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The '''Highland Clearances''' ({{lang-gd|Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal}} {{IPA-gd|ˈfuət̪ɪçən nəŋ ˈɡɛː.əl̪ˠ|}}, the "eviction of the [[Gaels]]") were the
The first phase resulted from [[Scottish Agricultural Revolution|agricultural improvement]], driven by the
The second phase involved overcrowded crofting communities from the first phase that had lost the means to support themselves, through famine and/or collapse of industries that they had relied on. This is when "assisted passages" were common, when landowners paid the fares for their tenants to [[Scottish diaspora|emigrate]]. Tenants who were selected for this had, in practical terms, little choice but to emigrate. The [[Highland Potato Famine]] struck towards the end of this period, giving greater urgency to the process.
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===Discrimination===
The primary motivation for clearance was economic. Associated with this was the suggestion by some theorists that the Celtic population were less hardworking than those of Anglo-Saxon stock (i.e., Lowlanders and, in some instances, English), so giving an economic element to a racial theory. James Hunter quotes a contemporary Lowland newspaper:
Roman Catholics had experienced a sequence of discriminatory laws in the period up to 1708. Whilst English versions of these laws were repealed in 1778, in Scotland this did not happen until 1793. However, religious discrimination is not considered, by some historians, to be a reason for evicting tenants as part of any clearance, and is seen more as a source of voluntary emigration by writers such as Eric Richards.{{r|Richards 2013|p=81–82}} There is one clear (and possibly solitary) case of harassment of Catholics which resulted in eviction by Colin MacDonald of Boisdale (a recent convert to Presbyterianism). This temporarily stalled when the risk of empty farms (and therefore loss of rent) became apparent when voluntary emigration to escape persecution was possible. However, in 1771, thirty-six families did not have their leases renewed (out of some 300 families who were tenants of Boisdale); 11 of these emigrated the next year with financial assistance from the Roman Catholic church.<ref name="Cargoes">{{cite book|last1=Adams|first1=Ian|last2=Somerville|first2=Meredyth|title=Cargoes of Despair and Hope: Scottish Emigration to North America 1603–1803|date=1993|publisher=John Donald Publishers Ltd|location=Edinburgh|isbn=0-85976-367-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cargoesofdespair0000adam/page/63 63–71]|url=https://archive.org/details/cargoesofdespair0000adam/page/63}}</ref>
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Richards describes three attempts at large-scale resistance before the Crofters' War: the [[Highland Clearances#Year of the Sheep|Year of the Sheep]], protests against Patrick Sellar's clearance of Strathnaver in 1812–4, and the "Dudgeonite agitation" in Easter Ross in 1819–20, sparked by a local tacksman's organization of an emigration fund.{{r|Richards 2007|p=72-5}}
===Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886===
The [[Highland Land League]] eventually achieved land reform in the enactment of the [[Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886]] ([[49 & 50 Vict.]] c. 29), but these could not bring economic viability and came too late, at a time when the land was already suffering from depopulation.{{citation needed|date=April 2017}} However, the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886 put an end to the Clearances by granting [[security of tenure]] to crofters.<ref>{{cite book |first=Derick S. |last=Thomson |author-link=Derick S. Thomson |title=The Companion to Gaelic Scotland |publisher=Basil Blackwater Publisher Lim., [[Àth nan Damh]] |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-631-12502-0|page=88}}</ref>
However, the Crofters' Act did not grant security of tenure to [[Cotter (farmer)|cottars]] or break up large estates. As a result, the Scottish Highlands continues to have the most unequal distributions of land in Europe, with more than half of Scotland owned by fewer than 500 people.<ref>{{cite news|last1=McKenna|first1=Kevin|title=Scotland has the most inequitable land ownership in the west. Why?|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/10/scotland-land-rights|access-date=29 April 2017|work=The Guardian|date=10 August 2013|archive-date=13 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170513211508/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/10/scotland-land-rights|url-status=live}}</ref> Land struggles occurred after the First<ref>{{cite web|title=BBC ALBA – Bliadhna nan Òran – Òrain : Sgrìobhaichean, Fionnlagh Moireasdan|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/alba/oran/people/fionnlagh_moireasdan/|access-date=29 April 2017|archive-date=19 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119183039/http://www.bbc.co.uk/alba/oran/people/fionnlagh_moireasdan/|url-status=live}}</ref> and Second<ref name=SS>Sandison, B. (2012) ''Sandison's Scotland'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=rxkjAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22seven+men+of+knoydart%22&pg=PT193 page 194–195] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406162932/https://books.google.com/books?id=rxkjAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22seven+men+of+knoydart%22&pg=PT193 |date=6 April 2023 }} Black & White Publishing {{ISBN|1845025709}} Retrieved March 2015</ref> World Wars as returning servicemen could not get crofts.
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[[Category:History of the Scottish Highlands]]
[[Category:Highlands and Islands of Scotland]]
[[Category:Scottish emigration]]
[[Category:Scottish diaspora]]
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