The Highland Clearances (Scottish Gaelic: Fuadaich nan Gàidheal, the expulsion of the Gael) were forced displacements of the population of the Scottish Highlands in the 18th century. Scottish Gaelic ( Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. Forced migration (also called deracination) refers to the coerced movement of a person or persons away from their Home or home Region. The Scottish Highlands ( Scottish Gaelic: A' Ghàidhealtachd, Scots: Hielans) include the rugged and Mountainous The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system It led to mass emigration to the coast, the Scottish Lowlands, and abroad. The Scottish Lowlands ( a' Ghalldachd, meaning roughly 'the non-Gaelic region' in Gaelic, and called Lawlands or Lallans in Scots It was part of a process of agricultural change throughout the United Kingdom, but was particularly notorious due to the late timing, the lack of legal protection for year-by-year tenants under Scots law, the abruptness of the change from the clan system and the brutality of many of the evictions. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Scottish clans (from Scottish Gaelic clann, "children" give a sense of identity and shared descent to people in Scotland and to their relations

Historical context

An early Victorian, romantic depiction of a member of Clan MacAlister leaving Scotland for Canada, by R. R. McIan. Culture The Victorian fascination with novelty resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities Romanticism is a complex artistic literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Clan MacAlister is a Highland Scottish Clan and a branch of Clan Donald. Robert Ronald McIan, (1803 - 1856 was a Scottish painter He is best known for his paintings in The Clans of The Scottish Highlands, published in 1845

The enclosures that depopulated rural England in the British Agricultural Revolution started much earlier, and similar developments in Scotland have lately been called the Lowland Clearances. Enclosure or inclosure (the latter is used in Legal documents and Place names is the term used in England and Wales England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland The British Agricultural Revolution describes a period of development in Britain between the 18th century and the end of the 19th century which saw a massive increase in agricultural Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. The Lowland Clearances ( Scottish Gaelic: Fuadaich nan Galltachd) in Scotland were one of the results of the British Agricultural Revolution, But in the Highlands the impact on a Goidelic (Scottish Gaelic)-speaking semi-feudal culture that still expected obligations of a chieftain to his clan led to vocal campaigning and a lingering bitterness among the descendants of the large numbers forced to emigrate, or to remain and subsist in crofting townships on very small areas of often poor land. The Goidelic languages, (also sometimes called particularly in colloquial situations the Gaelic languages or collectively Gaelic) historically formed a Dialect Scottish Gaelic ( Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period (17th century in its most classic sense refers to a Medieval Europe Political system composed A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land usually small and arable with a crofter's Dwelling thereon Crofters became a source of virtually free labour to their landlords, forced to work long hours, for example, in the harvesting and processing of kelp. Kelp are large Seaweeds ( Algae) belonging to the Brown algae and classified in the order Laminariales

From the late 16th century the law required clan leaders to regularly appear in Edinburgh to provide bonds for the conduct of anyone on their territory. Edinburgh ( ˈɛdɪnb(ərə Dùn Èideann) is the Capital of Scotland and is its second largest city after Glasgow. This brought a tendency among chiefs to see themselves as landlords. The lesser clan-gentry increasingly took up droving, taking cattle along the old unpaved drove roads to sell in the Lowlands. This brought them wealth and land ownership within the clan, though the Highlands continued to have problems of overpopulation and poverty.

