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50 free Scotland trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
47 free Scotland trivia questions with answers. Scotland has over 900 islands, the oldest flag in Europe, a unicorn for a national animal and a monster nobody can find. This quiz covers all of it: the geography of the Highlands and lochs, the wars of independence and the Union of 1707, Mary Queen of Scots and Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Enlightenment and the inventions that came out of it, and the culture of Burns Night, Hogmanay, whisky, haggis, kilts and Highland games. It starts with questions any visitor can answer (the capital, the flag, the tallest mountain) and works up to the details that separate tourists from natives: which loch holds more water than every English lake combined, what the Acts of Union paid Scotland, and how the caber toss is scored. Use it for a Burns supper, a St Andrew's Day quiz or a pub night; the whole set is free. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the country, its history, its symbols and its landmarks, and each question carries its source. No recycled listicle errors.
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Q 01Which city is the capital of Scotland?
Edinburgh
It has been recognised as the capital since at least the 15th century, though Glasgow is bigger.
Q 02Which is the most populous city in Scotland?
Glasgow
It sits on the River Clyde and was called the 'second city of the British Empire' in Victorian times.
Q 03What is the highest mountain in Scotland, and in Great Britain?
Ben Nevis
It rises to 1,345 metres, or 4,413 feet, in the Highlands.
Q 04Roughly how many islands does Scotland have?
Over 900
More than 100 of them are inhabited; Lewis and Harris is the largest.
Q 05Which body of water holds nearly twice as much as all the lakes of England and Wales combined?
Ness
Loch Lomond is bigger by surface area, but Ness is by far the largest by volume.
Q 06What is the largest Scottish island?
Lewis and Harris
Despite the two names it is a single island of about 860 square miles in the Outer Hebrides.
Q 07The Highland Boundary Fault runs across mainland Scotland from Helensburgh to which east-coast town?
Stonehaven
It divides the Highlands from the Lowlands and is visible from space.
Q 08What is Scotland's national animal?
Unicorn
It appears in the royal coat of arms and on the Mercat crosses of many Scottish towns.
Q 09What is the national floral emblem of Scotland?
Thistle
Legend says a barefoot Norse invader stepped on one and cried out, alerting the Scots.
Q 10Legend says the Saltire became Scotland's flag after a white cross appeared before which battle in 832?
Athelstaneford
It is considered the oldest flag in Europe; the official blue was fixed as Pantone 300 in 2003.
Q 11What is Scotland's national motto, 'Nemo me impune lacessit', usually translated as?
No one provokes me with impunity
It appears on the Order of the Thistle and on the edge of some pound coins.
Q 12On what date is St Andrew's Day celebrated in Scotland?
30 November
Andrew is the patron saint; 25 January is Burns Night, a different party altogether.
Q 13Which song is popularly held to be the national anthem, played at football and rugby internationals?
Flower of Scotland
Scotland has no official anthem; the Corries' song commemorates Bannockburn.
Q 21How old was Mary, Queen of Scots when she succeeded to the throne in 1542?
Six days
She was forced to abdicate in 1567 in favour of her one-year-old son and beheaded at Fotheringhay in 1587.
Q 22How long was Mary, Queen of Scots held captive in England before her conviction for plotting against Elizabeth?
Eighteen and a half years
She was executed on 8 February 1587, aged 44.
Q 23In which year did James VI of Scotland succeed to the thrones of England and Ireland, uniting the crowns?
1603
The kingdoms kept separate parliaments and laws for another century.
Q 14Who was the Gael who seized power over Pictland in the ninth century, founding the kingdom of Alba?
Kenneth I
He is better known as Kenneth MacAlpin; the Pictish language was extinct by the end of the tenth century.
Q 15Which Greek sailor made the first written reference to Scotland, in 320 BC?
Pytheas
The Romans arrived in 79 AD under Agricola and called the north Caledonia.
Q 16The Neolithic village of Skara Brae, Europe's most complete, is on which island group?
Orkney
It was occupied from about 3180 BC to 2500 BC and was uncovered by a storm in 1850.
Q 17On 11 September 1297, William Wallace and Andrew Moray defeated the English at which battle?
Stirling Bridge
They became Guardians of Scotland; Wallace lost at Falkirk a year later and was executed in London in 1305.
Q 18The Battle of Bannockburn in June 1314 pitted Robert the Bruce against which English king?
Edward II
On the first day Bruce split Henry de Bohun's head with an axe in single combat.
Q 19What 1320 document is described as the world's first documented statement of independence?
Declaration of Arbroath
It won the support of Pope John XXII; the Auld Alliance with France dates from 1295.
Q 20Which Scottish king was the last monarch in Great Britain to die in battle, at Flodden in 1513?
James IV
He had married Henry VII's daughter Margaret Tudor after the 1502 Treaty of Perpetual Peace, which did not last.
Q 24On what date did the Acts of Union take effect, creating the Kingdom of Great Britain?
1 May 1707
Scotland got just 45 MPs, one more than Cornwall, and a payment called the Equivalent.
Q 25How many MPs did Scotland receive in the new united parliament of 1707?
45
Plus 16 unelected peers in the Lords; the Church of Scotland and Scots law were preserved.
Q 26Which battle, Great Britain's last pitched battle, effectively ended the Jacobite cause?
Culloden
Major risings in 1715 and 1745 had both failed to unseat the House of Hanover.
Q 27In what year was the Scottish Parliament re-established with devolved powers?
1999
Its 129 members sit at Holyrood in Edinburgh.
Q 28What percentage voted 'No' in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum?
55.3%
Turnout of 84.6% was the UK's highest since January 1910, and 16-year-olds voted for the first time.
Q 29Robert Burns's 'Auld Lang Syne' is traditionally sung on which Scottish occasion?
Hogmanay
Burns is the national poet; his own birthday, 25 January, is marked with haggis and his 'Address to a Haggis'.
Q 30How old was Robert Burns when he died in Dumfries in 1796?
37
He was born on 25 January 1759 in Alloway, Ayrshire, and is known as the Ploughman Poet.