Concentrated largely within the nineteenth century, the Highland Clearances constituted one of the most significant transformations of Highland life with the removal of many crofters from the land of their hereditary chiefs, the sundering of communal bonds, and the destruction of their cultural tradition.
Although the Clearances began in the 1790s and lasted until the 1880s, they originated in earlier history, particularly in the Jacobite Rebellion and the defeat of the Young Pretender, Charles Edward Stewart, by a combination of North English and Lowland Scottish forces, aided by some Irish, Hessian, and Austrian troops, at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. This victory for Hanoverian Britain signaled the triumph of insurgent market capitalism and modernity over the residual and customary
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Citation: McLaughlin Mitchell, Brooke. "Highland Clearances". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 May 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=195, accessed 21 November 2024.]
