The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #13349 Message #2754601
Posted By: Sandy Mc Lean
29-Oct-09 - 12:13 AM
Thread Name: Origin: I Will Go / Land of MacLeod
Subject: RE: Origin: I Will Go / Land of MacLeod
While the potato famine had it's effect on clearing the Highlands it was secondary to other economic factors, probably only because most of the populace had been removed earlier. Most of the land was cleared of people to make room for sheep. Under the old clan system the people, not the chief and chieftains owned the land. Fuedalism created a aristocracy in what had been a tribal society and the chiefs became lairds. As owners of the land they demanded rents and when that was not profitable enough sheep replaced tennants. Some people worked in the kelp industry but that failed in the early 1800's. From the mid 1700's until the mid 1800's most of the Highlanders went to Canada, the USA, Australia, and New Zealand. My own people came to Cape Breton Island in 1826 as a result of a clearances in the Hebrides.