Issue 1 - Immigrants into Scotland (Continued) Flashcards
Push Factors
Where are the Highlands?
Areas in the North of Scotland and island, often with the highest mountains.
What are push factors?
Push factors are when people are pushed out of a country, usually to escape the problems they face in the area.
What are some examples of push factors?
Unemployment, Poor housing, isolation, and the Highland clearances.
Most Highlanders were crofters (farmers). Why was this a problem? (Overpopulation)
Due to increasing size of the population, farmers had to sub divide their farms, meaning they were too small to earn enough money to live on.
Why could farming be so tough? (Farming/Agriculture)
-Stony, poor quality soil
-Harsh climate leaving only a short season for growing crops
-Basic farming equipment, ie the cas chrom (used for ploughing stony land)
In 1840s the Potato Blight hit. It caused mass devastation in Ireland and other places in Europe like the Highlands. What was a result of this? (Farming/Agriculture)
It resulted in a famine as Highlanders that relied on their potato crop did not have enough food to eat or sell.
Jobs were very hard to find in the Highlands, what types of jobs would they do? (Farming/Agriculture)
-Kelp collecting (to make chemicals)
Paid poorly, keeping workers in poverty when cheaper foreign kelp became available to those Highland jobs were lost.
New technology being developed led to unemployment in farming. How? (New technology)
Machines like tractors being used in the early 1900s reduced the number of workers needed on farms. Led to fewer jobs and lower wages.
The fishing industry provided many jobs, such as what? (Fishing Industry)
Catching and processing fish
Where could herring not be sold to in World War 1? (Fishing Industry)
German and Russia, these markets didn’t return after the war which lead to job loss
The fishing industry also suffered due to taste changing. What is an example of a taste change? (Fishing Industry)
Post WW1, more farms in Scotland began breeding poultry (chicken and turkey). As more people afforded this, less people bought herring.
Poverty was a huge problem. What could low income lead to? (Housing)
Poor diet -> Poor health
Arguably one of the most famous reasons for people leaving the Highlands was the Highland clearances. What were the Highland Clearances? (Highland Clearances)
Landowners booted poorer fisherman and farmers off of their land so they could use their land for other uses which would make them more money.
What are some uses that landowners wanted to use the land for? (Highland Clearances)
-Sheep farming, as sheep could be sold for meat and wool
-Hunting estates, which attracted rich people who would hunt the animals (i grouse or deer)
How would some landowners get people off their land? (Highland Clearances)
-Raise rents so that it was nearly impossible to pay - forcibly evicting them
-Gave Highlanders more money to leave
-Gave them tickets to go abroad
