Tap or click the council area the question names, starting with Highland and the islands.
Scotland Map Quiz
Name Date
Tap Highland
1 of 8
More options
Write the name of each numbered council area.Answer key
Highland
Argyll and Bute
Moray
Outer Hebrides
Orkney Islands
Shetland Islands
Aberdeenshire
Aberdeen
Perth and Kinross
Fife
Angus
Dundee
Stirling
Clackmannanshire
Falkirk
West Lothian
Edinburgh
Midlothian
East Lothian
Scottish Borders
Dumfries and Galloway
South Ayrshire
East Ayrshire
North Ayrshire
South Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire
Glasgow
East Dunbartonshire
West Dunbartonshire
Inverclyde
Renfrewshire
East Renfrewshire
Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2. Licence: public domain.
Each council area is a button. Use the arrow keys to move between them and Enter to choose. Names are read out in Study, and once a council area is answered.
Perth and KinrossCouncil seat: Perth. Highland and Aberdeenshire lie to its north.
FifeCouncil seat: Glenrothes. A peninsula between the Firths of Tay and Forth.
AngusCouncil seat: Forfar. Borders Aberdeenshire, Dundee, and Perth and Kinross.
DundeeCouncil seat: Dundee. The smallest council area by land.
StirlingCouncil seat: Stirling. Covers parts of historic Stirlingshire and Perthshire.
ClackmannanshireCouncil seat: Alloa. The Firth of Forth separates it from Falkirk.
FalkirkCouncil seat: Falkirk. Mostly part of Stirlingshire before 1975.
West LothianCouncil seat: Livingston. The historic county was also called Linlithgowshire.
EdinburghCouncil seat: Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Officially City of Edinburgh.
MidlothianCouncil seat: Dalkeith. The historic county was also called Edinburghshire.
East LothianCouncil seat: Haddington. Until 1921 its name was Haddingtonshire.
Scottish BordersCouncil seat: Newtown St Boswells. Its largest settlement is Galashiels.
South Western Scotland 12
Dumfries and GallowayCouncil seat: Dumfries. Faces the Solway Firth and borders England.
South AyrshireCouncil seat: Ayr. Covers the southern part of Ayrshire.
East AyrshireCouncil seat: Kilmarnock. One of three areas made from Ayrshire.
North AyrshireCouncil seat: Irvine. Keeps the boundaries of the former Cunninghame district.
South LanarkshireCouncil seat: Hamilton. Takes in the bulk of historic Lanarkshire.
North LanarkshireCouncil seat: Motherwell. Borders the northeast of Glasgow.
GlasgowCouncil seat: Glasgow. Most people of the 32. Officially Glasgow City.
East DunbartonshireCouncil seat: Kirkintilloch. Holds suburbs on the north side of Glasgow.
West DunbartonshireCouncil seat: Dumbarton. Lies northwest of Glasgow.
InverclydeCouncil seat: Greenock. On the Firth of Clyde, beside Renfrewshire.
RenfrewshireCouncil seat: Paisley. On the River Clyde's south bank.
East RenfrewshireCouncil seat: Giffnock. Formed in 1996, succeeding the Eastwood district.
How this list was compiled: The 32 council areas, the administrative center of each (the council seat of a detail line), land areas and populations (Highland the largest by land, Argyll and Bute the second and Dundee the smallest; Glasgow the most people and Orkney the fewest), the date of 1 April 1996 and the 34 historic counties: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subdivisions_of_Scotland (the table Council areas of Scotland, its 2025 population column, and the lead), read 2026-10-09. Names and codes, and the official forms Aberdeen City, Dundee City, City of Edinburgh, Glasgow City and Eilean Siar: ISO 3166-2:GB as printed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-2:GB, read 2026-10-09. The second fact of a detail line (a neighbor, a firth, a historic county, an older name, a largest settlement) is from the lead of that council area's own article, each read 2026-10-09: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyll_and_Bute, /Moray, /Perth_and_Kinross, /Stirling_council_area, /Angus,_Scotland, /Fife, /Clackmannanshire, /Falkirk_council_area, /West_Lothian, /Midlothian, /East_Lothian, /Scottish_Borders, /Dumfries_and_Galloway, /South_Ayrshire, /East_Ayrshire, /North_Ayrshire, /South_Lanarkshire, /North_Lanarkshire, /East_Renfrewshire, /Renfrewshire, /Inverclyde, /West_Dunbartonshire and /East_Dunbartonshire; Edinburgh the capital of Scotland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh, read 2026-10-09. The four parts the quiz is asked in are the regions the map source files each council under. The map was drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2, a public-domain map dataset; where a part lies on the map (a coast, a corner, a neighbor) was read from that drawing. Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_admin_1_states_provinces (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_admin_1_states_provinces.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Surrounding land from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_admin_0_map_units (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_admin_0_map_units.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection centred on 57°N 4.7°W. Shetland Islands moved into an inset. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. Licence: public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)
How it works
This Scotland map quiz asks for the 32 council areas on a blank map, the Highlands and islands first, the small councils around Glasgow last. Shetland sits in a box at the upper right; Dundee, the smallest, carries a ring.
Read the full guide
Three rounds, north to south
The first round asks eight: Highland, Argyll and Bute, Moray, the three island councils and the two around Aberdeen. The second takes the twelve of the east, from Perth and Kinross down to the Scottish Borders. The third is the southwest, where the councils around Glasgow crowd together.
Seats, not capitals
A council area has an administrative center, not a capital. Show me the labels first writes the names on the map; tap an area there to read where its council sits. Aberdeenshire is run from Aberdeen, outside its own borders, and Fife from Glenrothes, not from Dunfermline, its largest settlement.
Three councils share the name Ayrshire, on the southwest coast, and three share Lothian, around Edinburgh. Learn each trio as a block.
Only three councils are all islands: the Outer Hebrides in the west, Orkney off the northern tip and Shetland in its box.
Typing Aberdeen City, Dundee City, City of Edinburgh or Glasgow City counts: those are the four official names.
Questions and answers
How many council areas are there in Scotland?
Thirty-two. They have been in place since 1 April 1996, and each is run by a single council. All 32 are asked in this quiz.
Which council area in Scotland has the most people?
Glasgow, and Orkney has the fewest of the 32. By land the order changes: Highland is the largest council area, ahead of Argyll and Bute, and Dundee is the smallest.
Are council areas the same as the counties of Scotland?
No. Scotland was historically divided into 34 counties, which no longer have any administrative function. Some council areas are named after one, such as Clackmannanshire and East Lothian.