Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen

 

Most of Scotland's 5 million population lives in or near Edinburgh, Glasgow or Aberdeen, where most of the jobs are. Scotland's traditional industries, such as coal, steel and shipbuilding have declined, but the Government has invested a lot of money in Scotland to develop it as an important European centre for computer production. Many large American and Japanese electronics companies have set up factories in southern Scotland and there are now many smaller Scottish companies which specialise in computer equipment. People have even started to call the area "Silicon Glen" (Glen is the Scottish word for valley). However, most of the high-technology parts such as chips and disk drives are still imported.

 

The Edinburgh Festival is an international Arts festival which takes place every August. It includes theatre, music, opera, dance, comedy and the Edinburgh Tattoo. The Fringe is the unofficial part of the Edinburgh Festival. More concerts and plays take place on the Fringe than at the official festival.

 

Visitors can look round Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, the official residence of the Queen.

 

Glasgow is the biggest city in Scotland. It used to have many shipyards. Now the shipyards have closed and smart houses with sea views have been built in the docks area instead.

 

Michael Vaughan-Rees, Geraldine Sweeney, Picot Cassidy: In Britain; Cornelsen Verlag, 2000, page 85