Strangely, the origin of the name is not clear. An explanation favoured by some is that it arose in Roman times (c383) when Maximus, a British King, was proclaimed Emperor by Roman troops garrisoned in Britain and expanded his territory into Brittany. [He succeeded quickly in his attempt to become Emperor but did not survive long, being killed in 388.] An explanation favoured by others is that it arose when some Britons fled from (Great) Britain into Brittany to escape from Saxon invaders c450. Others think it arose following the Norman Conquest (1066). Still others think that the British Isles were thought of originally (by whom is not known) as the Isles off Brittany, with Great Britain being called that simply because it is the biggest of the isles. Whatever its orgins, the name was not widely used until shortly after King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England (in 1603).