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127-592: The name of the bay is attributed to explorer Jacques Cartier (Baie des Chaleurs). It translates into English as "bay of warmth" or "bay of torrid weather". Chaleur Bay is the 31st member of the Most Beautiful Bays of the World Club. Chaleur Bay is host to an unusual visual phenomenon, the Fireship of Chaleur Bay , an apparition of sorts resembling a ship on fire which has reportedly appeared at several locations in

254-408: A Huguenot courtier and friend of the king named as the first lieutenant general of French Canada . Roberval was to lead the expedition, with Cartier as his chief navigator. While Roberval waited for artillery and supplies, he gave permission to Cartier to sail on ahead with his ships. On May 23, 1541, Cartier departed Saint-Malo on his third voyage with five ships. This time, any thought of finding

381-515: A "reformed Celt", having a Cornish Celtic heritage.) There is little doubt that racism against the Gael formed some part of the story. Roman Catholics had experienced a sequence of discriminatory laws in the period up to 1708. Whilst English versions of these laws were repealed in 1778, in Scotland this did not happen until 1793. However, religious discrimination is not considered, by some historians, to be

508-417: A French expression: " faux comme les diamants du Canada " ("As false as Canadian diamonds"). Two of the ships were sent on their journey home with some of these minerals on September 2. Having set tasks for everyone, Cartier left with the longboats for a reconnaissance in search of "Saguenay" on September 7. Having reached Hochelaga, he was prevented by bad weather and the numerous rapids from continuing up to

635-567: A climax during the Highland Potato Famine of 1846–55. In general terms, the transformation of the Highlands resulted in two different types of rural economy. In the southern and eastern part of the region, as land was enclosed , it was let to fewer tenants, with larger individual holdings. These larger units employed farm servants and labourers and also provided work for cottars and crofters. This workforce included former tenants from

762-621: A commercial economy; rather they rejected the loss of status that the changes of improvement gave them. The first phase of the Clearances occurred mostly over the period 1760 to 1815. However, it started before the Jacobite Rising of 1745, with its roots in the decision of the Dukes of Argyll to put tacks (or leases) of farms and townships up for auction. This began with Campbell property in Kintyre in

889-417: A concoction made from a tree known as annedda , probably Spruce beer , or arbor vitae , would cure scurvy. This remedy likely saved the expedition from destruction, allowing 85 Frenchmen to survive the winter. In his journal, Cartier states that by mid-February, "out of 110 that we were, not ten were well enough to help the others, a pitiful thing to see". The Frenchmen used up the bark of an entire tree in

1016-465: A few landlords displayed complete lack of concern for evicted tenants. The definition of "clearance" (as it relates to the Highland Clearances) is debatable. The term was not in common use during much of the clearances; landowners, their factors and other estate staff tended, until the 1840s, to use the word "removal" to refer to the eviction of tenants. However, by 1843, "clearance" had become

1143-404: A financial trap for their owners. In other cases, spending on famine relief depleted the financial resources of landowners—so even the prudent and responsible could ultimately be forced to increase the income from their estates. Lastly, investments in an estate, whether on roads, drainage, enclosure or other improvements might not realise the anticipated returns. The major financial pressure, though,

1270-627: A general (and derogatory) word to describe the activities of Highland landlords. Its use was ambiguous, as for some it meant only the displacement of large numbers of people from a single place at one time. For others, the eviction of a single tenant at the end of a lease could be termed "clearance". Eric Richards suggests that current usage is broad, meaning "any displacement of occupiers (even of sheep) by Highland landlords". He adds that it can apply to both large and small evictions, and includes voluntary or forced removal and instances involving either emigration or resettlement nearby. T. M. Devine also takes

1397-516: A harbour close to Stadacona, and used his smallest ship to continue on to Hochelaga (now Montreal), arriving on October 2, 1535. Hochelaga was far more impressive than the small and squalid village of Stadacona, and a crowd of over a thousand came to the river's edge to greet the Frenchmen. The site of their arrival has been confidently identified as the beginning of the Sainte-Marie Sault – where

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1524-587: A passage to the Orient was forgotten. The goals were now to find the "Kingdom of Saguenay" and its riches, and to establish a permanent settlement along the St. Lawrence River. Anchoring at Stadacona, Cartier again met the Iroquoians , but found their "show of joy" and their numbers worrisome, and decided not to build his settlement there. Sailing a few kilometres upriver to a spot he had previously observed, he decided to settle on

1651-444: A potential level of protection for tenants. Finally, the landlord might enter bankruptcy, with the estate passing into the hands of administrators whose legal obligation was to protect the financial interests of the creditors. This last case was often the worst outcome for tenants, with any considerations of them having no relevance whatsoever under the law. The 18th century was a time of population growth, almost continuous from

1778-515: A reason for evicting tenants as part of any clearance, and is seen more as a source of voluntary emigration by writers such as Eric Richards. There is one clear (and possibly solitary) case of harassment of Catholics which resulted in eviction by Colin MacDonald of Boisdale (a recent convert to Presbyterianism). This temporarily stalled when the risk of empty farms (and therefore loss of rent) became apparent when voluntary emigration to escape persecution

