| 5000 BC |
First people in Scotland are hunter-gatherers along the coasts |
| 117 BC |
Ninth Roman Legion destroyed in Galloway |
| 122 AD |
Work begins on Hadrian’s Wall across Northumbria just across “the border” in
England |
| 211 AD |
Roman Severus pulls out and dies on his way south at York. Romans don’t return in
force |
| 430 |
St. Ninian, a Briton brings Christianity to Southern Scotland |
| 6th C |
Scots, Celts from Ireland arrive in Western Scotland |
| 563 |
Iona religious centre founded by St. Columba |
| 700 |
Celtic Church is replaced by Roman Catholic Church |
| 780–820 |
Norwegians settle Shetland, Orkney and Caithness Islands |
| 843 |
The Scots king Kenneth obtains the Pictish throne |
| 1034–57 |
Scotland unites under Duncan I, Macbeth rules |
| 1130 |
David I (1124–53) establishes Anglo-Norman families and a feudal system |
| 1263 |
Alexander III defeats Haco of Norway at Largs. Hebrides and Isle of Man ceded to
Scotland |
| 1296 |
Edward I of England steals the “Stone of Scone” |
| 1297 |
William Wallace’s greatest hour, the Battle of Stirling Bridge |
| 1306–14 |
Robert I (the Bruce) crowned king and then wins the Battle of Bannockburn |
| 1410 |
First University founded at St. Andrews |
| 15th C |
Scotland becomes a significant trading nation with Netherlands and the Baltic states |
| 16th C |
More and more Scots adopt Protestant Calvinist views |
| 1513 |
Disasterous Battle of Flodden against Henry VIII of England in which James IV dies |
| 1522 |
England declares war on Scotland and France |
| 1543 |
Mary Queen of Scots crowned (nine months old) |
| 1560 |
Treaty of Edinburgh withdrew French and English forces from Scotland; Scottish
Parliament legislated protestant reformation |
| 1561 |
Catholic Mary I (Mary Queen of Scots) returns from France and begins power struggle
with Protestant nobles |
| 1568 |
Mary I flees to Elizabeth I’s England, where she is held captive until her beheading |
| 1603 |
James VI (son of Mary Queen of Scots) becomes King of England and Scotland |
| 1642–44 |
Civil War within England. Scotland enters on Parliament’s side in return for
promised Protestant system in England |
| 1650 |
Invasion and occupation of Scotland by Oliver Cromwell of England |
| 1660 |
Charles II restored in England and threatens Scottish Presbyterian Church, causing a
series of religious wars |
| 1685 |
James VII crowned but seen to threaten Protestantism further |
| 1688 |
Crown offered to Protestants William IV (of Orange) and Mary |
| 1692 |
Massacre of Glencoe on William’s orders to ‘make an example’ |
| 1698 |
Darien Venture to colonise Panama ends in disaster. Scotland Bank goes bankrupt,
encouraging Union with England |
| 1707 |
Scottish & English parliaments and economies unite |
| 1715 |
Jacobite Highland Uprising to restore James VII |
| 1745 |
Jacobite Uprising with Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) |
| 1746 |
Battle of Culloden and the beginning of decades of Highland suppression |
| 1770 |
Canal work begins to make Glasgow reachable from sea, eventually becoming 2nd city of
the British Empire |
| 1786 |
“Model” textile complex and industrial community at New Lanark |
| 19th C |
The Scottish Highlands change dramatically in the Clearances. Flocks of sheep replace
the population and their way of life |
| 1887 |
Scottish Office, Scotland’s “government” opens |
| 1949 |
2.5 million Scots sign a Covenant supporting Home Rule |
| 1974 |
Scottish National Party win 11 seats in parliament |
| 1975 |
Scotland becomes an oil-producing country |
| 1998 |
Scottish people vote overwhelmingly for own parliament with limited powers within the
UK |
| 1999 |
Reinstatement of Scottish Parliament |
| 2004 |
Opening of the new Scottish Parliament Building, Edinburgh |
