Welcome To... Australia!

Let's start to travel around Australia?

Australia is the smallest continent in the world. It is also the 6th largest country in the world, after Russia, Canada, China, USA, and Brazil.

There are over 20 million people living in Australia. Australia is divided into six states and two territories. The capital city is Canberra, which is in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).

A little description of the geography

Australia is an island with most of its population living around its coastline. The coastline has many beaches and reefs that are popular with surfers and divers such as the Great Barrier Reef, Bondi Beach and Surfers Paradise. The centre of Australia is mostly desert with very little water. The famous Ayres Rock or Uluru is found here and is a popular tourist attraction.

The Australian Alps are on the south-east side of Australia. The highest mountain, Mount Kosciusko is a great place to go during the summer for hiking and skiing during the winter months.

In the North of Australia you can find rainforests and warmer weather as it is close to the tropics. The Daintree Rainforest is famous for its beauty and hiking trails.

Australia has a long history of farming and crop growing. In the outback, there are many farms that grow rice, wheat, and many vegetables. There are also many dairy and cattle farms that produce milk and beef for local use and to send overseas.

How is the weather?

Australian seasons are the reverse of the Europeans but the same of the Latin Americans. The summer months in Australia are from December to February and the Autumn months are during March till May. Winter is from June to August with Spring in Australia from September till November.

Queensland and the Northern Territory are located closer to the tropics and generally have warmer and humid weather all year round. New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, South Australia and Perth all experience the four seasons during the year. In Tasmania, the weather is colder than the rest of Australia because it is closer to Antarctica.

How many people live there?

Australia has about 21 million people, with the main population living in the South-East and East of Australia. 70 % of Australia’s populations live less than one hour from the coast.  Australians love the beach and surfing. They have a wonderful relaxed lifestyle.

Culture and life style - What is to be an Australian?

Australia is a multicultural country. People from around the world have migrated to Australia for many years and have brought with them their culture and wonderful food.

In Australia, the main language is English and the official currency is the Australian dollar (AU$).

A bit of history

Australia was firstly discovered by a Dutch explorer who named it New Holland. The Dutch explorer did not think the land was very interesting and did not explore it any further. It wasn’t until 1770 when Captain James Cook came and started using and exploring the land that he renamed it ‘New England’.

After 18 years, prisoners were sent to Australia from Britain to be used as a convict colony. Because there were so many prisoners, the land from the coast to the Blue Mountains was not enough and they needed to search for more land to fit them. This was when the first started to explore the other side of the Blue Mountains.

Between 1851 and 1852, goldfields were discovered in Victoria and New South Wales. This discovery attracted thousands of people that came to Australia to try their luck at finding gold.

In 1901, the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia was started. The parliament was established as a federation of six states and two territories.

Canberra was chosen as the capital of Australia as they could not decide between Sydney and Melbourne. 

Did you know?

There are more than 40 millions of kangaroos in Australia now. This is more than the total population of Australia!

We have more sheep than kangaroos! There are about 140 million sheep. That's why Australia is worldwide famous for their wool quality.

Australia has the longest fence in the world. The fence is called the ‘Dingo Fence’ and is 5,531 kilometres long! The fence is only 1.8 meters tall with no gaps. It runs through the middle of Queensland and was built to protect the sheep from the dingo, an Australia dog

In Western Australia, they have the longest straight road in the world. It is 148 kilometres long!

Welcome To... USA!

