Stephen J. Hornsby

Patterns of Scottish emigration to Canada, 1750–1870

Abstract Based on a sample of 7478 Scottish emigrants, this paper sets out the changing temporal and spatial patterns of Scottish emigration and settlement in pre-Confederation Canada. It identifies where Scottish emigrants came from, where they went in Canada, and whether discrete channels of migration existed. It argues that Scottish emigration consisted of distinct Highland and Lowland flows. Whereas Highland emigration comprised a few major channels of emigration to different parts of Canada, Lowland emigration was relatively diffuse. This was largely due to the community nature of Highland emigration, as compared with the more individualistic Lowland movement.

Nineteenth Century Cape Breton: A Historical Geography

During the North American colonial period, the expansion of European capital and labour into North America created two broad patterns of regional development: agricultural settlement and the exploitation of raw materials or staples. Hornsby examines the development of nineteenth-century Cape Breton in light of these patterns, focusing on the impact of Scottish immigration on the islands settlement and agricultural development, and on the role of mercantile and industrial capital in developing Cape Bretons two great staple industries, cod fishing and coal mining. Hornsby also outlines the reasons for the massive exodus from Cape Breton during the late nineteenth century. The intersection of these two patterns of development gave rise to a distinctive regional geography. Over the course of a hundred years, a complex mosaic of different settlements, economies, and cultures emerged on the island. While the details and circumstances of these developments were unique to the island, elements of the Cape Breton experience were found in other areas of Maritime Canada. Viewed more generally, Hornsby suggests that the historical geography of this small, peripheral island offers a simple, somewhat stark encapsulation of some of the salient developments in the rest of settled Canada during the nineteenth century.