Editing Outer Hebrides (section)

=== British era ===
[[File:Old School house Mingulay.jpg|thumb|left|Abandoned school house, [[Mingulay]]]]

With the implementation of the [[Treaty of Union]] in 1707 the Hebrides became part of the new [[Kingdom of Great Britain]], but the clans' loyalties to a distant monarch were not strong. A considerable number of islandmen "came out" in support of the Jacobite [[Earl of Mar]] in the [[Jacobite rising of 1715|"15"]] although the response to the [[Jacobite rising of 1745|1745 rising]] was muted.<ref name=R42/> Nonetheless the aftermath of the decisive [[Battle of Culloden]], which effectively ended Jacobite hopes of a Stuart restoration, was widely felt. The British government's strategy was to estrange the clan chiefs from their kinsmen and turn their descendants into English-speaking landlords whose main concern was the revenues their estates brought rather than the welfare of those who lived on them. This may have brought peace to the islands, but in the following century it came at a terrible price.

The [[Highland Clearances]] of the 19th century destroyed communities throughout the [[Highlands and Islands]] as the human populations were evicted and replaced with sheep farms.<ref>Hunter (2000) p. 212</ref> For example, Colonel [[John Gordon (soldier)|Gordon]] of [[Cluny Castle|Cluny]], owner of Barra, South Uist and Benbecula, evicted thousands of islanders using trickery and cruelty, and even offered to sell Barra to the government as a penal colony.<ref>Rotary Club (1995) p. 31</ref> Islands such as {{lang|gd|italic=unset|[[Fuaigh Mòr]]}} were completely cleared of their populations and even today the subject is recalled with bitterness and resentment in some areas.<ref>Haswell-Smith (2004) pp.&nbsp;306–07</ref> The position was exacerbated by the failure of the islands' [[kelp]] industry, which thrived from the 18th century until the end of the [[Napoleonic Wars]] in 1815<ref>Hunter (2000) pp. 247, 262</ref> and large scale emigration became endemic. For example, hundreds left North Uist for [[Cape Breton]], [[Nova Scotia]].<ref>Lawson, Bill (10 September 1999) [http://globalgenealogy.com/globalgazette/gazbl/gazbl35.htm "From The Outer Hebrides to Cape Breton - Part II"]. globalgenealogy.com. Retrieved 14 October 2007.</ref> The pre-clearance population of the island had been almost 5,000, although by 1841 it had fallen to 3,870 and was only 2,349 by 1931.<ref>Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 236</ref><ref name="USNU"/>

The [[Highland potato famine]] (Gaiseadh a’ bhuntàta, in Scottish Gaelic), caused by a blight, started in 1846 and had a serious impact, because many islanders were crofters; potatoes were a staple of their diet.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://darachcroft.com/news/harris-tweed-and-the-highland-potato-famine |title=Harris Tweed and the Highland Potato Famine}}</ref> Violent riots became common.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/books/book-review-insurrection-james-hunter-1403805 |title=Book review, Insurrection, Scotland's Famine Winter, by James Hunter |date=30 October 2019}}</ref> Charities, encouraged by George Pole<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pressreader.com/uk/scottish-field/20200303/281569472715194 |title=Scotland's Potato Famine, 3 March 2020}}</ref> and others in the Commissariat (a military agency) encouraged charities to come to the rescue. The Free Church was particularly helpful, "delivering oatmeal to famine-affected families all across the West Highlands and Islands", according to one report. Another report states that the Church "was prompt in organising an efficient system of private charity across the Hebrides and on the Western seaboard. It cooperated with the Edinburgh and Glasgow Relief Committees".<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://journals.openedition.org/mimmoc/1763 |title=The Irish Famine in a Scottish Perspective 1845-1851 |year=2015 |doi=10.4000/mimmoc.1763 |last=Vaughan |first=Géraldine |journal=Mémoire(S), Identité(S), Marginalité(S) dans le Monde Occidental Contemporain |issue=12 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.electricscotland.com/history/scotland/chap10.htm |title=The Highland Tragedy}}</ref>

