Summer Place Of The Gaels On Visit To The Highlands Scotland

Tour Scotland Summer travel video, with Scottish music, of the Place Of The Gaels on visit to the Scottish Highlands. " The Gaels rightful place; is on the summit " The Highlands, Scots: the Hielands; Scottish Gaelic: a’ Ghàidhealtachd, meaning ' the place of the Gaels " is a historic region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration, mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England. Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly King James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. Following the Union of the Crowns, King James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760 to 1850, by agricultural improvement that often, particularly in the Western Highlands, involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential " language of work. "

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