1905-539: A ship, and that he entered and departed some 50 undiscovered harbours without serious mishap, he may be considered one of the most conscientious explorers of the period. Cartier was also one of the first to formally acknowledge that the New World was a land mass separate from Europe/Asia. On August 18, 2006, Quebec Premier Jean Charest announced that Canadian archaeologists had discovered the precise location of Cartier's lost first colony of Charlesbourg-Royal . The colony

2032-458: A source of finance. The downside to this was a greater readiness of the lender to foreclose—and an increased willingness to lend in the first place, perhaps unwisely. Debt had three possible consequences, all of which were likely to involve the eviction of tenants. The landlord could try to avoid bankruptcy by introducing immediate improvements, putting up rents, clearing tenants to allow higher-paying sheep farmers to be installed. Alternatively,

2159-660: A source of recruitment for the army and navy was, in the words of T. M. Devine, "quite remarkable". Starting in the Seven Years' War (1756–63) and increasing during the American War of Independence , by the time of the Napoleonic Wars, one estimate put the Highland contribution to regiments of the line, militia, Fencibles and Volunteers at 74,000. This was out of a population of about 300,000. Even allowing for this estimate overstating

2286-405: A week on the cure, and the dramatic results prompted Cartier to proclaim it a Godsend, and a miracle. Ready to return to France in early May 1536, Cartier decided to kidnap Chief Donnacona and take him to France, so that he might personally tell the tale of a country further north, called the " Kingdom of Saguenay ", said to be full of gold, rubies and other treasures. After an arduous trip down

2413-532: Is destined to give way ... before the higher capabilities of the Anglo-Saxon.' These views were held by people like Patrick Sellar , the factor employed by the Countess of Sutherland to put her plans into effect, who often wrote of his support for these ideas, and Sir Charles Trevelyan , the senior government representative in organising famine relief during the Highland Potato Famine . (Trevelyan regarded himself as

2540-585: Is not strictly the European discoverer of Canada as this country is understood today, a vast federation stretching a mari usque ad mare (from sea to sea). Eastern parts had previously been visited by the Norse, as well as Basque, Galician and Breton fishermen, and perhaps the Corte-Real brothers and John Cabot (in addition of course to the natives who first inhabited the territory). Cartier's particular contribution to

2667-473: Is that the shepherds employed to manage these flocks were from outside the Highlands. This is an oversimplification, as Gaelic-speaking tacksmen and drovers were to be found in the sheep trade from the 1780s. When sheep were introduced in the Sutherland Clearances, over half the leases were taken up by Sutherlanders. Since their origin in the early Middle Ages, clans were the major social unit of

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2794-503: The Battle of the St. Lawrence . Chaleur Bay is home to a variety of marine life including numerous species of ground fish and shellfish such as lobster and scallops. Additionally, many of the bay's pristine rivers support some of the largest wild Atlantic Salmon remaining in the north Atlantic Ocean , creating a haven for sport angling . While whale watching including endangered targets such as Fin whales are popular attractions in

2921-612: The Edict of Union , Cartier was introduced to King Francis I by Jean Le Veneur , bishop of Saint-Malo and abbot of Mont Saint-Michel , at the Manoir de Brion . The King had previously invited (although not formally commissioned) the Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano to explore the eastern coast of North America on behalf of France in 1524. Le Veneur cited voyages to Newfoundland and Brazil as proof of Cartier's ability to "lead ships to

3048-478: The Industrial Revolution presented an increased demand for food; land came to be seen as an asset to meet this need, and as a source of profit, rather than a means of support for its resident population. Before improvement, Highland agriculture was based on run rig arable areas and common land for grazing. Those working in this system lived in townships or bailtean . Under the run rig system,

3175-582: The National Bank of Canada . In 2005, Cartier's Bref récit et succincte narration de la navigation faite en MDXXXV et MDXXXVI was named one of the 100 most important books in Canadian history by the Literary Review of Canada . Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip reference Jacques Cartier in their 1992 song " Looking for a Place to Happen ". The song deals with the subject of European encroachment in

3302-682: The New World and the eventual annexation of indigenous lands in North America. Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances ( Scottish Gaelic : Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal [ˈfuət̪ɪçən nəŋ ˈɡɛː.əl̪ˠ] , the "eviction of the Gaels ") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands , mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulted from agricultural improvement , driven by

3429-458: The Ottawa River . Returning to Charlesbourg-Royal, Cartier found the situation ominous. The Iroquoians no longer made friendly visits or peddled fish and game, but prowled about in a sinister manner. No records exist about the winter of 1541–1542 and the information must be gleaned from the few details provided by returning sailors. It seems the natives attacked and killed about 35 settlers before

3556-482: The Poor Laws (that would have had the effect of formalising the obligation to feed all the destitute in each parish) was the final impetus to the various assisted emigration measures. In the decades following 1815, the ideological and political consensus changed. Surplus population slowly became thought of as a liability; their need to be fed could not be ignored in a philanthropic age. Therefore, large-scale expatriation

