Highland Clearances and Internal Displacement Flashcards

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What were the Highland Clearances?

The Highland Clearances were when landlords forced many people off their farms and homes in the Scottish Highlands.

Most clearances took place from the late 1700s to the mid-1800s.

Landlords wanted more profit. They turned land into large sheep farms and pushed out small farming families.

After the failed Jacobite rising in 1745, clan chiefs lost power as warriors and became more like business landlords who put money first.

It means people were forced to move to new areas inside Scotland, rather than leaving the country.

They got legal notices, and some had their houses pulled down or burned, with police or soldiers there to enforce it.

Many moved to coastal areas of the Highlands and islands, or to Lowland cities such as Glasgow and Edinburgh.

They often lived in crowded, poor housing and worked long hours in low-paid jobs in factories, mines, or shipyards.

Landlords gave them tiny plots called crofts so they could still pay rent, and expected them to fish or work in the kelp and fishing industries.

Gaelic-speaking communities were broken up, so many people stopped using the language and local traditions became weaker.

The population fell in many glens, and much of the land became large sheep farms or hunting estates with few people living there.