South Uist On Visit To The Outer Hebrides Of Scotland

Tour Scotland travel video clip, with Scottish music, of the Island of South Uist, Scottish Gaelic: Uibhist a Deas, on visit to the Outer Hebrides. In the 9th century, The main village on the island is Lochboisdale, Loch Baghasdail, from which ferries sail to Oban on the mainland and to Castlebay, Bàgh a' Chaisteil, on Barra. The island is linked to Eriskay and Benbecula by causeways. Smaller settlements include Daliburgh, Dalabrog, Howmore, Tobha Mòr, and Ludag, An Lùdag. Lochboisdale is on the shore of Loch Baghasdail at the southern end of the A865 road. The town profited from the herring boom in the 19th century, and a steamer pier was built in 1880. Vikings invaded South Uist, along with the rest of the Hebrides, and the gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata to the south, and established the Kingdom of the Isles throughout these lands. Following Norwegian unification, the Kingdom of the Isles became a crown dependency of the Norwegian king; to the Norwegians it was Suðreyjar, meaning southern isles. In the middle of the 12th century, Somerled, a Norse Gael of uncertain origin, launched a coup, which made Suðreyjar entirely independent. Following his death, Norwegian authority was nominally restored, but in practice the kingdom was divided between Somerled's heirs, Clann Somhairle, and the dynasty that Somerled had deposed, the Crovan dynasty. The MacRory, a branch of Somerled's heirs, ruled Uist, as well as Barra, Eigg, Rùm, the Rough Bounds, Bute, Arran and northern Jura. South Uist was eventually held by the MacDonalds of Clan Ranald who made a good living from kelp harvesting owing to the demand for kelp around the turn of the 19th century. South Uist was sold to Lieutenant Colonel John Gordon of Cluny in 1837 and the fortunes of the island's tenants went downhill from that point. He initiated Highland Clearances to make way for sheep farming, supplanting the crofters with farmers from the Borders, who brought flocks of Blackface sheep. As a result, there was large scale emigration from the island. John Gordon also had six plantations in the Caribbean island of Tobago with 1383 slaves. Gordon died a bachelor without legal issue in 1858; of his illegitimate children, John, his eldest son, was the only one to outlive him. The first big migration happened in the middle 1700s, when a group from Uist settled in North Carolina, America. From then on, the Americas and Canada became a fresh start for thousands of Hebridean families. Canada, in particular locations like Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island were the most popular. - both were predominantly Gaelic speaking at the start of the nineteenth century and Nova Scotia retains a Gaelic-speaking community to this day around Cape Breton Over time Quebec, Ontario and Pennsylvania also saw their populations swell. Later, folk began to emigrate as far afield as Australia and New Zealand. And that’s why there are people from Clan MacNeill, Clan MacDonald and Clan MacLeod all across the world to this day. All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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