3683-722: The Restigouche River , possibly from the Battle of the Restigouche , and is visible in certain weather and light conditions. A drawing of a ghost wielding an anchor and menacing two sailors can be seen on the city's welcome sign. Chaleur Bay opens to the east with its southern shore formed by the north shore of New Brunswick. The northern shore is formed by the south shore of the Gaspé Peninsula . The bay measures approximately 50 km (27 nmi) in width at its widest point between Bathurst and New Carlisle . The western end of

3810-492: The Statutes of Iona of 1609. The clan members continued to rely on dùthchas . This difference in viewpoints was an inevitable source of grievance. The actions of landlords varied. Some did try to delay or limit evictions, often to their financial cost. The Countess of Sutherland genuinely believed her plans were advantageous for those resettled in crofting communities and could not understand why tenants complained. However,

3937-571: The bridge named after him now stands. The expedition could proceed no further, as the river was blocked by rapids. So certain was Cartier that the river was the Northwest Passage , and that the rapids were all that was preventing him from sailing to China, that the rapids and the town that eventually grew near them came to be named after the French word for China, La Chine : the Lachine Rapids and

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4064-554: The kelp industry . Their reduction in status from farmer to crofter was one of the causes of resentment. The second phase involved overcrowded crofting communities from the first phase that had lost the means to support themselves, through famine and/or collapse of industries that they had relied on. This is when "assisted passages" were common, when landowners paid the fares for their tenants to emigrate . Tenants who were selected for this had, in practical terms, little choice but to emigrate. The Highland Potato Famine struck towards

4191-415: The open fields were divided into equivalent parts and these were allocated, once a year, to each of the occupiers, who then worked their land individually. With no individual leases or ownership of plots of land, there was little incentive to improve it (for instance by drainage or crop rotation systems). Nor, with common grazing, could an individual owner improve the quality of his stock. Enclosure of

4318-462: The 1710s and spread after 1737 to all their holdings. First phase clearances involved break-up of the traditional townships ( bailtean ), the essential element of land management in Scottish Gaeldom. These multiple tenant farms were most often managed by tacksmen. To replace this system, individual arable smallholdings or crofts were created, with shared access to common grazing. This process

4445-485: The 1770s onwards. This was not initially seen as a problem by landlords as people were considered to be an asset—both to provide a pool for military recruitment and as an economic resource. Landowners and the government sought to discourage emigration, an attitude that resulted in the Passenger Vessels Act 1803 , which was intended to limit the ability of people to emigrate. The role of the Highlands in providing

4572-456: The 1850s. It followed the collapse or stagnation of the wartime industries and the continuing rise in population. These economic effects are illustrated by the contemporary commodity prices. Kelp had been falling since 1810; in 1823 the market price in Liverpool was £9 a ton , but it fell to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828, 41% of the 1823 price. Wool prices also shrank over a similar period to a quarter of

4699-596: The 19th century. Particularly in the West Highlands and the Isles, the residents of these small agricultural plots were reliant on potatoes for at least three quarters of their diet. Until 1750, potatoes had been relatively uncommon in the Highlands. With a crop yield four times higher than oats, they became an integral part of crofting. After partial crop failures in 1836 and 1837, a severe outbreak of potato blight arrived in Scotland in 1846. Blight continued to seriously affect

4826-669: The Birds, now the Rochers-aux-Oiseaux federal bird sanctuary , northeast of Brion Island in the Magdalen Islands), his crew slaughtered around 1000 birds, most of them great auks (extinct since 1852). Cartier's first two encounters with aboriginal peoples in Canada on the north side of Chaleur Bay , most likely the Mi'kmaq , were brief; some trading occurred. His third encounter took place on

4953-576: The French fleet lay frozen solid at the mouth of the St. Charles River , under the Rock of Quebec. Ice was over a fathom (1.8 m) thick on the river, with snow four feet (1.2 m) deep ashore. To add to the misery, scurvy broke out – first among the Iroquoians, and then among the French. Cartier estimated the number of dead Iroquoians at 50. On a visit by Domagaya to the French fort, Cartier inquired and learned from him that

5080-476: The Frenchmen could retreat behind their fortifications. Even though scurvy was cured through the native remedy ( Thuja occidentalis infusion), the impression left is of a general misery, and of Cartier's growing conviction that he had insufficient manpower either to protect his base or to go in search of the Saguenay Kingdom. Cartier left for France in early June 1542, encountering Roberval and his ships along

5207-457: The Highland potato crop until about 1856. This was famine of a much greater scale and duration than anything previously experienced. By the end of 1846, the north-west Highlands and the Hebrides had serious food shortages, with an estimated three quarters of the population with nothing to eat. The Highland Potato Famine started a year after potato blight had first struck Ireland. The knowledge of

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5334-523: The Highlands. Large amounts of capital were used to start industrial and commercial enterprises or build infrastructure like roads, bridges and harbours, but the return on this capital was very low by contemporary standards. This wasted investment is described by Eric Richards as "a loss to the national economy to be set beside any gains to be tallied." Some of this expenditure was used to build new towns, such as Bettyhill, which received tenants cleared from Strathnaver. This displacement has been compared to