Here are some basic facts about the USA:

• The Capital City is Washington D.C.
• The leader of the USA is the President who is elected every four years
• The USA has 50 states plus various territories. Recently Puerto Rico voted to become a state too.
• The population is around 315 million, making it the 3rd biggest country by population.
• The area is 3.79 million square miles, which means it is either the 3rd or 4th biggest country depending on who you measure this.
• The income per capita is $49,601 making it the 15th richest country per person in the world. Most of the 14 countries with richer citizens are tiny in comparison.
• The currency of the United States is the dollar, represented by the symbol $.
• Most people think that .com is the US top level domain, but this is actually a global one – the US one is .us, although it also controls
  
  
  .mil, .gov and .edu
• The US has no official federal language, although more than half of its states have English as their official language and most Americans speak English. Spanish is another major language, particularly in the South West.
• Citizens of the USA are called Americans.
• The USA is located in the continent of North America.
• The dialing code to call the USA internationally is 1.
• The USA declared independence on July 4th, 1776 from Britain. This was recognized on September 3rd, 1783.
• 52% of Americans are Protestant Christians of various denominations, 24% are Catholics. Many more religions have significant followings and an increasing number of Americans don’t have a religion.
• The US has the largest military in the world by money spent on it, dwarfing the spending of the next countries combined.
• The US economy is diverse, from car manufacturing to internet technology, agriculture, and almost everything in between.
• Many Americans will give a second nationality when asked despite only ever living in America as the country is made up mostly of those who immigrated within the last 200 years. Perhaps the best known group is the Irish Americans who celebrate St Patrick’s Day every year in style.
• The USA is bordered to the North by Canada and to the South by Mexico. It has a free trade agreement with these countries called NAFTA.
• The national motto of the USA is In God We Trust.
• The national bird is the Bald Eagle.
• The national flower is the Rose.
• The national anthem is entitled The Star-Spangled Banner.

Welcome To... Canada!

The Canadian way of life

Canada is an immense country. It is very diverse in its people, its landscape, its climate, and its way of life. However, Canadians do share the same important values. These values guide and influence much of our everyday life. These are values of pride, a belief in equality and diversity and respect for all individuals in society. Women, men, children and seniors are all equally respected in Canada. Canadians may be different from each other but it is these shared values that make Canada a friendly, caring, peace loving and secure society in which to live.

For nine consecutive years (1994-2002), a United Nations survey found Canada to be among the top three places in the world to live. Conducted every year, the survey evaluates quality of life in 174 countries, using over 200 performance indicators. Canada earned particularly high marks for its access to education, high life expectancy (due to universal health care system); and low crime and violence rates. Canada continues to remain in the top five on the list. In addition, Canada's largest cities -- Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal -- have been recognized as world-class cities in which to live and work, for their cleanliness and safety and for their cultural activities and attractive lifestyles.

Geography

Canada is the world’s second-largest country (9,976,140 km2), surpassed only by the Russian Federation. The country is encased by the world’s longest coastline. Distances in Canada can be vast. Consider the Trans-Canada Highway, which at 7,821 km long is longer than the distance from London to Bombay. More than 50 percent of Canada’s land is blanketed with rich forest ranges, accounting for 10 percent of the world’s remaining forests and 20 percent of the world’s remaining wilderness areas.

Canada is made up of ten provinces and three territories. The provinces from west to east are: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and furthest east, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The territories are the Yukon, the Northwest Territories (NWT), and Nunavut, Canada’s newest territory, formed in 1999 out of the eastern part of the NWT and the homeland of the native Inuit.

Canada’s terrain incorporates a number of mountain ranges: the Torngats, Appalachians and Laurentians in the east; the Rocky, Coastal and Mackenzie ranges in the west; and Mount St. Elias and the Pelly Mountains in the north. At 6,050 m, Mount Logan in the Yukon is Canada’s tallest peak.

There are some two million lakes in Canada, covering about 7.6% of the Canadian landmass. Canada shares four of the five Great Lakes, the largest sources of fresh water in the world, with the United States. The largest lake situated entirely in Canada is Great Bear Lake (31,326 km2) in the Northwest Territories.

At 3,058 km long, the St. Lawrence is Canada’s most important river, providing a seaway for ships from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. The longest Canadian river is the Mackenzie, which flows 4,241 km through the Northwest Territories.

