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By Evan Centanni
Scotland's Independence Vote
On Thursday (September 18), residents of Scotland will vote in a referendum on whether to leave the United Kingdom (UK). But is Scotland a country already? What will happen if voters choose "yes" in the referendum? And what other changes would this bring to Scotland and the UK's political geography? Read on for the answers to these questions and more!
Crash Course: History of Scotland
Scotland is the name
of the northern third of Great Britain, the main island of the UK, which is shared with England to the south and Wales to the southwest. It
originated as the
Kingdom of Alba,
an independent Celtic country that was unified around the year 900.
It
remained an independent kingdom throughout the Middle Ages, gradually
absorbing Anglo-Saxon culture from the south until it came to be ruled
by English-speaking monarchs, who called it "Scots" or "Scotland" after
the Latin name for the
Gaels, the predominant Celtic people of the region.