5461-400: The Highlands. They were headed by a clan chief, with members of his family taking positions of authority under him. The mechanisms of clanship gave protection and agricultural land to the clansmen, who in return paid with service and rent which was paid, especially in earlier periods, mostly in kind (as opposed to money). Service included military service when required. The Highlands was one of

5588-642: The Irish catastrophe helped mobilise a response to the Highland crisis, with government action, the establishment of a large charitable fund (the Central Board for Highland Destitution) and much more responsible landlord behaviour than seen in Ireland. The richer landlords, such as the Duke of Sutherland, were able to fund their own famine relief for their tenants. Some, already overstretched by large debts, were bankrupted by providing

5715-536: The Newfoundland coast, at about the time Roberval marooned Marguerite de La Rocque . Despite Roberval's insistence that he accompany him back to Saguenay, Cartier slipped off under the cover of darkness and continued on to France, still convinced his vessels contained a wealth of gold and diamonds. He arrived there in October, in what proved to be his last voyage. Meanwhile, Roberval took command at Charlesbourg-Royal, but it

5842-542: The Northwest or the Northeast. Tidal currents in this section rarely reach one knot, except at the mouths of some rivers and some channels. Immigration from Arran Island, Scotland: Bryce's The Geology of Arran 1855 notes: "Many years ago, a large population, the largest then collected in any one spot in [the island of] Arran, inhabited [Sannox] glen, and gained a scanty subsistence by fishing and by cultivating fertile plots on

5969-524: The St. Lawrence River—an indispensable preliminary to French settlement in their lands. Cartier was the first to document the name Canada to designate the territory on the shores of the St-Lawrence River. The name is derived from the Huron – Iroquois word kanata , or village, which was incorrectly interpreted as the native term for the newly discovered land. Cartier used the name to describe Stadacona,

6096-514: The St. Lawrence and a three-week Atlantic crossing, Cartier and his men arrived in Saint-Malo on July 15, 1536, concluding the second, 14-month voyage, which was to be Cartier's most profitable. On October 17, 1540, Francis ordered the navigator Jacques Cartier to return to Canada to lend weight to a colonization project of which he would be "captain general". However, January 15, 1541, saw Cartier supplanted by Jean-François de La Rocque de Roberval ,

6223-452: The Statutes of Iona reined in the steady transition to landlordism because the ability to raise a band of fighting men at short notice became important again. The civil war that started in 1638 reinvigorated the military aspects. The restoration of Charles II in 1660 brought peace, but also increased taxes, restarting the financial pressure. The succession of Jacobite rebellions emphasised again

6350-440: The alternative of simple eviction. The potato famine followed shortly after the collapse of the kelp industry. Faced with a severe famine, the government made clear to any reluctant landlords that they had the primary responsibility of feeding their destitute tenants, whether through employment in public works or estate improvement, or simply by the provision of famine relief. The threat of full application, and possible reform, of

6477-656: The associated farm incomes which allowed higher rents to be charged. The origin of some of this debt went back to the Statutes of Iona, when some lairds were forced to live part of the year in Edinburgh – much more expensive than living on their own lands. Profligate spending was a significant cause. The costs of involvement in political activity was a factor for some. The landed classes of the Highlands socialised with southern landowners, who had more diverse sources of income, such as mineral royalties and windfall income from urban expansion. The low productivity of Highland lands made this

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6604-399: The bay can become quite treacherous. Tidal currents are generally weak, except at the mouths of some rivers and certain channels. Its configuration tends to channel the wind for two reasons: the steep cliffs on its North side, and its V shape. This means that in the middle of this section, off Nepisiguit Bay, there is a zone that is particularly windy and subject to high seas if the wind is from

6731-475: The bay transitions into the estuary of the Restigouche River at Dalhousie, New Brunswick . The mouth of the bay is delineated by a line running from "Haut-fond Leander" near Grande-Rivière, Quebec in the north and the "Miscou Shoals" near Miscou Island, New Brunswick in the south. Canadian Hydrographic Service chart number 4486 is the bathymetric navigational data repository for the area. The shores of Chaleur Bay include numerous beaches, particularly in

6858-697: The bay, North Atlantic right whales , one of the rarest whales and had been considered to be rare in Gulf of St. Lawrence region, were recently confirmed to be present in Chaleur Bay more often in recent years. Chaleur Bay is mentioned in John Greenleaf Whittier 's poem, "Skipper Ireson's Ride." 47°50′N 65°30′W  /  47.83°N 65.5°W  / 47.83; -65.5 Jacques Cartier Jacques Cartier ( Breton : Jakez Karter ; 31 December 1491 – 1 September 1557)

6985-438: The bay, the northern shores of Miscou Island and Lameque Island form part of the southern shore of the bay. Heron Island lies near Dalhousie, New Brunswick and is located south of Carleton-sur-Mer , Quebec . The bay's shape and the steep cliffs along its northern shore sometimes create particularly windy conditions especially off Nepisiguit Bay . Under the right wind direction and speed, sea conditions on large areas of