Canada has six time zones. The easternmost, in Newfoundland, is three hours and 30 minutes behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). The other time zones are the Atlantic, the Eastern, the Central, the Rocky Mountain and, farthest west, the Pacific, which is eight hours behind GMT.

Despite the enormous size of this country, approximately 80 percent of all the people in Canada live in a concentrated area of cities and towns within 100 kilometres of the U.S. border.

Climate

The image of Canada as a frigid northern climate is not totally accurate. Canada’s climate is as varied as its topography, and this great expansive country includes a collection of extremes. Much of the north, which is virtually uninhabited, has an arctic climate that is particularly harsh, and ground that is permanently frozen. Canada's most populous regions, which lie in the country's south along the U.S. border, enjoy four distinct seasons. In most of the country, winter lasts longer than summer; yet when summer comes, even in the north, it can be very hot, producing lush growth. Rainfall varies from light to moderate, and there are heavy snowfalls in some areas.

Ontario has a wide variety of weather conditions. In the south, where most of the population lives, winters are less severe because of the moderating influence of the Great Lakes. Summers are also longer in the south but more humid as well. Mean daily temperatures reach close to 20ºC from mid-June to mid-September, with week-long heat waves in the 30s not an uncommon occurrence. Warm, sunny days and crisp, cool nights make the fall season popular. However, lows of -25ºC are not uncommon in winter. More moderate temperatures are the norm in spring and fall.

History

As early as 40,000 years ago, Canada’s first inhabitants crossed what is now the Bering Strait. For thousands of years, the aboriginal population flourished in Canada. The first fully documented exploration by Europeans was that of John Cabot with an English expedition in 1497. France made one of its first claims in 1534, when Jacques Cartier landed on the Gaspé Peninsula and sailed up the St. Lawrence River. The early French settlers populated what was known as Lower Canada, in present-day Quebec. The French claimed Canada for King Louis XIV and the British made similar claims for the English monarch. These conflicting claims set the stage for nearly two centuries of warfare, and are still felt today in the struggle for independence by some in the French-speaking population of the province of Quebec.

Following the British victory over the French in 1763, Canada became a British colony. The British divided the land into provinces as the number of settlers grew. In 1867, Canada’s eastern provinces - Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick joined together to sign the British North American Act, making Canada a confederation of states under British rule. Canada commemorates this occasion, by celebrating its official birthday annually on July 1. The last of the western provinces, Alberta, joined the confederation in 1905. Canada became a self-governing member of the British Commonwealth in 1931. Newfoundland became the last province of Canada in 1949, after previously being a British colony. Canada gained complete independence from the laws of Britain with the Constitution Act of 1982.

People

Canada’s population is over 30 million with the vast majority (77%) living in cities and towns. The largest cities in Canada are: Toronto (4.44 million), Montréal (3.33 million), Vancouver (1.89 million), Ottawa-Hull, the National Capital Region (1.03 million).

In the 1996 census, about 19% of the population reported "Canadian" as their single ethnic origin, with 17% reporting British Isles-only ancestry and 9% French-only ancestry. About 10% reported a combination of British Isles, French, or Canadian origin, with another 16% reporting an ancestry of either British Isles, French or Canadian in combination with some other origin. Some 28% reported origins other than the British Isles, French or Canadian.

In 1996, about 3% of Canadians belonged to one or more of the three Aboriginal groups recognized by the Constitution Act, 1982: North American Indian, Métis, or Inuit. Of this percentage, about 69% are North American Indian, 26% Métis, and 5% Inuit.

By 2017, 23% of Canada’s population will consist of visible minorities. China and India are Canada’s two largest sources of immigrants, but others include Korea, the Middle East and Western Asia. The country’s official policy of multiculturalism allows people to celebrate their ethnic heritage as well as promotes racial and social harmony. The effect has created a diversity of cultures, particularly in Vancouver and Toronto, where the most of the minorities live.

