Scottish Immigrants

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history has had a rich tradition of witnessing emigrates arriving to Canada to explore a new way of life while maintaining their cultural identity. Currently the mass emigration of Syrian Muslims continues this legacy that was started in the late 18th century. One of the greatest mass emigrations that Canada witnessed was during the late 18th century, when Catholic Scottish Highlanders emigrated to Prince Edward Island. These Scottish Highlanders left their ancestral highland homes out of desperation, fear of cultural elimination by the English and for new opportunities to maintain their cultural identity. But why did the Scots believe emigrating could solve the elimination of their heritage. Were there any trails, difficulties or setbacks …show more content…

Furthermore the new economic style of landlords and tenants had caused the Highlands to enter an oppression period by greedy and non-negotiable landlords who intended to maintain their newly acquired wealth and position. It was during this period that North America was subjected to the Highlands as a potential location to settle and perverse the Scots Highland traditional way of life, religion and clan independence. Emigration to PEI was divided into two period categories. Typically the first and significant emigration was in 1770 and followed by the emigration of 1815. In 1770 the prime emigrates who left Scotland were members of the higher privilege population or entire communities who had pooled their financial resources together and moved en masse. The main pull factor for emigration during 1770 was the option for an increase of prosperity of the Gaelic culture. Due to the fallout of the Forty-Five Rebellion and the Battle of Culloden, the British government articulated their intention to destroy Gaelic society, while encouraging the assimilation of Gaels into the urban and industrial cities of the Lowlands and England. The Catholic Scots of the Highland had a viable concern about their culture since it had dictated their lifestyle, organization and structure since the Medieval period. In effect, these Highlanders were not comfortable with a new system that destroyed their culture and a style that was forced by a government who deemed their culture as barbaric.The second emigration period in 1815 was derived from the consequence of war with Napoleon and the British government unwantedness of the Scottish ‘troubled population’. In effect the second wave of emigrates in 1815 were encouraged by the government to leave the United Kingdom due inpart to congestion of tenants, starvation and

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