Lothian is a traditional region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills. It was one of the earliest part of Scotland to be settled by the Anglo-Saxons when they established the Kingdom of Bernicia in the 5th century.
The region was named after the legendary British King Lot, who is said to have been King Arthur's brother-in-law. In Roman and post-Roman times, Lothian was inhabited by Cumbric speakers, a Brythonic language closely related to Welsh.
With a present population of approximately 780,000 inhabitants, Lothian is Scotland's second most populous region after Strathclyde.