According to a recent census, more than four-fifths of Canadians are Christian, with Catholics accounting for about 45% of the population and Protestants about 35%. Other religions include Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism. Some 12.5%, more than any single denomination except Roman Catholic, have no religious affiliation at all.

Major Cities in Ontario

In 1857, Queen Victoria chose Ottawa, Ontario as the site of the nation’s capital, in part because it was remote enough from the then-hostile southern neighbour and because of its central location between English- and French-speaking Canada. Ottawa is the center of a 4,000-square-kilometre National Capital Region that includes neighbouring Hull, across the Ottawa River in the province of Quebec. The federal government is the dominant employer, accounting for roughly 100,000 jobs in the area, followed by high technology, life sciences, and biotechnology. The Ottawa region is home to many of Canada’s spectacular art galleries and museums, including the National Art Gallery and the Canadian Museum of Civilization. The city’s residents enjoy one of the lowest crime rates in Canada, an abundance of cultural and recreational activities, and some of the country’s most reasonable housing prices. There are a plethora of cultural festivals and celebrations, dance performances, and arts and crafts shows to be taken advantage of year-round. Ottawa’s Canadian Tulip Festival, with its three million tulips, is a welcome taste of spring. In the wintertime, Gatineau Park offers 35,600 hectares of glorious ski trails that also attract swimmers, hikers, picnickers, birdwatchers and cyclists during the warmer months.

Southwestern Ontario is the hub of the densely populated consumer market and industrialized area in Canada commonly referred to as the "Golden Horseshoe" of which St. Catharines is a part. New residents moving to St. Catharines can look forward to affordable housing, top grade education facilities, terrific transportation, beautiful parks and gardens, excellent recreation and cultural pursuits. We are famous for our fruit tree blossoms in late May, our wonderful fresh fruit and vegetables, and our many renowned wineries. Two famous theatre festivals are found within the region: the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake and the world renowned Shakespearian Festival in Stratford.

Toronto is the capital of Ontario, and the business center of Canada. Financial services, high technology, and insurance companies top the list of businesses represented there. Toronto is home to more top-ranked international companies than any other Canadian city. According to the United Nations, Toronto is the most ethnically diverse city in the Western Hemisphere. The city sparkles with life; its center remains vibrant while its residential area consists of a patchwork of ethnically-flavoured neighbourhoods—Chinatown, Little Italy, Greektown, Little India, to name a few.

Canada's Multicultural Heritage

Canadians are proud of their multicultural heritage. In Canada, many different cultural and ethnic groups live and work together in harmony and tolerance. Canada's diversity is encouraged by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the Canadian Multiculturalism Act. These laws say that all Canadians are free to promote and share our multicultural heritage.

Another major component of Canada's multicultural heritage is the existence of aboriginal people in Canada. Aboriginal people lived in Canada thousands of years before the first immigrants arrived. Aboriginal people of Canada enjoy certain additional rights to protect their cultures and languages and to become self-governing.

St. Catharines has an annual Folk Arts Festival in May of each year that features a parade and open houses sponsored by locals from countries around the world. These open houses feature music, dancing, artifacts, and food from the countries represented. It’s a great way to learn about the many cultures represented in St. Catharines!

Languages

Canada has two official languages: English, the mother tongue of about 59% of Canadians; and French, the first language of 23% of the population. A full 18% have either more than one mother tongue or a mother tongue other than English or French, such as Chinese, Italian, German, Polish, Spanish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Ukrainian, Arabic, Dutch, Tagalog, Greek, Vietnamese, Cree, Inuktitut, or other languages.

The Official Languages Act makes French and English the official languages of Canada and provides for special measures aimed at enhancing the vitality and supporting the development of English and French linguistic minority communities. Canada's federal institutions reflect the equality of its two official languages by offering bilingual services.

Political System

Canada is a constitutional monarchy and a federal state with a democratic parliament. The Parliament of Canada, in Ottawa, consists of the House of Commons, whose members are elected, and the Senate, whose members are appointed. On average, members of Parliament are elected every four years.

