To this, in Parliament, he coupled a sense of destiny. “Independence is about Scotland joining the family of nations in our own right,” he said. “We can stand on our own two feet, while working closely with other nations, our friends and neighbors.”

The Scottish leader’s gift for striking political chords with a deep resonance among Scots was reflected in his choice of one of Scotland’s high days — the annual commemoration of the birth of Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet, on Jan. 25, 1759 — to kick off the referendum process. He quoted liberally from the poet’s works, including one passage in which Burns wrote, with reference to the union with England, of the “annihilation” of Scotland’s historic independence. And the choice of 2014 for the referendum seemed inseparable from the fact that it will be the 700th anniversary of the historic Scottish victory over the English at the Battle of Bannockburn.

The political symbolism extended still further, with Mr. Salmond setting his news conference after his parliamentary announcement in the Great Hall at Edinburgh Castle, a craggy bastion high above the city that has its own storied history, as Mr. Salmond emphasized, in the centuries of battling the English. At times, in a chamber hung with ancient pikes and swords and battle-axes, he had to raise his voice to be heard over the howling of a bitter winter wind around the castle ramparts.

The Scottish leader played down the practical difficulties of ending the union, matters that have caused independence opponents, including Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat opposition blocs in the Scottish Parliament, to warn of havoc for Scotland if the nationalists win the referendum. His plan calls for Queen Elizabeth II to remain the monarch of an independent Scotland, for Scotland to continue using the British pound as its currency and for Scotland to be accepted readily as a member of the European Union, all issues that constitutional and economic experts say could prove problematic.

In his remarks on Wednesday, Mr. Salmond waved off alarms about the loss of billions of pounds in annual transfer payments from Britain, saying Scotland would more than offset the loss by gaining control of 90 percent of Britain’s North Sea oil reserves. He also said an independent Scotland would demand that Britain remove bases on the River Clyde for Britain’s fleet of nuclear missile submarines, and pay for environmental cleanup costs that experts have said could run into the billions. For decades, the bases, with fast access to strategic areas of the North Atlantic, have also been host to port visits by American nuclear submarines.

But before all of that, Mr. Salmond has said, he will try to reach an agreement on the referendum terms with Mr. Cameron. The British prime minister has said that as part of any deal that gave constitutional legality to a Scottish-run vote on the issue, his government would seek a date earlier than 2014. Mr. Cameron wants the earlier date because, he has said, uncertainties over Scotland’s future deter investments. He also wants an “up or down” question on the ballot, to give voters the choice of approving or rejecting independence. Mr. Salmond’s plan envisions seeking approval in his consultation exercise for a third choice, full autonomy for Scotland within the United Kingdom, which the Cameron government opposes as a way station to independence.