Scotland – Its Unique Story Part 8

                                 Increased Emigration

Scotland – Its Unique Story Part 8. Though there had been emigration from Scotland in previous times this changed during the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. When for a variety of reasons emigration reached much greater levels involving a mass movement of population. Initially the primary move was to North America from the 1700’s onwards. From that point on Scots increasingly moved in to the wider world. Though still primarily to North America there was also a considerable movement to other areas such as Australasia.

                                  New Ideas and Technologies

As in earlier periods this resulted in new ideas and technologies coming back in to Scotland. It was often the case that Scots also learned new skills directly and applied them back in Scotland. There was also new materials and foodstuffs coming back in to Scotland which were a tremendous boost to the economy. This was particularly true in regards to sugar from the West Indies and tobacco from Virginia and the Carolinas.

                                             Increases in Capital

This in turn lead to a greatly increased availability of capital to the existing elites in Scotland. Which combined  with readily available coal and iron deposits together with a well educated workforce help trigger the Industrial Revolution in Scotland towards the latter part of the eighteenth century. Large-scale emigration from Scotland particularly from the Highlands continued throughout the nineteenth century due to the on going Highland Clearances which forced a large part of the highland population to emigrate to Canada and the United States.