Canada's Economy

Canada’s economy is made up of many different industries. There are three main types of industries in Canada: natural resources, manufacturing and services.

1. Natural resource industries include forestry, fishing, agriculture, mining and energy. These industries have played an important part in the country’s history and development. Today, the economy of many areas of the country still depends on developing natural resources.

2. Manufacturing industries make products to sell in Canada and around the world. Manufactured products include paper, technological equipment, automobiles, food, clothing and many other goods. Our largest international trading partner is the United States.

3. Service industries provide thousands of different jobs in areas like transportation, education, health care, construction, banking, communications and government. More than 70 percent of working Canadians now have jobs in service industries.

Canadian Symbols

The Maple Leaf

The maple leaf was used as a symbol of Canada as early as 1700. Since February 15, 1965, a red maple leaf has been on the national flag of Canada. It has become our most well-known and important symbol.

Other Symbols

The beaver is one of the symbols of Canada. It appears on the five-cent coin. Beavers are known to be hard-working

In 1965, Canada adopted its official red and white flag with the maple leaf.

Welcome To... Ireland!

Ireland is so high on my ‘to see’ list, that I can taste it. I don’t know why I haven’t been here yet, but I do know that I’ll get there eventually. Maybe I haven’t gone yet because I know that once I do, I won’t want to leave! Anyways, here is…

PEOPLE & CULTURE

The Irish consume in average 131.1 liters of beer per year – the 2^nd highest per-capita consumption after the Czech Republic.

Famous Irish breweries include Guinness, Smithwicks (Kilkenny), and Harp Lager.

The three most famous symbols of Ireland are the green Shamrock, the harp and the Celtic cross.

Halloween traces back its origins to the Gaelic festival of Samhain, a harvest festival held on 31 October to mark the end of summer. Samhain became associated with All Saints (1 November) from the early Middle Ages and the two progressively merged over the centuries, creating Halloween.

88% of Irish citizens are normally Roman Catholic. The Republic of Ireland has one of the highest rates of church attendance in the Western World (around 45% of regular Mass attendance).

The ancestral language of Irish people is Gaelic. Nowadays 1.6 million people claim a self-reported competence in Irish, but only 380,000 fluent speakers remain.

Many Irish family names start with “Mac” or “O’…”, which means respectively “son of…” and “grandson of…” in Gaelic.

The story of the world-famous vampire Count Dracula was written in 1897 by Bram Stoker, form Dublin. His real-life inspiration for this character was a friend of his, the actor Sir Henry Irving. Count Dracula was the culmination of 20 years of vampire stories in Victorian literature. Dracula is said to have been inspired by the early Irish legend of Abhartach, an evil chieftain who, after being betrayed by his subjects and slain by the hero Cathrain, rose from his grave every night to drink the blood of his subjects.

LAND & GEOGRAPHY

Ireland is a snake-free island. Due to its isolation from the European mainland, Ireland lacks several species common elsewhere in Europe, such as moles, weasels, polecats or roe deer.

At a height of 688 metres above the Atlantic Ocean, Croaghaun (on Achill island) are the second highest cliffs in Europe – after Cape Enniberg in the Faroe Islands.

Phoenix Park in Dublin is the third largest walled city parks in Europe after La Mandria in Venaria Reale (Turin) and Richmond Park in London. It covers 707 hectares (1,750 acres).

GOVERNMENT &ECONOMY

·      One of the most successful beer brands worldwide, Guinness was once the largest brewery in the world (from 1914), and remains the largest brewer of stout in the world. 

Ireland is the only EU country where abortion is still illegal (except to protect the mother’s life).

Welcome To... Wales!

For a small country we have a lot of big stories to tell. Here are some interesting facts that you may not know about Wales…

• Wales is officially beautiful. Over 25% of their land surface is designated a National Park or ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’.