An interdenominational charity was in place by early 1847 and took the most significant role in famine relief.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rte.ie/history/the-great-irish-famine/2020/0716/1153640-the-other-famine-scotland-and-the-potato-blight/ |title=The other famine: Scotland and the potato blight 11 December 2020 |date=16 July 2020 |last=Hunter |first=James |website=[[RTÉ.ie]]}}</ref> Some landowners also provided a great deal of assistance, according to one history of the region: "MacLeod of Dunvegan bought in food for his people, some eight thousand of them" ... MacLean of Ardgour provided food, and introduced new crops into the area - peas, cabbages and carrots ... Sir James Matheson on Lewis spent £329,000 (Equivalent to £37,000,000 in 2024<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inflation calculator |url=https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator |access-date=2024-06-02 |website=www.bankofengland.co.uk |language=en}}</ref>)  on improving his lands, hoping to provide a more secure future for his people". The government of Britain provided some assistance, thanks to Sir [[Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet|Charles Trevelyan]], who arranged for food distribution at Portree and Tobermory. The ''British Association for the Relief of Distress in Ireland and the Highlands and Islands of Scotland'' also helped as did donations received from North America.  The blight struck again over the next two years, requiring an extra tax on landowners to help feed the population. The British government began encouraging mass emigration.<ref>{{cite journal| url = https://journals.openedition.org/mimmoc/1763| title = The Irish Famine in a Scottish Perspective 1845-1851| year = 2015| doi = 10.4000/mimmoc.1763| last1 = Vaughan| first1 = Géraldine| journal = Mémoire(S), Identité(S), Marginalité(S) dans le Monde Occidental Contemporain| issue = 12| doi-access = free}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.electricscotland.com/history/scotland/chap10.htm| title = The Highland Tragedy}}</ref>

For those who remained new economic opportunities emerged through the export of cattle, commercial fishing and tourism. During the summer season in the 1860s and 1870s five thousand inhabitants of Lewis could be found in [[Wick, Highland|Wick]] on the mainland of Scotland, employed on the fishing boats and at the quaysides.<ref>Hunter (2000) p. 292</ref> Nonetheless emigration and military service became the choice of many<ref>Hunter (2000) p. 343</ref> and the archipelago's populations continued to dwindle throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries. By 2001 the population of North Uist was only 1,271.<ref name=GRO /><ref name="USNU">[http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/northuist/northuist/index.html "North Uist ({{lang|gd|Uibhist a Tuath|nocat=y}})"] Undiscovered Scotland. Retrieved 8 July 2010.</ref>

The work of the [[Napier Commission]] and the [[Congested Districts Board (Scotland)|Congested Districts Board]], and the passing of the [[Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886|Crofting Act of 1886]] helped, but social unrest continued.<ref>Hunter (2000) p. 320</ref> In July 1906 grazing land on [[Vatersay]] was raided by landless men from Barra and its isles. [[Emily Gordon Cathcart|Lady Gordon Cathcart]] took legal action against the "raiders" but the visiting judge took the view that she had neglected her duties as a landowner and that "long indifference to the necessities of the cottars had gone far to drive them to exasperation".<ref>Buxton (1995) p. 125</ref> Millennia of continuous occupation notwithstanding, many of the remoter islands were abandoned — [[Mingulay]] in 1912, [[Hirta]] in 1930, and {{lang|gd|[[Ceann Iar]]}} in 1942 among them. This process involved a transition from these places being perceived as relatively self-sufficient agricultural economies<ref>See for example Hunter (2000) pp. 152–158</ref> to a view becoming held by both island residents and outsiders alike that they lacked the essential services of a modern industrial economy.<ref>See for example Maclean (1977) Chapter 10: "Arcady Despoiled" pp. 125–35</ref>

There were gradual economic improvements, among the most visible of which was the replacement of the traditional thatched [[blackhouse]] with accommodation of a more modern design.{{When|date=January 2023}} The creation of the [[Highlands and Islands Development Board]] and the discovery of substantial deposits of [[North Sea oil]] in 1965, the establishment of a unitary local authority for the islands in 1975 and more recently the [[renewable energy in Scotland|renewables sector]] have all contributed to a degree of economic stability in recent decades. The [[Arnish yard]] has had a chequered history but has been a significant employer in both the oil and renewables industries.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7136490.stm |title=Yard wins biggest wind tower job |work=[[BBC News Online]] |date=10 December 2007 |access-date=6 January 2011 }}</ref> {{lang|gd|Comhairle nan Eilean Siar}}, the local authority, employs 2,000 people, making it the largest employer in the Outer Hebrides.<ref>[http://www.cne-siar.gov.uk/services/jobs.asp?servicename=Jobs%20and%20careers&snlid=379 "Jobs and Careers"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218102557/http://www.cne-siar.gov.uk/services/jobs.asp?servicename=Jobs%20and%20careers&snlid=379 |date=18 December 2010 }}. {{lang|gd|Comhairle nan Eilean Siar}}. Retrieved 6 January 2011.</ref> See also the "{{lang|gd|Innse Gall}} area plan 2010"<ref>[http://www.hie.co.uk/highlands-and-islands/area-information/outer-hebrides/ "Outer Hebrides/{{lang|gd|Innse Gall|nocat=y}} - area overview"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203213705/http://www.hie.co.uk/highlands-and-islands/area-information/outer-hebrides/ |date=3 February 2011 }}. {{lang|gd|Innse Gall}} area plan 2010 (pdf) HIE. Retrieved 3 January 2011.</ref> and the {{lang|gd|Comhairle}}'s "Factfile – Economy".<ref name="FF"/>