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Who are the Scots?
The
Proclaimers’ song
“Scotland’s Story” states the commonly held origin of the
Scots, but also asks a question:
“In Scotland's story I read
that they came
The Gael and the Pict, the Angle and Dane
But so did the Irishman, Jew and Ukraine
They're all Scotland's Story and they're all worth the same”
There are at least three
traditional distinct areas and cultures in Scotland, the Gaelic
culture of the Highlands and Western Isles, the Norse
culture of the North, Orkney and Shetland and the culture of the
Lowlands. The ancient presence of peoples in Scotland are
recorded in place names which show how the influence of the
cultures ebbed and flowed. The supposed ancient origin of the
Scots is covered in
"The Stone of Destiny". The more recent immigration to
Scotland is better documented.
In the Middle Ages there was no anti-Jewish legislation in
Scotland, unlike in England and many other parts of Europe, and
Jewish merchants began trading. Edinburgh had a developing
Jewish community by the late 18th century. Many came later from
Russia and Eastern Europe in the 1880s and 1890s, fleeing
persecution. More arrived in the 1930s as Jewish persecution
developed under the Nazis on the Continent.
An act of the Scottish parliament of 1587 encouraged Flemish
weavers to settle in Scotland and boost the fledgling industry
by taking on Scottish apprentices. Their descendants bear the
surname “Fleming”.
The Act of Union of 1707 not only sent Scots south, but also
brought English north as Civil Servants and soldiers along with
Dutch Merchants and their African Servants. These were not the
first Africans to arrive. Those were Roman auxiliaries. They
left with the Romans. The early 16th century saw the return of
Africans. In 1505 a few African men and women musicians and
performers, thought to have been taken from Portuguese slave
ships, were attached to the court of King James IV of Scotland.
The 18th century saw many more Africans arrive, slaves or freed
servants of Scottish Planters in America and the Caribbean.
Others came from Africa and the Caribbean, as migrant workers or
as students in the 1950s and 1960s.
Italians started to arrive as agricultural workers in the 17th
century and developing appreciation of Italian culture in the
18th century, led to the arrival of Italian artists, musicians,
craftsmen and teachers. As a result of an increasing population
and economic pressures, more settled between 1880 and 1914,
mainly from Lucca and Abruzzi. More came as prisoners of war
during WWII and many stayed.
In the 17th and 18th centuries the Irish came over at harvest
time but began to arrive in larger numbers in 19th century. The
famine brought eight million or more between 1801 and 1921
escaping famine and unemployment. The majority were Catholic and
largely unskilled. They found similar jobs in the rapidly
expanding Scottish economy, building roads and railways, digging
ditches and bringing in the harvests. At the same time smaller
numbers of skilled Protestants arrived at this time, finding
skilled employment in the new shipyards and workshops.
The late 18th Century saw the arrival of French weavers,
craftsmen, musicians, teachers and shopkeepers, African
Caribbean Slaves or freed servants of Scottish Planters. Indian
servants and seamen, some stranded at ports. Indian students and
Italian musicians, actors, craftsmen and shopkeepers. In the
18th century, the village of Picardy, once on the outskirts of
Edinburgh, but now only remembered by a street name (Picardy
Place) was home to a community of French weavers. Craftsmen,
musicians, teachers and shopkeepers later joined them.
The Lithuanian Christians, it is believed, arrived in Scotland
between 1890 and 1905. They left Lithuania for economic reasons,
the Russian feudal land system, and military conscription and in
reaction to the suppression of the Lithuanian language, culture
and their traditional religion. Most have integrated over the
years, changing their names or having them changed by officials.
The majority of Asians arrived after 1945, but migration began
during the 18th century as a result of Scotland's colonial
involvement with the Indian sub-continent. Indian seamen, known
as Lascars, were hired in Indian ports as cheap labour. Many,
unable to find return voyages, were forced to settle. Small
colonies developed in dock areas throughout Scotland. Indian
servants came with colonial administrators on their visits home
and Indian noblemen came on business. Students followed, some of
mixed-parentage of Scots living in India. In 1947 Muslims fled
the consequences of partition in newly independent India. More
came in the 1950s and 1960s from the newly independent countries
of Kenya, Malawi and Uganda, and in 1972 when many were expelled
from Uganda.
Like the Lascars, the first Chinese came as seamen and many were
unable to return to China. It was in 1960 that the first
Chinese community developed in Glasgow. Hong Kong Chinese
agricultural workers arrived in the 1950s and 1960s along with
Vietnamese refugees, and more as in the 1990s as Hong Kong was
handed over to China in 1997.
In the 1970s and1980s new migrants came from India, Pakistan,
and Bangladesh. They were joined by Chilean socialists, refugees
from General Pinochet’s prosecution of the deposed President
Allende’s socialists and communists.
Polish refugees began to arrive during the 19th century but
began to arrive in large numbers during and after the Second
World War, mainly as servicemen and their dependants, refugees,
and “displaced persons”. The Polish Resettlement Act was passed
in 1947 in recognition of their contribution to the allied war
effort.
Not least there are the Gypsies/Travellers who have been in
Scotland for hundreds of years. Some intermarriage with “Gorjios”,
their term for non-gypsies has taken place, but they have
remained apart. There Romany Gypsies, Scottish and Irish
Travellers, but what characterises them all is the belief that
travelling is an essential part of their identity. It is thought
that the Romany language came from the Sanskrit of the Indian
subcontinent. Many Gypsies/Travellers are thought to have come
from India via the Middle East, the Mediterranean and routed
through Europe.
The latest arrivals are asylum seekers, seeking recognition as
refugees. Most are from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Somalia and
also from Bosnia, Iran, Pakistan, Kosovo, Algeria and Sudan, and
Kurds from Turkey and Iraq. Many of countries from which they
come are recognised by Amnesty International as having chronic
human rights abuse or conflicts. Since the introduction of the
1999 Asylum and Immigration Act, it is estimated that there are
9,000 in Glasgow.
Scotland is as most nations the product of a rich mix of
cultures and traditions over millennia and generations that has
produced the strong, rich and vibrant culture that we are today.
The Proclaimers conclude:
“All through the story the immigrants came,
The Gael and the Pict, the Angle and Dane,
From Pakistan, England and from the Ukraine.
We're all Scotland's story and we're all worth the same,
Your Scotland's story is worth just the same.”
References
The
Proclaimers - Scotland's Story - YouTube
Scotland's Story Lyrics - Proclaimers
Scotland's History - Explore 5000 years of Scottish history
Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation - Jewish Community and Synagogue
Scotland: Virtual Jewish History Tour
The Flemish People in Scotland - A Family and Local History
Project - ScotlandsPeople
Scots Italian History
Lithuanians in Coal Mining in Scotland 1875-1900
BBC - Legacies - Immigration and Emigration - Scotland -
Strathclyde - Lithuanians in Lanarkshire
Scotland's Census Results online - Ethnicity and Religion
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