7112-470: The bay. It is possibly linked to similar sightings several hundred kilometres to the south where the Fireship of Northumberland Strait has been seen in the Northumberland Strait . This may have given rise to a phantom ship legend, which dates back more than two centuries. The story (and witnesses) claim that a sailing ship burned in the waters north of the city of Campbellton, New Brunswick on

7239-636: The benefits to those forced to make a new start after eviction. The provision of new accommodation for cleared tenants was often part of a planned piece of social engineering; a large example of this was the Sutherland Clearances, in which farming tenants in the interior were moved to crofts in coastal regions. The intent was that the land allotted to them would not be enough to provide all of their needs, and they would need to seek employment in industries like fishing or as seasonal itinerant farm labourers. The loss of status from tenant farmer to crofter

7366-399: The better climate of the southern and eastern Highlands, the more diverse agricultural system gave a reasonable level of prosperity to the area. Agricultural change in the Hebrides and the western coastal areas north of Fort William produced a different economic and social structure. This area is termed the "crofting region"; crofting communities became the dominant social system here, as land

7493-422: The case, in time of war, the Highlands was seen as a significant recruiting resource. The attitude towards increasing population was altered in the first half of the 19th century. First, the kelp trade collapsed in the years immediately following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. Those working in the kelp trade were crofters, with not enough land to make a living, or cottars, the very poorest in society with

7620-401: The common lands and the run rig fields was a method of improvement. More commonly, there was a greater change in land use: the replacement of mixed farming (in which cattle provided a cash crop) with large-scale sheep farming. This involved displacement of the population to crofts on the same estate, other land in the Highlands, the industrial cities of Scotland or other countries. The common view

7747-591: The context of revolution in France, and caused alarm. As Sheriff Depute, Donald Macleod reported events to the Lord Advocate, Robert Dundas, in Edinburgh, asking for military help. The request was forwarded to London, where Henry Dundas (Robert's uncle) gave orders for the Black Watch to be sent north to assist. Until they arrived, Macleod avoided the risk of any action against the protestors that might not be successful. In

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7874-400: The crofting region (as per T. M. Devine's definition of the term), whilst the "farming" south and east Highlands contained 121,224 people. Agriculture in the Highlands had always been marginal, with famine a recurrent risk for pre-clearance communities. Nevertheless, population levels increased steadily through the 18th and early 19th centuries. This increase continued through nearly all of

8001-585: The discovery of Canada is as the first European to penetrate the continent, and more precisely the interior eastern region along the St. Lawrence River. His explorations consolidated France's claim of the territory that would later be colonized as New France , and his third voyage produced the first documented European attempt at settling North America since that of Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón in 1526–27. Cartier's professional abilities can be easily ascertained. Considering that Cartier made three voyages of exploration in dangerous and hitherto unknown waters without losing

8128-468: The discovery of new lands in the New World". On April 20, 1534, Cartier set sail under a commission from the king, hoping to discover a western passage to the wealthy markets of the East Indies. In the words of the commission, he was to "discover certain islands and lands where it is said that a great quantity of gold and other precious things are to be found". It took him twenty days to sail across

8255-435: The early hours of 5 August, Macleod, a large party of the gentry from the region, and three companies of soldiers moved to where the sheep had been gathered. Most of the protestors fled, but eight were captured in the vicinity and a further four were taken in their homes. The protest rapidly faded away. Eight of the captives were tried on charges of assaulting the sheep farmers who had impounded their cattle, but were acquitted on

8382-423: The end of the 1850s. Eric Richards describes this as a "financial suicide" by an entire class of people. Debt was not a new problem for Highland landowners in the 19th century—it had been equally prevalent in the 17th and 18th. The change was in the lender. The further development of the banking system at the beginning of the 19th century meant that landowners did not need to look to family members or neighbours as

8509-495: The end of this period, giving greater urgency to the process. The eviction of tenants went against dùthchas , the principle that clan members had an inalienable right to rent land in the clan territory. This was never recognised in Scottish law. It was gradually abandoned by clan chiefs as they began to think of themselves simply as commercial landlords, rather than as patriarchs of their people—a process that arguably started with

8636-463: The entrance to the St. Lawrence on his first voyage, he now opened up the greatest waterway for the European penetration of North America. He produced an intelligent estimate of the resources of Canada, both natural and human, albeit with a considerable exaggeration of its mineral wealth. While some of his actions toward the St. Lawrence Iroquoians were dishonourable, he did try at times to establish friendship with them and other native peoples living along

8763-494: The estate could be sold to wipe out the debts. A new owner was highly likely to have plans for improvement which would include clearance. They also had the money to fund assisted passages for cleared tenants to emigrate, so putting into practice ideas suggested in the 1820s and 1830s. As most purchasers were from outside the Highlands or from England, they neither understood nor followed the Gaelic principle of dùthchas , so removing

8890-427: The estate. In some areas, land remained in arable use after clearance but was farmed with more intensive modern methods. Some of the earliest clearances had been to introduce large-scale cattle production. Some later clearances replaced agriculture with sporting estates stocked with deer. There were instances of an estate being first cleared for sheep and later being cleared again for deer. The major transition, however,