• The letters K, Q, V and Z do not appear in the Welsh Alphabet.

• Welsh is the oldest living language in Europe.

• Welsh is the most widely spoken Celtic language.

• The Millennium Stadium is the 2^nd largest stadium in the world with a retractable roof.

• Wales has 641 castles – more per square kilometre than any other European Country.

• Harry Potter, Robin Hood and Snow White and the Huntsman were filmed in Wales.

• 9 million people visit Wales every year!

• Swansea City Football Club is the first Welsh team to compete in the Premier League.

• The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales is the largest single-span greenhouse in the world.

• The tower at Caerphilly Castle outleans the one in Pisa.

• Wales inspired Lewis Carroll to write ‘Alice in Wonderland’. And Beatrix Potter to write her Peter Rabbit novels!

• Cardiff is home to 2,000 years of history, Cardiff Castle, the National Museum of Wales and Welsh National Opera.

• Wales has… 641 castles, 3 National Parks, 43 ‘Blue Flag’ beaches, 3 million people, 11 million sheep, 750 miles of coastline, 2 official languages, and 1 very happy Royal couple!

Welcome To... Scotland!

The Scotland of the imagination is a land of rolling green hills, kilt-wearing bagpipers, and crumbling castles. While you can find all of this in Scotland, there is a great deal more to this fiercely patriotic country. With a land area equal to the state of Maine in the US, this small country is chock-full of fascinating history. Scotland has been part of the United Kingdom for more than three hundred years, but it is unlike anywhere else in Britain.

Here are 50 facts you should know about the country:

1. The official animal of Scotland is the Unicorn.

2. The shortest scheduled flight in the world is one-and-a-half miles long from Westray to Papa Westray in the Orkney Islands of Scotland. The journey takes 1 minute 14 seconds to complete. 

3. Scotland has approximately 790 islands, 130 of which are inhabited. 

4. The Neolithic settlement of Skara Brae (pictured below), on the island of Orkney, is the oldest building in Britain, dating from 3100 BC.

5. The Hamilton Mausoleum in South Lanarkshire has the longest echoof any man-made structure in the world; a whole 15 seconds.

6. Scotland has more than 600 square miles of freshwater lakes, including the famous Loch Ness.

7. The capital of Scotland, Edinburgh, is only its second largest city, after Glasgow.

8. Edinburgh was the first city in the world which had its own fire brigade.

9. Like Rome, Edinburgh (pictured below) was built on seven hills and the capital has more listed buildings than anywhere in the world.

10. Scotland had its own monarch until 1603. After Elizabeth I died, James VI of Scotland also became James I of England, ruling both countries. 

11. St Andrews Links is considered the "home of golf"; the sport has been played there since the 15th century. 

12. Queen Victoria is reputed to have smoked cigarettes during her visits to the Highlands of Scotland to keep away midges. 

13. Edinburgh was home to Skye terrier Grey Friar’s Bobby, who captured the hearts of the nation by sitting on the grave of his dead owner for 14 years. 

14. Scotland is currently the second largest country in the UK, after England. 

15. The highest point in Scotland is Ben Nevis, (pictured below) at 4,406ft (1343m).

16. The motto of Scotland is “Nemo me impune lacessit”, or: "No one provokes me with impunity". It is used by the Order of the Thistle and on later versions of the Royal coat of arms. 

17. The country is a favourite with the Royal family, who holiday at Balmoral castle in Royal Deeside. 

18. In the north east of the country, girls are called “quines” and boys “louns”. 

19. The very first recorded appearance of the elusive Loch Ness Monster occurred in 565 AD, when a " water beast " attacked one of St. Columba's followers in the loch. '''

20. Scottish city Aberdeen is known as Europe’s oil capital, or the “Granite City”. 

21. The deepest loch in Scotland, Loch Morar, reaches 1,077ft (328m) down and is ranked the seventeenth deepest lake in the world. 

