Fife
Fife (/faɪf/ FYFE, Scottish English: [fɐi̯f]; Scottish Gaelic: Fìobha, IPA: [fiːvə]; Scots: Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i.e. the historic counties of Perthshire and Kinross-shire) and Clackmannanshire. By custom it is widely held to have been one of the major Pictish kingdoms, known as Fib, and is still commonly known as the Kingdom of Fife within Scotland. A person from Fife is known as a Fifer. In older documents the county was very occasionally known by the anglicisation Fifeshire.
Fife
Fìobha | |
|---|---|
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Coat of arms Council logo | |
| Coordinates: 56°15′00″N 3°12′00″W | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Country | Scotland |
| Lieutenancy area | Fife |
| Admin HQ | Glenrothes (since 1975) Cupar (until 1975) |
| Government | |
| • Body | Fife Council |
| • Control | Lab (council NOC|Minority Administration) |
| • MPs | |
| • MSPs | |
| Area | |
| • Total | 512 sq mi (1,325 km2) |
| • Rank | Ranked 13th |
| Population (2021) | |
| • Total | 374,730 |
| • Rank | Ranked 3rd |
| • Density | 730/sq mi (280/km2) |
| Demonym | Fifer |
| ONS code | S12000047 |
| ISO 3166 code | GB-FIF |
| Website | www |
Fife is Scotland's third largest local authority area by population. It has a resident population of just under 367,000, over a third of whom live in the three principal settlements, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes. On the northeast coast of Fife lies the historic town of St Andrews, home to the University of St Andrews—the most ancient university of Scotland and one of the oldest universities in the world—and the Old Course at St Andrews, considered the world's oldest golf course.