Everything about The Scottish Lowlands totally explained
The
Scottish Lowlands (
a' Ghalldachd, meaning roughly 'the non-Gaelic region', in
Gaelic, and called
Lawlands or
Lallans in
Scots), although not officially a geographical area of the country, in normal usage is generally meant to include those parts of
Scotland not referred to as the
Highlands (or
Gàidhealtachd), that is, everywhere due south and east of a line (the
Highland Boundary Fault) between
Stonehaven and
Helensburgh (on the
Firth of Clyde). Confusingly, some parts of the Lowlands, such as the
Southern Uplands are not physically 'low', and some sections of the Highlands, such as
Islay are low-lying.
It therefore includes the traditional Scottish counties of
Ayrshire,
Berwickshire,
Clackmannanshire,
Dumfriesshire,
East Lothian[1],
Fife,
Kinross-shire,
Kirkcudbrightshire,
Lanarkshire,
Mid-Lothian[2],
Peeblesshire,
Renfrewshire,
Roxburghshire,
Selkirkshire,
West Lothian[3] and
Wigtownshire.
Traditional Scottish counties which include both Highland and Lowland sections include
Angus[4],
Dunbartonshire,
Stirlingshire,
Perthshire,
Kincardineshire,
Aberdeenshire,
Banffshire and
Moray.
Although
Caithness, is sometimes classified under
Highlands and Islands, it's also often considered 'Lowland' and are differentiated from the
Gàidhealtachd when, for example, discussing
Lowland Scots (although sections of Caithness spoke Gaelic into the 20th century).
Orkney and
Shetland are sometimes called 'lowland', mainly because of their current language, but have a separate identity derived from the
Norse to the point of some islanders not considering themselves Scottish.
Geographically, Scotland is divided into three distinct areas: the
Highlands, the Central plain (
Central Belt), and the
Southern Uplands. The
Lowlands cover roughly the latter two. Strictly speaking, the northeast plain is also
low-land, both geographically and culturally, but in some contexts may be grouped together with the Highlands.
The southernmost counties of Scotland, nearest the border with
England, are also known as the
Borders. They are sometimes considered separately to the rest of the Lowlands. Many descendants of the
Scots-Irish, as they're known in the United States, or
Ulster-Scots, originated from the lowlands and borders region before having migrated to the
Ulster Plantation in the 17th century and later the American frontier, many prior to the American Revoultion.
The term
Scottish Lowlands is generally used mostly with reference to the
Lowland Scots,
Scottish history and the
Scottish clan system, as well as in family history and
genealogy.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Scottish Lowlands'.
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