In Depth

Edinburgh and Glasgow are the principal cities in Scotland: The vast majority of the country's 5.25 million people live in these two cities (or somewhere around Edinburgh and Glasgow). The country occupies the northern one-third of Great Britain, covering about 78,725 sq. km (30,410 sq. miles), which is a bit bigger than the size of Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire combined -- or not quite the size of Austria. It is about 440km (275 miles) long and 248km (154 miles) wide at its widest point. As it is a modestly sized country, its two main cities are inextricably tied to and key players in the nation's overall condition. Both cities are on tributaries to the sea, but across Scotland no denizen lives more than about 65km (40 miles) from salt water. Notwithstanding the size of their country, the Scots have extended their influence around the world.

Inventors Alexander Graham Bell (telephone) and John Logie Baird (television), as well as Africa explorers Mungo Park and David Livingstone, came from Scotland. Philosophers David Hume (law) and Adam Smith (economics) were key participants in the Scottish Enlightenment, which was based in Glasgow and Edinburgh. James Watt (steam engine pioneer) and John Muir (the world's first ecologist) were born near the two key cities. This country gave the world entrepreneur Andrew Carnegie; poet Robert Burns; actors Sean Connery, Billy Connolly, and Ewan McGregor; and rock singers Sheena Easton, Annie Lennox, and Shirley Manson. Edinburgh spawned novelists Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson, while Glasgow gave the world architects Alexander "Greek" Thomson and Charles Rennie Mackintosh.