1.3.2 Highland Clearances

Question 1

What were crofts?

Answer 1

During the late 1700s and early 1800s, farmers in the Highlands of Scotland worked on small areas of land called crofts

Question 2

Why did they want to evict the farmers in the Highlands? (2)

Answer 2

• The crofters were forced out by wealthy landowners who wanted to modernise this land and make more money
• By evicting the crofters and enclosing their small crofts into large farms they could use the land for sheep farming on a wider scale, therefore increasing productivity and profits

Question 3

Describe the 6 main points of the Highland Clearances

Answer 3

• The Highlanders were largely Catholics and Jacobites, and had participated in the Jacobite Rebellions of 1715 and 1745. The Jacobites were defeated at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 and the monarch - George I - wanted to reduce the power of the Highlanders
• The English began the brutal policy of removing all potential opposition in the Highlands by getting rid of Scottish chiefs and clans that did not support George I. This was the start of what became known as the Highland Clearances
• In an attempt to make more money from the land, English landlords moved tenant farmers off the land and set up large scale sheep farming
• From the 1780s to the 1820s tens of thousands of Highlanders were evicted from their homes. Some were forced onto barren coastal lands, or on unworkable land where they starved to death
• Many Highlanders were forced to move to towns and cities in the Lowlands to look for work, but many more migrated to England and to countries such as Canada and America. Many Scots from an area called Glengarry migrated to Canada, and settled in a part of the country which they named the Glengarry County
• Those that left Scotland became known as the Scottish diaspora and contributed to the growth of the British Empire

Question 4

Describe Glengarry County

Answer 4

Their Scottish heritage can be seen in the fact that Canadian Gaelic (Gaelic is the Scottish language) is still spoken there to this day, and each year the residents hold a Glengarry Highland Games event

Question 5

Many Scots from an area called Glengarry migrated to ________, and settled in a part of the country which they named Glengarry County

Answer 5

Canada