Caledonia

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This article is about Caledonia as a name for northern Britain. For other uses, see Caledonia (disambiguation)

Caledonia is the Latin name given by the Roman Empire to a northern area of the island of Great Britain. The use of the name sometimes refers specifically to the area north of the Antonine Wall. The name represents that of a Pictish tribe, the 'Caledonii', one amongst several in the region, though perhaps the dominant tribe. Their name can be found in 'Dùn Chailleann', the Scottish Gaelic word for the town of Dunkeld, and Sidh Chailleann or Schiehallion, "Fairy [hill] of the Caledonians".

The modern use of 'Caledonia' in English and Scots is as a romantic or poetic name for Scotland. 'Scotland' itself is derived from Scotia, the Latin term for Ireland, from which the Scoti peoples originated before resettling in northern Great Britain.

[edit] See also

• Hadrian's Wall
• Mons Graupius