9017-464: The first time, and reached the Iroquoian capital of Stadacona , where Chief Donnacona ruled. Cartier claimed a land near St. Lawrence River in 1534; but France paid little attention to the colony for 60 years. Not until King Henry IV sent Samuel de Champlain in 1608 to New France as its governor and built a permanent settlement and a fur-trading post called Quebec . Cartier left his main ships in

9144-520: The good behaviour of the clan. Overall, this reduced the need for the protection provided by a clan whilst increasing the costs for the clan leaders. The clan chiefs who fully subscribed to this new system of regulation were rewarded with charters that formalised their ownership of clan lands. The combination of these initiated the demise of clanship. The process continued as clan chiefs began to think of themselves as landlords, rather than as patriarchs of their people. The various intervals of warfare since

9271-460: The government planned to introduce an 'able-bodied Poor Law', so formally putting the potentially crippling burden of famine relief on each parish (and hence on the landlord); the Central Board made clear that they would wind up their relief effort in 1850. The new Highland landowner class (who had bought financially failing estates) and the remaining wealthier hereditary landlords had the funds to support emigration of their destitute tenants. The result

9398-461: The government would recover the cost of famine relief from those who could provide it, but chose not to. Clearance and emigration were an integral part of the Highland potato famine; the length and severity of the crisis seemed to leave little alternative. The choice faced by the government was between indefinitely continuing with charitable efforts and public works, or removing the excess population permanently. Rumours circulated, from 1849, that

9525-470: The grounds that the violence was self defence. Seven of the prisoners were tried on charges of insurrection and found guilty. The penalties, at a time when the death penalty was frequently used, were mild. The most severe was seven years transportation to Australia for two of the protestors. This was not carried out, because they escaped from the prison cells in the Inverness Tolbooth . No serious attempt

9652-572: The heirs of the wealthier Highlanders to be educated in the Lowlands and required clan chiefs to appear annually in front of the Privy Council in Edinburgh. This exposed the top layer of Highland society to the costs of living in Edinburgh in a manner fitting to their status. Unlike their Lowland counterparts, their lands were less productive and were not well integrated into the money economy. Large financial sureties were taken from clan leaders to guarantee

9779-399: The higher-rent-paying sheep farms. Over time, crofts were subdivided, allowing more tenants to live on them (but with less land per person). Crofting communities had a high proportion of cottars—those with the least access to land and without any formal lease to document what they did hold. Population growth was rapid, due to both subdivision and the lower rate of migration to the Lowlands. When

9906-421: The improvements that required clearance at different times and for different reasons. The common drivers of clearance are as follows: Replacement of the old-style peasant farming with a small number of well-capitalised sheep farmers allowed land to be let at much higher rents. It also had the advantage, for the landowner, that there were fewer tenants to collect rent from, thus reducing the administrative burden of

10033-565: The kelp market collapsed a few years after the end of the Napoleonic Wars , the deficiency of the crofting model was exposed: overcrowded communities with limited or no ability to grow enough food for subsistence and now without the industry on which their community relied. This is the area that was most reliant on the potato, and therefore severely hit by the Highland Potato Famine. The census of 1841 recorded 167,283 people living in

10160-439: The landowner, even if only distantly. They acted as the middle stratum of pre-clearance society, with a significant role in managing the Highland economy. They were the first sector of Gaelic society to feel the effect of the social and economic changes that included the Clearances, when landlords restricted their power to sub-let, so increasing the rental income directly to the laird; simple rent increases were also applied. This

10287-487: The larger farmers who departed at the same time, represented not only a flight of capital from Gaeldom but also a loss of entrepreneurial energy. In the opinion of T. M. Devine, tacksmen and the middle-ranked tenant farmers represented the economic backbone of the peasant communities of the Western Highlands. Devine repeats the views of Marianne McLean, that those of them who emigrated were not refusing to participate in

10414-455: The least access to land on which to grow food. Without alternative employment, which was not available, destitution was inevitable. The landlords (or in some cases the trustees of their bankrupt estates) no longer tried to retain their tenants on their land, either encouraging or assisting emigration, or, in the more desperate circumstances, virtually compelling those in substantial rent arrears to accept an assisted passage (i.e., to emigrate), with

10541-405: The likely consequences. The kelp trade was badly affected by the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and had collapsed totally by 1820. Kelp (or seaweed) was harvested from the seashore at low tide, dried and burnt to yield an alkali extract used in the manufacture of soap and glass. It was a very labour-intensive industry. Production had steadily grown from the 1730s to a peak level in 1810, and

10668-486: The martial aspects of clanship, but the defeat at Culloden brought an end to any willingness to go to war again. The loss of heritable jurisdictions across Scotland highlighted the changed role of clan chiefs. A tacksman (a member of the daoine uaisle , sometimes described as "gentry" in English) was the holder of a lease or "tack" from the landowner, subletting the land to lesser tenants. They were often related to

10795-424: The movement of Glaswegians to Castlemilk in the 1950s—with a similar distance from the original settlement and a comparable level of overall failure of the project to produce the anticipated social benefits. In the second phase of the clearances, when population reduction was the primary intention, the actions of landlords can be viewed as the crudest type of social engineering with a very limited understanding of

