A wave of Neolithic peoples from the Mediterranean was followed by Celts, Goidels, Brythons, Saxons in the 6th century B.C.E., and then by Picts. The Romans arrived at the end of the 1st century C.E., but made no permanent impression.
Four political nuclei: Picts (Pentland Firth to the central plain); Dalriada (Argyllshire and the islands of Jura and Islay); “Welsh” refugees in Strathclyde; Ida of Bernicia's realm (from the Tweed to the Firth of Forth).
The English power was broken on the southern frontier, and Scotland began her independent evolution. Under Kenneth I (d. 858) began the first Scottish union.
Edward, son of Alfred the Great, was acknowledged lord of Scotland. Ethelstan enforced the bond in arms (934), and a Scottish effort to revolt was crushed (937).
Strathclyde completed (1034) the union of the four nuclei under Duncan, but without a homogeneous racial or political basis. The isles and the north were under Scandinavian dominance, and England aimed to make Scotland her vassal. (See Scotland)
