Abstract
This chapter assesses the case for categorising migration from Scotland as a national ‘diaspora’, rather than a mere sub-stream of British or European migration. Focused on the period of mass migration between the 1850s and the Great War, it places Scottish emigration on a scale stretching between the massive exodus from post-Famine Ireland and the much less intense movement from industrialising England. A number of tests are applied to published studies of the ‘Scottish diaspora’, concerning its magnitude, economic context, ‘national’ character, success (as measured by the economic performance of emigrants), ethnic group-formation in the various countries of settlement, and reverse impact on the homeland. Statistical tables based on published but underused official returns are used to explore issues requiring further analysis. The chapter concludes that Scotland’s claim to a distinctive and coherent national diaspora has yet to be fully tested and vindicated, while declaring that the case has been presented with impressive erudition and panache.
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