10922-538: The necessary relief. The landlord of most of Islay, Walter Frederick Campbell , was a spectacular example. Another whose benevolence during the crisis brought bankruptcy was Norman Macleod of Macleod , owner of one of the two major estates in Skye. Conversely, some landlords were criticised for using the voluntarily raised relief funds to avoid supporting their tenants through the crisis. A few were recipients of strongly critical letters from senior civil servants, with threats that

11049-462: The need for landlords to increase their income – many had substantial debts, with actual or potential bankruptcy being a large part of the story of the clearances. This involved the enclosure of the open fields managed on the run rig system and shared grazing. These were usually replaced with large-scale pastoral farms on which much higher rents were paid. The displaced tenants were expected to be employed in industries such as fishing, quarrying or

11176-672: The ocean. Starting on May 10 of that year, he explored parts of Newfoundland , the Strait of Belle Isle and southern shore of the Labrador Peninsula , the Gaspé and North Shore coastlines on the Gulf of St. Lawrence , and some parts of the coasts of the Gulf's main islands, including Prince Edward Island , Anticosti Island and the Magdalen Islands . During one stop at Îles aux Oiseaux (Islands of

11303-478: The old system. Whilst there were large pastoral farms, there were also mixed and arable farms—both of which needed labour. The population of the south and east Highlands only grew slightly from 1755 to 1841. This is explained by migration to the accessible Lowlands to find work and the relative unavailability of small tenancies. This gave this part of the Highlands some similarities to the Lowland clearances . Together with

11430-605: The only possibility was fishing, which was also in decline at the same time. The overall population of the Western Isles had grown by 80 per cent between 1755 and 1821. The economic collapse of an industry that was a major employer in a greatly over-populated region had an inevitable result. Not only did the level of poverty increase in the general population, but many landlords, failing to make prompt adjustments to their catastrophic fall in income, descended into debt and bankruptcy. The Highlands, as an agriculturally marginal area,

11557-440: The parts of Scotland where law and order were not maintained by central government, hence the need for protection from a powerful leader. Clan leaders controlled the agricultural land, with its distribution generally being achieved through leases to tacksmen, who sublet to the peasant farmers. The basic farming unit was the baile or township, consisting of a few (anything from 4 to 20 or more) families working arable land on

11684-459: The port on the north-east coast of Brittany . Cartier, who was a respectable mariner , improved his social status in 1520 by marrying Mary Catherine des Granches, member of a leading aristocratic family. His good name in Saint-Malo is recognized by its frequent appearance in baptismal registers as godfather or witness. In 1534, two years after the Duchy of Brittany was formally united with France in

11811-449: The price obtained in 1818, and black cattle nearly halved in price between 1810 and the 1830s. In the second phase, landlords moved to the more draconian policy of expelling people from their estates. This was increasingly associated with 'assisted emigration', in which landlords cancelled rent arrears and paid the passage of the 'redundant' families in their estates to North America and, in later years, also to Australia. The process reached

11938-405: The run rig management system, and grazing livestock on common land. Clans provided an effective business model for running the trade in black cattle: the clan gentry managed the collection of those beasts ready for sale and negotiated a price with lowland drovers for all the stock produced on the clan lands. The sale proceeds were offset against the rentals of the individual producers. The growth in

12065-458: The severity of famines in the pre-clearance Highlands: in 1845, the Sutherland estate management argued among themselves over the level of famine relief that had been needed in the past, including this opinion: "The cattle on Sutherland were that Spring dying from scarcity of provender... and this is the condition to which your morbid Philanthropists of the present day refer as the days of comfort for

12192-540: The sheep and drive them south over the River Beauly . It was put into effect in a highly organised manner, gathering all the sheep in the area (except that of Donald Macleod of Geanies, the Sheriff Depute of Ross - perhaps out of either fear or respect for him). The first flocks were gathered on the 31 July and by 4 August many thousand sheep had been collected. The protest was seen by local landowners and law officers in

12319-543: The shores of Gaspé Bay with a party of St. Lawrence Iroquoians , where on July 24 he planted a cross to claim the land for France. The 10-metre cross bearing the words "Long Live the King of France" claimed possession of the territory in the King's name. The change in mood was a clear indication that the Iroquoians understood Cartier's actions. Here he kidnapped the two sons of their chief, Donnacona . Cartier wrote that they later told him this region where they were captured (Gaspé)

12446-630: The site of present-day Cap-Rouge , Quebec. The convicts and other colonists were landed, the cattle that had survived three months aboard ship were turned loose, earth was broken for a kitchen garden, and seeds of cabbage, turnip, and lettuce were planted. A fortified settlement was thus created and was named Charlesbourg-Royal . Another fort was also built on the cliff overlooking the settlement, for added protection. The men also began collecting what they believed to be diamonds and gold, but which upon return to France were discovered to be merely quartz crystals and iron pyrites , respectively—which gave rise to