The various Jacobite Risings brought repeated British government efforts to curb the clans culminating after the 1746 Battle of Culloden with brutal repression, and the Act of Proscription of 1746 incorporating the Dress Act required all swords to be surrendered to the government and prohibited wearing of tartans or kilts. The Jacobite Risings were a series of uprisings rebellions and wars in the kingdoms of England, Kingdom of Scotland (later the United Kingdom of Great Britain Year 1746 ( MDCCXLVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The Battle of Culloden (Blàr Chùil Lodair (16 April 1746 was the final clash between the French-supported Jacobites and the Hanoverian On August 1, 1746 the Act of Proscription (19 Geo 2 c 39 came into effect in Scotland. Year 1746 ( MDCCXLVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The Dress Act was part of the Act of Proscription which came into force on 1 August 1746 and made wearing "the Highland Dress" including Tartan is a pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours The kilt is a knee-length garment with pleats at the rear originating in the traditional dress of men and boys in the Scottish Highlands of the 16th century The Tenures Abolition Act ended the feudal bond of military service and the Heritable Jurisdictions Act removed the virtually sovereign power the chiefs had over their clan. The Heritable Jurisdictions (Scotland Act 1746 (20 Geo 2 c 43 was an Act of Parliament passed by the Parliament of Great Britain in 1746. The extent of enforcement of the prohibitions was variable and sometimes related to a clan's support of the government during the rebellion, but overall it led to the destruction of the traditional clan system and of the supportive social structures of small agricultural townships. Scottish clans (from Scottish Gaelic clann, "children" give a sense of identity and shared descent to people in Scotland and to their relations

From around 1725, in the aftermath of the first Jacobite Rising (known as the 'Fifteen) clansmen had begun emigrating to the Americas in increasing numbers. Year 1725 ( MDCCXXV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World, consisting of the Continents of North America and South America The Disarming Act of 1716 and the Clan Act made ineffectual attempts to subdue the Scottish Highlands, so eventually troops were sent in. After Jacobite Rising of 1715 ended it was evident that the most effective supporters of the Jacobites were Scottish clans in the Scottish Highlands and the Disarming Year 1716 ( MDCCXVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The Scottish Highlands ( Scottish Gaelic: A' Ghàidhealtachd, Scots: Hielans) include the rugged and Mountainous Government garrisons were built or extended in the Great Glen at Fort William, Kiliwhimin (later renamed Fort Augustus) and Fort George, Inverness, as well as barracks at Ruthven, Bernera and Inversnaid, linked to the south by the Wade roads constructed for Major-General George Wade. Garrison (various spellings (from the French garnison, itself from the verb garnir, "to equip" is the collective term for a body of Troops There is also a village in Leicestershire called Great Glen. The Great Glen ( Scottish Gaelic: An Gleann Mòr Fort William ( Scottish Gaelic: An Gearasdan, "The Garrison" is the largest town in the highlands of Scotland, now that Inverness Invergarryrailwayjpg|300px|thumb|Section of dismantled railway south of Fort Augustus]] Fort Augustus ( Ordnance Survey) is a settlement in the Scottish Highlands Inverness (Inbhir Nis iɲɪɾʲˈniʃ is a city in northern Scotland. Ruthven Barracks near Ruthven Highland in Scotland are the smallest but best preserved of the four barracks built in 1719 after the 1715 Great Bernera ( Scottish Gaelic: Bearnaraigh Mòr) often known just as Bernera (Gaelic Bearnaraigh) is an Island in the Field Marshal George Wade (1673– March 14, 1748) served as a British military commander and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces. These had the effect of limiting organizational travel and choking off news and so further isolated the clans and limited the unrest to local outbreaks. Nonetheless, things remained unsettled over the whole decade.

In 1725 Wade raised the independent companies of the Black Watch as a militia to keep peace in the unruly Highlands, which increased the droves of clansmen now emigrating to the Americas. The Black Watch 3rd Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS is an Infantry Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. Increasing demand in Britain for cattle and sheep and the creation of new breeds of sheep, such as the black-faced which could be reared in the mountainous country, allowed higher rents for landowners and chiefs to meet the costs of an aristocratic lifestyle. As a result, many families living on a subsistence level were displaced, exacerbating the unsettled social climate. In 1792 tenant farmers from Strathrusdale led a protest against the policy by driving over 6,000 sheep off the land surrounding Ardross. Strathrusdale ( Scottish Gaelic / Norse Hybrid Strath Rùsdail Strath, small valley, of Rusdale, rus, Norse for sheep Ardross ( Scottish Gaelic: Àird Rois, high-point of Ross) Rural area in the Highland region of Scotland, north This action was dealt with at the highest levels in government, with the Home Secretary Henry Dundas getting involved. Henry Dundas 1st Viscount Melville ( April 28, 1742 &ndash May 28 1811) was a Scottish lawyer and politician The Black Watch was mobilised; it halted the drive and brought the ringleaders to trial. They were found guilty, but later escaped custody and disappeared.

