"In fact after the mid 1750s the population in the Highlands, especially in the west and islands, greatly increased. Between 1800 and the early 1840s it has been estimated to have increased by over 50%."
I have seen this claim before but I wonder where it came from or who made it? The Clearances are Scotland's great shame and some want to sweep it under the carpet. I find it strange that the population should grow during a time that so very many left! Emigration started to the Carolinas, Prince Edward Island,New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia in the 1770's and peaking in the first three decades of the 1800's. By then there was a shift to Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Australia and New Zealand. The potato famine played its part but most of the blame does not belong there! Most of the people who left earlier were not counted in any census and many of those counted in the 1840's and later were in fact people who moved into the Highlands from the Lowlands. I have seen some be so stupid as to dispute the clearance numbers because the people did not appear in ship's passage lists, most of which were either lost or never existed!
Sorry for a rant on an old thread!