The eighteenth century was a period which witnessed great changes in the Highlands of Scotland. The hereditary jurisdictions of the landlords were abolished, the great but undefined power of the clan chiefs was rendered nugatory, and the authority of the central government was firmly established throughout the whole region Methods of land utilisation were revolutionised, communications were widely extended, education was popularised, the influence of the Presbyterian Church increased, attempts were made to develop industry and Highlanders were given the opportunity of serving in the British army. The changes in land utilisation and social organisation brought hardship to numbers of people in the Highlands, and forced them to emigrate either to America, where land was cheap and opportunity was boundless, or to the Lowlands which were rapidly undergoing the process of industrialisation. This process, which has been given the general name of the Industrial Revolution, not only deprived the Highlands of a considerable part of their population, but caused industry in the northern half of the kingdom to be eclipsed by the large output from the factories localised in the coalfields of the Lowlands. The kelp industry fell as suddenly as it had risen, and the fishing and distilling industries were still at the beginning of their development. Nevertheless, for the great majority of the inhabitants of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland the standard of living rose greatly during the century. Food, clothing, and housing conditions improved, disease, diminished, employment became more systematised, and the Highlands became what they had never been before, an integral part of the United Kingdom.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:591309 |
| Date | January 1935 |
| Creators | Ewart, Hugh James |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk/R?func=search-advanced-go&find_code1=WSN&request1=AAIU450843 |
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