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Claudius Ptolemy was a Greek astronomer and geographer who
drew the first known map of the Island of Britain, detailing not only place
names, but also naming the native Celtic tribes of Britain.
The first map of Scotland was therefore drawn by Ptolemy, in
his Geography of the second century AD. According to Ptolemy, ten
tribes lived North of the River Forth, and seven tribes South of it. The tribes
South of the Forth/Clyde line were part of the Roman province of Britannia,
but the tribes North of the line, in Caledonia, never were, and Ptolemy's
knowledge of the geography and politics of Caledonia was much less detailed.
Roman military forces were never able to pursue the Caledonians far up the
glens and straths.
There may have been a Caledonian heartland, but the Romans never found
it.
