Scottish Immigration to Canada
Scots have emigrated to Canada since the early 1600s. One reason is that Scotland is land poor. Many farmers, or “crofters,” as they were called in Scotland, turned to the New World to find better farm land.
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Early Colony
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One of the earliest colonies founded by Scottish immigrants in Canada was Nova Scotia, which means “New Scotland.” The colony was established in Halifax in 1629, according to an article by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG on Scottish migration.
Reasons for Emigration
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Beginning in the late 17th century, emigration from Scotland to all of North America, including Canada, began to increase, according to the University of Waterloo. One reason for this increase was a series of terrible defeats suffered by the loyalist armies of Scotland at the hands of British armies under Oliver Cromwell, as well as the subsequent oppression of the Scottish peoples.
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Reasons for Immigration
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Many crofters were systematically disenfranchised of their land by the English, well into the 18th century. Whole families began to emigrate to Canada and North America as early as 1680, according to the University of Waterloo.
Scottish Ancestry
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To date, around five million Canadians can trace their ancestry back to Scottish immigration, according to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website. Areas where Scots settled in Canada include Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Manitoba.
Passenger Lists
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Tracking Scottish immigration to Canada and North America is difficult because emigration records were not kept for Scottish emigrates, as they were for other nationalities. Immigration to Canada is often best tracked by examining individual passenger ship lists from Scottish ports such as Dundee, Aberdeen and Glasgow, according to Scotlands Family.
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