Editing Scottish Highlands (section)

=== Economy ===
Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West.<ref name="Richards 2013" />{{rp|415–16}} Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of [[oatmeal|meal]] into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century.{{r|Richards 2013|p=48–49}} Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West, was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, [[run rig]] based, communal farming that existed before [[Scottish Agricultural Revolution|agricultural improvement]] was introduced into the region.{{efn|It has been estimated that only 9% of the land in the Highlands is suitable for cultivation.{{r|Devine 2018|p=18}}}} Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed [[Scotch whisky#History|whisky]] that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way.{{r|Devine 2018|p=24}} The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes.<ref name="Devine 1994" />{{rp|119–34}}

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, [[Factor (Scotland)|factors]], land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of [[Adam Smith]] were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities.{{r|Devine 2018|p=141}} Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land.<ref name="Richards 1985">{{Cite book |last=Richards |first=Eric |title=A History of the Highland Clearances, Volume 2: Emigration, Protest, Reasons |date=1985 |publisher=Croom Helm Ltd. |isbn=978-0-7099-2259-9 |location=Beckenham, Kent and Sydney, Australia}}</ref>{{rp|417}}  In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, [[enclosure]] of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as [[turnip]]s), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the [[Highland clearances]], of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.<ref name="Devine 1995">{{Cite book |last=Devine |first=T M |title=The Great Highland Famine: Hunger, Emigration and the Scottish Highlands in the Nineteenth Century |date=1995 |publisher=Birlinn Limited |isbn=1-904607-42-X |location=Edinburgh}}</ref>{{rp|1–12}}

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created [[crofting]] communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.{{r|Devine 1995|p=1–12}}

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected.<ref name="Lynch">{{Cite book |last=Lynch |first=Michael |url=https://archive.org/details/scotlandnewhisto0000lync |title=Scotland, a New History |date=1991 |publisher=Pimlico |isbn=978-0-7126-9893-1 |edition=1992 |location=London |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|370–71}} This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, [[potato blight]] arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the [[Highland potato famine|famine]] struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. [[Tom Devine|T M Devine]] points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms.{{r|Devine 1995|p=93–95}} Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.{{r|Devine 1995|p=146–66}}

The unequal [[concentration of land ownership]] remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thomas Martin Devine |url=https://archive.org/details/scottishnation170000devi |title=The Scottish Nation |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-670-88811-5 |chapter=Chapter 18 |url-access=registration}}</ref> Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This [[Evangelicalism|evangelical]] movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the [[Highland Land League]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=James Hunter |year=1974 |title=The Emergence of the Crofting Community: The Religious Contribution 1798–1843 |journal=Scottish Studies |volume=18 |pages=95–116}}</ref>
Violence erupted, starting on the [[Isle of Skye]], when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the [[Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886]] to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ian Bradley |date=December 1987 |title='Having and Holding' – The Highland Land War of the 1880s |url=http://www.historytoday.com/ian-bradley/having-and-holding-highland-land-war-1880s |journal=History Today |volume=37 |issue=12 |pages=23–28 |access-date=8 March 2013}}</ref> This contrasted with the [[Irish Land War]] underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] gained their votes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ewen A. Cameron |date=June 2005 |title=Communication or Separation? Reactions to Irish Land Agitation and Legislation in the Highlands of Scotland, c. 1870–1910 |journal=English Historical Review |volume=120 |issue=487 |pages=633–66 |doi=10.1093/ehr/cei124}}</ref>

==== Whisky production ====
[[File:Distillery from the pier - geograph.org.uk - 1302806.jpg|thumb|Oban distillery from the pier]]
[[File:Scotch regions.svg|right|thumb|The regions of Scotch whisky]]
Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except [[Islay]], as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Highland Distilleries – Whisky Tours, Tastings & Map |url=https://www.visitscotland.com/see-do/food-drink/whisky/distilleries/highland/ |website=www.visitscotland.com}}</ref> According to one source, the top five are [[The Macallan distillery | Macallan]], [[Glenfiddich distillery | Glenfiddich]], [[Aberlour distillery | Aberlour]], [[Glenfarclas distillery | Glenfarclas]], and [[Balvenie distillery | Balvenie]]. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions.<ref name="manofmany.com">{{Cite news |last=Osborn |first=Jacob |date=13 August 2019 |title=A Comprehensive Guide to Scotland's Whisky Regions |work=Man of Many |url=https://manofmany.com/lifestyle/drinks/guide-to-scotland-whisky-regions}}</ref> [[Speyside single malt]] whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.<ref name="manofmany.com" />

According to ''Visit Scotland'', Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Whisky Distilleries in the Highlands |url=https://www.visitscotland.com/see-do/food-drink/whisky/distilleries/highland/ |access-date=25 August 2021 |website=VisitScotland}}</ref> Another review<ref name="manofmany.com" /> states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".