22. Scotland’s smallest distillery, Edradour in Pitlochry, has 100,000 visitors per year but produces just 90,000 litres of malt whisky. 

23. It is home to the oldest tree in Europe (pictured below), a twisted yew which has stood in Fortingall for 3,000 years. According to local legend, Pontius Pilate was born in its shade and played there as a child.

24. The raincoat was invented in 1824 in Scotland by Charles Macintosh, a chemist born in Glasgow. In Great Britain, the garment is still called a “Mac”.

25. The official religion of Scotland is Christianity, with churches traditionally being called “kirks”.

26. Scotland gained independence in 1314, after Robert the Bruce (pictured below) defeated the English army at the Battle of Bannockburn.

27. The Kingdom of Scotland remained as an independent state until 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union joined it with England, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain. 

28. Since July 1, 1999, Scotland has its own parliament, for the first time since 1707. 

29. The country has an area of 30,414 square miles (78,772 km²) 

30. The total population is around 5.2 million, around 8.5 per cent of the UK’s population. 

31. The country has approximately 167.5 people living per square mile. 

32. There are as many Scottish people living in North America as in Scotland, with censuses in the United States and Canada identifying around five million people claiming Scottish ancestry. 

33. The country still has its own legal system, separate from England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Juries can return verdict of “guilty”, “not guilty” and “not proven.” 

34. The Bank of Scotland, founded in 1695, is the oldest surviving bank in the UK. It was also the first bank in Europe to print its own bank notes. 

35. Famous Scottish inventions include the television, developed by John Logie Baird in 1925, the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell (pictured below) in 1876 and penicillin, by Alexander Fleming in 1928.

36. The first teaching hospital in America, the Baltimore Infirmary was founded by a Glasgow surgeon, Granville Sharp Pattison, in 1816.

37. Scotland has three officially recognized languages: English, Scots and Scottish Gaelic, with just one per cent of the population using the last.

38. It is home to 19 universities and institutes of higher education, including St Andrews, where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge met. They returned last year (see video below)

39. Scotland has about the same land area as the Czech Republic, the United Arab Emirates, Panama, the US state of Maine, or the Japanese island of Hokkaido.

40. The two first Prime Ministers of Canada, John A. Macdonald (1815-1891) and Alexander Mackenzie (1822-1892), were Scottish.

41. One of Scotland’s most famous products, whisky, was actually invented in China. It was first distilled by monks in Ireland in the early 15th century, before reaching Scotland 100 years later.

42. The most infamous Scottish dish is haggis, (pictured below) normally made with the heart, liver, and lungs of a sheep, traditionally boiled in the animal's stomach. It is not known where it originated, but a similar dish was mentioned in Greece 2,500 years ago.

43. Scotland has spawned some of the greatest thinkers of the modern age, including Adam Smith, James Watt, David Hume and John Stuart Mill. 

44. Notable Scottish inventions include the method of logarithms (1614), tarmac (1820) and the pneumatic tyre (1887). 

45. Many of Scotland’s most famous inventions – kilts, tartans and bagpipes - were actually developed elsewhere. Kilts originated in Ireland, tartans have been found in Bronze Age central Europe and bagpipes are thought to have come from ancient central Asia. 

46. Famous names from Scottish literature include: Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 

47. The flag of Scotland is known as the saltire (pictured below) or St. Andrews Cross.

48. The flower of Scotland is the thistle. 

49. Scotland has the highest proportion of redheads in the world. Around 13 per cent of the population has red hair, with 40 per cent carrying the recessive gene. 

50. The first official international football match was played at the West of Scotland Cricket Club in Partrick in 1872, between Scotland and England.

Isn't it interesting? Now, I realize I didn't know anything about Scotland! Hope you got as much surprised as I do, and also hope you enjoyed it. Please, come back next Monday and take an amazing trip with me across another beautiful city, to know more interesting info... See you! :D