Scotland forms the northern part of Great Britain. It is surrounded by sea on three sides: to the west and north by the Atlantic Ocean and on the east by the North Sea. Its only land border, that with England, runs for approximately 60 miles across the island. Scotland can be divided into three distinct areas: the Southern Uplands, the Central Lowlands and the northern Highlands and Islands.

The Southern Uplands are the fertile plains and hills bordering England. The Central Lowlands stretch from the Firth of Forth in the east to the Firth of Clyde in the west. This area contains the nation's main industrial belt and the country's two largest cities, Glasgow in the west and Edinburgh, the capital, in the east. Most of the Scotland's population lives in this area. The Highlands comprise dramatic mountain ranges of sandstone and granite. Although this region accounts for more than half the total area of Scotland, it has few major population centres apart from the cities of Aberdeen, Inverness and Dundee.