"Improvements"

The Scottish National Museum in Edinburgh features two examples of improvers and their possessions, Lady Grisell Baillie (1665-1744) and Sheriff Donald MacLeod (1745-1834).

What became known as the Clearances were considered by the landlords as necessary "improvements". They are thought to have been begun by Admiral John Ross of Balnagowan Castle in Scotland in 1762. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Year 1762 ( MDCCLXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Earlier, MacLeod of MacLeod (i. e. the chief of MacLeod) had done some experimental work on Skye in 1732. Skye or the Isle of Skye ( Scottish Gaelic An t-Eilean Sgitheanach əɲ tʰʲelan s̪kʲiə Year 1732 ( MDCCXXXII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Many chiefs engaged Lowland, or sometimes English, factors with expertise in more profitable sheep farming, and they 'encouraged', sometimes forcibly, the population to move off suitable land. The Scottish Lowlands ( a' Ghalldachd, meaning roughly 'the non-Gaelic region' in Gaelic, and called Lawlands or Lallans in Scots England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland In Scotland a Factor (or Property manager) is a person or firm charged with superintending or managing properties and estates -- sometimes where the owner or landlord

The Year of the Sheep : the first Clearances

Another wave of mass emigration came in 1792, known as the Year of the Sheep to Scottish Highlanders. The people were accommodated in poor crofts or small farms in coastal areas where farming could not sustain the communities and they were expected to take up fishing. Some were put directly onto emigration ships to Nova Scotia (Antigonish and Pictou counties and later Cape Breton), the Kingston area of Ontario and the Carolinas of the American colonies. Nova Scotia (ˌnəʊvəˈskəʊʃə ( Latin for New Scotland; Alba Nuadh Nouvelle-Écosse is a Canadian province located on Canada 's Pictou is a Canadian town in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. Located on the north shore of Pictou Harbour Kingston Ontario is a Canadian city located at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, where the lake runs into the St Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec The Carolinas is a term used in the United States to refer collectively to the states of North and South Carolina. There may have been a religious element in these forced removals since a good number of the Highlanders were Roman Catholic. This is reflected by the majority representation of Catholics in areas and towns of Nova Scotia such as Antigonish and Cape Breton. However almost all of the very large movement of Highland settlers to the Cape Fear region of North Carolina were Presbyterian. See also Geography of North Carolina North Carolina ( is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States Presbyterianism is a family of Christian denominations within the Reformed branch of Protestant Western Christianity (This is evidenced even today in the presence and extent of Presbyterian congregations and adherents in the region. )

The landlords' behaviour

In 1807 Elizabeth Gordon, 19th Countess of Sutherland, touring her inheritance with her husband Lord Stafford (later made Duke of Sutherland), wrote that "he is seized as much as I am with the rage of improvements, and we both turn our attention with the greatest of energy to turnips". Elizabeth Sutherland Leveson-Gower Duchess of Sutherland and 19th Countess of Sutherland ( 24 May 1765 &ndash 29 January 1839) was George Granville Leveson-Gower 1st Duke of Sutherland, KG, PC ( 9 January 1758 &ndash 19 July 1833) was the son of the For similar vegetables also called "turnip" see Turnip (disambiguation. As well as turning land over to sheep farming, Stafford planned to invest in creating a coal-pit, salt pans, brick and tile works and herring fisheries. Salt is a Dietary mineral composed primarily of Sodium chloride that is essential for Animal life but toxic to most land plants Herring are small Oily fish of the genus Clupea found in the shallow temperate waters of the North Atlantic, the Baltic Sea, the North That year his agents began the evictions, and 90 families were forced to leave their crops in the ground and move their cattle, furniture and timbers to the land they were offered some 20 miles (30 km) away on the coast, living in the open until they had built themselves new houses. Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domesticated Ungulates a member of the Subfamily Bovinae of the family Furniture is the Mass noun for the movable objects which may support the human body (seating furniture and beds, provide storage or hold objects on horizontal Stafford's first Commissioner, William Young, arrived in 1809, and soon engaged Patrick Sellar as his factor who pressed ahead with the process while acquiring sheep farming estates for himself. Patrick Sellar is one of the most notorious characters in the history of the Scottish Highlands & Islands ^[1]

