Scotland is a part of the United Kingdom (UK) and occupies the northern third of Great Britain. It is home to nearly 800 small islands, including the northern islands of Shetland and Orkney, the Hebrides, Arran and Skye. Scotland is not an independent country or state, but rather a nation of people living in an internal division of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Scottish mainland shares a border with England to the south, with a natural break in the land between Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland and Cumbria in Northern England. The fauna of Scotland is typical of northwestern Europe, although several of the largest mammals, such as the lynx, the brown bear, the wolf, the moose and the walrus, were hunted to extinction in historic times.
Today, much of the remaining native Caledonian forest is within the Cairngorms National Park, and remnants of this forest can be found in 84 locations across Scotland. Scotland also hosts its own national sports competitions and has independent representation at several international sporting events, such as the FIFA World Cup, the Rugby Union World Cup, the Rugby League World Cup, the Cricket World Cup, the Netball World Cup and the Commonwealth Games. Scotland has five international airports offering regular services to Europe, North America and Asia, as well as domestic services to England, Northern Ireland and Wales. This part of Scotland largely comprises ancient Cambrian and Precambrian rocks, which were built during the subsequent Caledonian orogeny. Kilmarnock Academy in East Ayrshire is one of only two schools in the UK (and only one in Scotland) to have educated two Nobel Prize winners: Alexander Fleming for his discovery of penicillin and John Boyd Orr for his scientific research on nutrition and his work as the first director general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).The Parliament of the United Kingdom and British Government deal with all matters reserved for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales but not with general matters that have been transferred to the Northern Ireland Assembly, Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd.
Since decentralization in 1999, Scotland has established stronger industrial relations with its other two decentralized governments: Welsh Government and Executive of Northern Ireland. Standing firm against a strong breeze from what marks the south-west end of the border between Scotland and England, I surveyed the scene. The Scottish Football Association (SFA) is also responsible for Scotland's national football team whose supporters are commonly referred to as 'the Tartan Army'. Scotland has an open Western-style mixed economy closely linked to the rest of UK and world. Scotland's natural pantry of game, dairy products, fish, fruit and vegetables is a major factor in traditional Scottish cuisine which is largely based on simplicity and lack of spices from abroad since they were historically rare and expensive. The border between Scotland and England symbolized state authority with Debatable Lands becoming a height of rebellion where powerful families plundered each other both in Scotland and England with neither government committing to resolving it.