Emigration from Scotland has always been very high. However, emigration from Scotland between the wars surpassed all records; more people emigrated than were born, leading to an overall population decline. Why was it so many people left? Marjory Harper, whose knowledge is grounded in a deep understanding of the local records, maps out the many factors which worked together to cause this massive diaspora. After an opening section where the author sets the Scottish experience within the context of the rest of the British Isles, the book then divides the country geographically, starting with the Highlands, then coastal Scotland, and the urban Lowland highlighting in turn the factors that particularly influenced each of these areas. Harper then discusses the organised religious and political movements that encouraged emigration. By interweaving personal stories with statistical evidence Harper brings to life the reality behind the dramatic historical migration.

Scotland's Populations is a coherent and comprehensive description and analysis of the most recent 170 years of Scottish population history. With its coverage of both national and local themes, set in the context of changes in Scottish economy and society, this study is an essential and definitive source for anyone teaching or writing on modern Scottish history, sociology, or geography. Michael Anderson explores subjects such as population growth and decline, rural settlement and depopulation, and migration and emigration. It sets current and recent population changes in their long-term context, exploring how the legacies of past demographic change have combined with a history of weak industrial investment, employment insecurity, deprivation, and poor living conditions to produce the population profiles and changes of Scotland today. While focussing on Scottish data, Anderson engages in a rigorous treatment of comparisons of Scotland with its neighbours in the British Isles and elsewhere in Europe, which ensures that this is more than a one-country study.

"This collection of essays represents a selection of the papers presented at the 1998 Migration conference at the Centre of Canadian Studies at the University of Edinburgh."--Acknowledgements.

An exploration of how immigration has shaped Canadian identity, and how modern debates are reshaping our national character. In this history of immigration to Canada, Valerie Knowles explores the kinds of immigrants who have settled in Canada as well as the immigration policies, policymakers, and public figures who have played a part in the story.

While the literature relating to Scottish contact with America has grown significantly in recent years, the influence of America on Scotland and its early modern history has been neglected in favour of a preoccupation with Scottish influence on the formation of North American national identities. Alexander Murdoch's fascinating new study explores Scottish interactions with North America in a desire to open up fresh perspectives on the subject. Scotland and America, c.1600-c.1800 - Surveys the key centuries of economic, migratory and cultural exchange, including Canada and the Caribbean - Discusses Scottish participation in the Atlantic slave trade and the debate over its abolition - Considers the Scottish experience of British unionism with respect to developing American traditions of unionism in the U.S. and Canada Incorporating the latest research, this is essential reading for anyone interested in the dynamic relationship between Scotland and America during a key period in history.

Focusing on the great population movement of British emigrants before 1914, this book provides a perspective on the relationship between empire and globalisation. It shows how distinct structures of economic opportunity developed around the people who settled across a wider British World through the co-ethnic networks they created. Yet these networks could also limit and distort economic growth. The powerful appeal of ethnic identification often made trade and investment with racial 'outsiders' less appealing, thereby skewing economic activities toward communities perceived to be 'British'. By highlighting the importance of these networks to migration, finance and trade, this book contributes to debates about globalisation in the past and present. It reveals how the networks upon which the era of modern globalisation was built quickly turned in on themselves after 1918, converting racial, ethnic and class tensions into protectionism, nationalism and xenophobia. Avoiding such an outcome is a challenge faced today.

"To thousands of young people, emigration has been the golden bridge by which they have passed from an apparently hopeless childhood to lives of useful service and assured comfort, in this new land." - Mr. G. Bogue Smart, Inspector of British Immigrant Children and Receiving Homes, 1915 Many thousands of Canadians are descended from young immigrants transported to Canada from 1833 to 1939. Author Marjorie Kohli has meticulously documented the incredible story of the removal of thousands of "waifs and strays" and young men and women, primarily from the UK and Ireland. They braved the perilous voyage to an unknown future in Canada, ultimately being placed throughout the Maritimes, Ontario, Quebec and westward as far as British Columbia. The most comprehensive resource of its kind, The Golden Bridge promises to be an indispensable tool for family researchers with a "home child" ancestor, and of interest to those unfamiliar with this aspect of Canadian history. This extensively researched book incorporates background detail on agencies and key organizers such as Maria Rye, Annie Macpherson, Thomas Barnardo and William Quarrier, along with lesser knowns including Ellinor Close and Charles Young. Marjorie Kohli is well known for her years of active involvement with juvenile and child migration issues. Supported by charts, passenger lists and archival visuals, The Golden Bridge is a must-read for genealogists and history buffs alike.

`The Empire Strikes Back' will inject the empire back into the domestic history of modern Britain. In the nineteenth century and for much of the twentieth century, Britain's empire was so large that it was truly the global superpower. Much of Africa, Asia and America had been subsumed. Britannia's tentacles had stretched both wide and deep. Culture, Religion, Health, Sexuality, Law and Order were all impacted in the dominated countries. `The Empire Strikes Back' shows how the dependent states were subsumed and then hit back, affecting in turn England itself.