Elsewhere, the flamboyant Alasdair Ranaldson MacDonell of Glengarry portrayed himself as the last genuine specimen of the true Highland Chief while his tenants were subjected to a process of relentless eviction. Colonel Alasdair Ranaldson MacDonell of Glengarry (1771-1828 was a personality well known to Walter Scott, a haughty and flamboyant man whose character and behaviour gave ^[1]

To landlords, 'improvement' and 'clearance' did not necessarily mean depopulation. At least until the 1820s, when there were steep falls in the price of kelp, landlords wanted to create pools of cheap or virtually free labour, supplied by families subsisting in new crofting townships. Events and trends Nationalistic independence helped reshape the world during this decade Greece gains independence from the Ottoman Empire Kelp are large Seaweeds ( Algae) belonging to the Brown algae and classified in the order Laminariales A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land usually small and arable with a crofter's Dwelling thereon Kelp collection and processing was a very profitable way of using this labour, and landlords petitioned successfully for legislation designed to stop emigration. This took the form of the Passenger Vessels Act passed in 1803. In 1803 the British Parliament passed the Passenger Vessels Act. 1803 ( MDCCCIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Attitudes changed during the 1820s and, for many landlords, the potato famine which began in 1846 became another reason for encouraging or forcing emigration and depopulation. For the game see 1846 (board game. Year 1846 ( MDCCCXLVI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display

Potato famine

Main article: Highland Potato Famine (1846 - 1857)

As in Ireland, the potato crop failed in the mid 19th century, and a widespread outbreak of cholera further weakened the Highland population. The Highland Potato Famine was a Food crisis caused by Potato blight that struck the Scottish Highlands causing over 1 The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar Cholera, sometimes known as Asiatic cholera or epidemic cholera, is an infectious Gastroenteritis caused by the Bacterium The ongoing clearance policy resulted in starvation, deaths, and a secondary clearance, when families either migrated voluntarily or were forcibly evicted. There were many deaths of children and old people. As there were few alternatives, many people emigrated, joined the British army, or moved to the growing urban cities, like Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dundee in Lowland Scotland and Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Liverpool in the north of England. Glasgow (ˈglæzgoʊ is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom Edinburgh ( ˈɛdɪnb(ərə Dùn Èideann) is the Capital of Scotland and is its second largest city after Glasgow. Dundee (Dùn Dèagh is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and fully named as Dundee City, one of Scotland's 32 local government council Newcastle upon Tyne ( (often shortened to Newcastle) is a city and Metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, England Liverpool ( is a City and Metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland In many areas people were given economic incentives to move, but few historians dispute that in many instances landlords used violent methods.

Account by Donald McLeod

Elizabeth Gordon, 19th Countess of Sutherland and her factor, Patrick Sellar, were especially cruel and their names are reviled in Sutherland to this day. Elizabeth Sutherland Leveson-Gower Duchess of Sutherland and 19th Countess of Sutherland ( 24 May 1765 &ndash 29 January 1839) was Patrick Sellar is one of the most notorious characters in the history of the Scottish Highlands & Islands Donald McLeod, a Sutherland crofter, later wrote about the events he witnessed:

Accounts like those of McLeod and General David Stewart of Garth brought widespread condemnation and The Highland Land League eventually achieved land reform in the enactment of Crofting Acts, but these could not bring economic viability and came too late at a time when the land was already suffering from depopulation. The first Highland Land League emerged as a distinct political force in Scotland during the 1880s with its power base in the country's Highlands and Islands.

