SAORSA MEDIA LIBRARY

The Highlands are the mountainous parts of Scotland, mostly in the north and west. The Western Isles (also called the "Hebrides") are part of this same cultural zone. Although the Northern Isles remained in the orbit of Norse culture, and the Lowlands became dominated by Anglophone culture, the old language and culture of Scotland were preserved in the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland.

By the eighteenth century, the isolation of the Highlands and Western Isles was broken, and its people and way of life subjugated by English-speaking peoples. During the social and economic hardships that followed, Highlanders often found relief through emigration to America.

The Saorsa Media Library contains a great deal of information about the Scottish Highlanders in their original home in Scotland, and in their adopted home of North America. These texts are largely taken from the books A Handbook of the Scottish Gaelic World and We're Indians Sure Enough.

You can also download the free booklet Highland Settlers (2.9 megabytes in PDF format) about Scottish Highland immigrants in North America.