Question

Is complete reduction of relief of a high land mass possible?

Answer 1

The Highland Clearances (Scottish Gaelic: Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal [ˈfuət̪ɪçən nəŋ ˈɡɛː.əl̪ˠ], the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands mostly during the 18th and 19th centuries. In the first phase, they usually resulted from enclosures of common lands and a change from farming to sheep rearing, largely carried out by hereditary landowners who previously had status as Scots Gaelic clan chiefs. Later clearances, in the second phase, involved overcrowded crofting communities that had lost the means to support themselves, through famine and/or collapse of industries that they had relied on (such as the kelp trade), as well as continuing population growth. The Clearances were a complex series of events occurring over more than a hundred years.[1] A Highland Clearance has been defined as "an enforced simultaneous eviction of all families living in a given area, such as an entire glen".[2]

Highland Clearances

Ruined croft houses on Fuaigh Mòr in Loch Roag. The island was cleared of its inhabitants in 1841 and is now used only for grazing sheep.

DateMostly 18th–19th centuriesOutcomeSignificant emigration of Highlanders to the coast, the Scottish Lowlands and further afield to North America and Australasia.

The Clearances relied on the insecurity of tenure of most tenants under the Scottish legal system. There was no equivalent of the English system of copyhold, which provided a heritable tenancy for many English counterparts of the Scots who were cleared from their farms