Modern condemnation

Ross Noble claims some writers are coruscating in their condemnation of the Clearances, seeing the process as an early version of "ethnic cleansing". Ethnic cleansing is a Euphemism referring to the persecution through imprisonment expulsion or killing of members of an ethnic minority by a majority to achieve ethnic homogeneity ^[3] However, Noble believes this approach over-simplifies the issues involved. Under the economic and social ideas of the several centuries involved, landowners and employers were generally callous about the 'lower orders', (exemplified by the 1843 fictional character of Ebenezer Scrooge) and these modern terms such as 'genocide' and 'ethnic cleansing' reflect new sensitivities and social perspectives, which in this case would not apply, as most of the landlords were fellow Scotsmen. Ebenezer Scrooge is the Main character in Charles Dickens ' 1843 Novel, A Christmas Carol.

However, considering that by the end of the eighteenth century the Scottish landlords had, for the most part, been born and raised in London, they would have held the same unflattering opinion of the Highlanders that the majority of those living in England and Southern Scotland held. The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system Therefore, "ethnic cleansing" certainly cannot be ruled out by a simple inspection of ancestry.

Second phase of the Clearances

Ormaig was once the principal settlement on the Isle of Ulva near Mull. Ulva ( Scottish Gaelic: Ulbha) is an Island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Mull. The Isle of Mull (or simply Mull; Muile in Scottish Gaelic) is the second largest Island of the Inner Hebrides, off the It had been inhabited since prehistoric times, until it was cleared by Francis William Clark in the mid 19th century

It was only in the mid-nineteenth century that the second, more brutal phase of the Clearances began; this was well after the 1822 visit by George IV, when lowlanders set aside their previous distrust and hatred of the Highlanders and identified with them as national symbols. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar The 1822 visit of King George IV to Scotland was the first visit of a reigning monarch to Scotland since 1650. However, the cumulative effect was particularly devastating to the cultural landscape of Scotland in a way that did not happen in other areas of Britain.

While the collapse of the clan system can be attributed more to economic factors and the repression that followed the Battle of Culloden, the widespread evictions resulting from the Clearances severely affected the viability of the Highland population and culture. The Battle of Culloden (Blàr Chùil Lodair (16 April 1746 was the final clash between the French-supported Jacobites and the Hanoverian To this day, the population in the Scottish Highlands is sparse and the culture is diluted, and there are many more sheep than people. The Scottish Highlands ( Scottish Gaelic: A' Ghàidhealtachd, Scots: Hielans) include the rugged and Mountainous Although the 1901 census did return 230,806 Gaelic speakers in Scotland, today this number has fallen to below 60,000. Counties of Scotland in which over 50% of the population spoke Gaelic as their native language in 1901, included Sutherland (71. 75%), Ross and Cromarty (71. 76%), Inverness (64. 85%) and Argyll (54. 35%). Small but substantial percentages of Gaelic speakers were recorded in counties such as Nairn, Bute, Perth and Caithness.

What the Clearances started, however, the First World War almost completed. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All A huge percentage of Scots were among the vast numbers killed, and this greatly affected the remaining population of Gaelic speakers in Scotland.

The 1921 census, the first conducted after the end of the war, showed a significant decrease in the proportion of the population that spoke Gaelic. The percentage of Gaelic speakers in Argyll had fallen to well below 50% (34. 56%), and the other counties mentioned above had experienced similar decreases. Sutherland's Gaelic-speaking population was now barely above 50%, while Inverness and Ross and Cromarty had fallen to 50. 91% and 60. 20%, respectively.

However, the Clearances did result in significant emigration of Highlanders to North America and Australasia — where today are found considerably more descendants of Highlanders than in Scotland itself. "Emigrant" redirects here For the Butterflies, see Catopsilia. Australasia is a Region of Oceania: New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and neighbouring Islands in the Pacific

One estimate for Cape Breton, Nova Scotia has 25,000 Gaelic-speaking Scots arriving as immigrants between 1775 and 1850. Cape Breton Island ( French: île du Cap-Breton - formerly île Royale, Scottish Gaelic: Eilean Cheap Breatuinn, Nova Scotia (ˌnəʊvəˈskəʊʃə ( Latin for New Scotland; Alba Nuadh Nouvelle-Écosse is a Canadian province located on Canada 's At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were an estimated 100,000 Gaelic speakers in Cape Breton, but because of economic migration to English-speaking areas and the lack of Gaelic education in the Nova Scotian school system, the numbers of Gaelic speakers fell dramatically. By the beginning of the 21st century, the number of native Gaelic speakers had fallen to well below 1,000. The 21st century is the current century of the Christian Era or Common Era in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ^[4]

Memorials to the Clearances

The highland clearances are still remembered especially in the areas affected by the forced emigration and hardship endured by the peoples of the Highlands and their descendants across the world.

