The Highland Clearances was a time when people in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland were forced from their homes and had to find new places to live. Why did this happen and what happened to the people cleared from their land?

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The Highland Clearances

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• Before they were removed or 'cleared' from their land, people in the Highlands of Scotland lived and worked on their crofts. Crofting traditionally involved a subsistence lifestyle in Scotland, relying on small-scale farming to provide for families. Crofters would cultivate their land, grow crops like hay, oats, and root vegetables, and keep livestock, mainly sheep and sometimes cattle. They also relied on common grazings and peat banks for fuel. 

• Crofters in one area were often members of the same clans. Some clans had lived on the same crofts for as long as 500 years,

• But the Highlanders did not own the land. They rented their land from landowners. The landowners were often very rich, people like the Duke of Sutherland who was also known as 'The Butcher' because of his cruelty during The Clearances.

• The landowners discovered that they could make more money by grazing sheep on the land than they could from the crofters' rents.

• So the landowners cleared the land by turning the crofters out of their houses, in many instances by burning them down to force the crofters off their land, to create sheep farms in their place. 

• The Highland Clearances took place from about 1750 to 1860 and, to this day, they still continue to arouse emotions in Scotland and in its worldwide diaspora. About 70,000 people were moved from land that had been inhabited by generations before them, often with brute and unrelenting force, changing the way of life and landscape irrevocably. 

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What Happened To The Crofters?

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• The Clearances were terrible for many people living in the Highlands and Islands. With nowhere to live and no way to grow food, some people starved or even froze to death without a roof over their heads.

• Many people tried to find a new place to live on the Scottish coast or in cities, like Glasgow. They tried to find jobs in fishing or in factories.

• But many other Highlanders left Scotland and emigrated on sailing ships to start a new life overseas. 

• Many Scots emigrated to Canada, America, Australia and New Zealand. Some settled on their own farms or found work on sheep farms or cattle ranches. Some lived as hunters or worked in the timber trade. Others worked in construction, built railways, tried gold mining or started their own businesses.

• Many people living in countries like Canada, America, Australia, and New Zealand today have Scottish ancestors who were crofters.

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