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 the were removed or 'cleared' from their land, people in the Highlands of Scotland lived and worked on their crofts.

• Crofts were small areas of land where people lived and worked as farmers. Highlanders used the land to keep animals like cows and sheep, as well as for planting and growing food.

• 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 lived in the North of Scotland.

• 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 simply turned the crofters out of their houses. Sometimes cottages were burned down to force people away.

• The Highland Clearances took place from about 1750 to 1860 and continue to arouse emotions in Scotland and its diaspora worldwide. About 70,000 people were moved from land that had been inhabited by generations before them, often with brute 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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