In Scotland

The Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond unveiled a 10ft-high bronze "Exiles" statue in Helmsdale, Sutherland, which commemorates the people who were cleared from the area by landowners and left their homeland to begin new lives overseas. Alexander Elliot Anderson "Alex" Salmond, (ˈsamənd is the First Minister of Scotland, heading a minority Scottish Government. Helmsdale ( Gaelic Bun Illidh) is a Village on the east coast of Sutherland, in the Highland region of Scotland. Sutherland (In Gaelic the area is referred to according to its traditional areas Dùthaich 'Ic Aoidh (NW Asainte (Assynt and Cataibh (East The statue, which depicts a family leaving their home, stands at the mouth of the Strath of Kildonan and was funded by Dennis Macleod a Scottish Canadian mining millionaire who also attended the ceremony. [1]

In Canada

An identical 10ft-high bronze "Exiles" statue has also been set up on the banks of the Red River—the modern city of Winnipeg was founded by those who left Scotland for Canada. Winnipeg (ˈwɪnɨpɛg is the capital and largest city in the Canadian province of Manitoba, and 7th largest municipality in Canada with a population [2]

See also

• Scottish clan
• Lowland Clearances
• Clan MacDonnell of Glengarry
• Highland Land League

References

1. ^ ^{a b} The Highland Clearances, John Prebble, Penguin Books, 1963, ISBN 0-14-002837-4
2. ^ Highland Clearances by Janet Mackay
3. ^ The Cultural Impact of the Highland Clearances by Ross Noble
4. ^ Hector MacNeil, Gaelic Director, the Gaelic College, St. Ann's, Nova Scotia

External links

• Narratives in a Landscape: Monuments and Memories of the Sutherland Clearances dissertation on the landscape of the Clearances
• Highlanderweb - Highland clearances
• Abandoned communities - the clearance of Strathnaver 1814-1819
• The Highland Clearances - An Introduction
• The Highland Clearances. Scottish clans (from Scottish Gaelic clann, "children" give a sense of identity and shared descent to people in Scotland and to their relations The Lowland Clearances ( Scottish Gaelic: Fuadaich nan Galltachd) in Scotland were one of the results of the British Agricultural Revolution, Clan MacDonell of Glengarry is a branch of Clan Donald taking its name from Glen Garry where the river Garry runs eastwards through Loch Garry to join the Great Glen The first Highland Land League emerged as a distinct political force in Scotland during the 1880s with its power base in the country's Highlands and Islands. John Edward Curtis Prebble FRSL OBE ( June 23, 1915 - January 30, 2001) was an English / Canadian journalist novelist Article by Thomas Devine, published in Refresh 4, Spring 1987.

Further reading (with bibliography)

• An overview of the Clearances, Alexander McKenzie, 1881.
• Gloomy Memories, Donald Macleod, 1857 (first-hand account of Sutherland clearances).
• The Highland Clearances, Eric Richards, Birlinn Books, 2000.
• The Strathnaver Trilogy, Ian Grimble. 3vols: Chief of MacKay, The Trial of Patrick Sellar, and The World of Rob Donn.
• The People of Glengarry. Highlanders in Transition, 1745-1820, Marianne McLean, McGill-Queen's University Press; 1993.
• Die Schottischen Clans im 18. Jahrhundert, Vom Wandel und Ende einer Hochlandgesellschaft am Rande Europas, A Personal Passion PLay in Scottish History and Bibliography, Hubert Gebele, Regensburg 2003.