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 'Sìdh 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, a Latin term for Ireland (also called Hibernia by the Romans), from which the Scoti peoples originated before resettling in northern Great Britain.

See also

• Hadrian's Wall
• Mons Graupius

External links

• ''Anglia Scotia et Hibernia'' - 1628 map of the region by Mercator and Hondius

cs:Kaledonie es:Caledonia eo:Kaledonio fr:Calédonie ja:????? no:Caledonia pt:Caledônia ru:????????? fi:Kaledonia zh:?????