In power since 2014, she said she had become too divisive - and too tired - to reach across the political divide, and she wanted to step away from the "brutality" of modern politics to focus on "Nicola Sturgeon the person". Her unexpected departure will have implications for her Scottish National Party (SNP), for the fight for independence and potentially the outcome of the next national election if it helps the opposition Labour Party to regain some of the seats it once held in Scotland.
Nicola Sturgeon quit as Scottish first minister on Wednesday, saying her dominance over her party and the country was no longer the asset it once was in the fight for an independent Scotland.
Sturgeon became SNP leader in the wake of a 2014 independence referendum when Scotland voted 55% to 45% to remain part of the United Kingdom. But in recent months she has been outmanoeuvred by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government in London over attempts to hold a second referendum and she has been embroiled in a row over transgender rights.