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The Highland Clearances and migration in Victorian Scotland

A family of sheep arrive at the cottage of a family of Highland crofters to tell them they are being evicted. The family learn that the landowner has decided to use the land to rear sheep for their wool. Wool is a very valuable commodity and will earn the landowner more money than renting land to people. The family are given three options by the landowner. The first is to move to one of the big cities of the lowlands to work in the factories. This is difficult for them because they do not speak English and people of lowland Scotland don鈥檛 speak Gaelic. The second option is to move to Caithness and work in the fishing industry. The third option is to emigrate to Canada. Many landowners paid for tickets for people to travel by ship to Canada.

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4 minutes

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