12573-484: The south. Many rivers also form barachois or barrier beaches . The Eel River Bar is one such beach, located at the mouth of the Eel River, immediately to the west of the village of Charlo, New Brunswick . This sand bar is unique, in that it not only has fresh water on one side and salt water on the other, but it is also home to the endangered piping plover . Tourism in the region has been driven mainly by beachgoers in

12700-633: The summer months. The warm ocean currents emitting from the larger Gulf of Saint Lawrence result in some of the warmest saltwater on the Atlantic coast north of Virginia. The estuaries of various rivers emptying into the bay create a prominent smell of salt water, notably in the estuary of the Restigouche River. The following major rivers flow into the bay: Quebec: New Brunswick (from north to south): Between Quebec and New Brunswick: Chaleur Bay has several islands. Although not entirely located within

12827-607: The sunny hill-sides. In 1832, the whole of the families amounting to 500 persons, were obliged [in the Scottish Highland Clearances ] to leave the island, but were furnished with the means of reaching New Brunswick. They formed a settlement at Chaleur Bay, which became very prosperous". The eastern end of Chaleur Bay was the site of the Royal Canadian Navy 's Operation Pointe Maisonnette in September 1943, during

12954-502: The surrounding land and the river itself. And Cartier named Canadiens the inhabitants ( Iroquoians ) he had seen there. Thereafter the name Canada was used to designate the small French colony on these shores, and the French colonists were called Canadiens until the mid-nineteenth century, when the name started to be applied to the loyalist colonies on the Great Lakes and later to all of British North America . In this way Cartier

13081-399: The time of the clearances, peaking in 1851, at around 300,000. Emigration was part of Highland history before and during the clearances, and reached its highest level after them. During the first phase of the clearances, emigration could be considered a form of resistance to the loss of status being imposed by a landlord's social engineering . Different landowners decided to introduce

13208-578: The tip of the Great Northern Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador in the town of Quirpon , is said to have been named by Jacques Cartier himself on one of his voyages through the Strait of Belle Isle during the 1530s. The Banque Jacques-Cartier existed, and printed banknotes, between 1861 and 1899 in Lower Canada , then Quebec. It was folded into the Banque provinciale du Canada, and later still

13335-495: The town of Lachine, Quebec . After spending two days among the people of Hochelaga, Cartier returned to Stadacona on October 11. It is not known exactly when he decided to spend the winter of 1535–1536 in Stadacona, and it was by then too late to return to France. Cartier and his men prepared for the winter by strengthening their fort, stacking firewood, and salting down game and fish . From mid-November 1535 to mid-April 1536,

13462-410: The trade in cattle demonstrates the ability of pre-clearance Highland society to adapt to and exploit market opportunities—making clear that this was not an immutable social system. James VI was one of the kings who sought to impose control on the Highlands. On becoming James I of England in 1603, he gained the military force to do this. The Statutes of Iona controlled some key aspects; this forced

13589-699: The view that "clearance" has a broader meaning now than when it was used in the 19th century. The first phase of the Highland Clearances was part of the Scottish Agricultural Revolution but happened later than the same process in the Scottish Lowlands . Scottish agriculture in general modernised much more rapidly than in England and, to a large extent, elsewhere in Europe. The growing cities of

13716-454: The wretched Highlanders." (11 June 1845 letter to James Loch). Even accepting the level of debate on the subject among historians and the incomplete body of evidence, there is a clear case that, for example, pre-clearance Strathnaver (in Sutherland) experienced recurrent famine in a society operating at the margin of subsistence. Crofting communities became more common in the early part of

13843-586: Was a French- Breton maritime explorer for France . Jacques Cartier was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River , which he named "The Country of Canadas" after the Iroquoian names for the two big settlements he saw at Stadacona (Quebec City) and at Hochelaga (Montreal Island) . Jacques Cartier was born in 1491 in Saint-Malo ,

13970-768: Was abandoned in 1543 after disease, foul weather and hostile natives drove the would-be settlers to despair. Cartier spent the rest of his life in Saint-Malo and his nearby estate, where he often was useful as an interpreter in Portuguese. He died at age 65 on September 1, 1557, during an epidemic, possibly of typhus , though many sources list his cause of death as unknown. Cartier is interred in Saint-Malo Cathedral . No permanent European settlements were made in Canada before 1605, when Pierre Dugua , with Samuel Champlain , founded Port Royal in Acadia . Having already located

14097-496: Was built at the confluence of the Rivière du Cap Rouge with the St. Lawrence River and is based on the discovery of burnt wooden timber remains that have been dated to the mid-16th century, and a fragment of a decorative Istoriato plate manufactured in Faenza , Italy, between 1540 and 1550, that could only have belonged to a member of the French aristocracy in the colony. Most probably this

14224-433: Was called by them Honguedo . The natives' chief at last agreed that they could be taken, under the condition that they return with European goods to trade. Cartier returned to France in September 1534, sure that he had reached an Asian land. Jacques Cartier set sail for a second voyage on May 19 of the following year with three ships, 110 men, and his two Iroquoian captives. Reaching the St. Lawrence, he sailed upriver for

14351-458: Was considered as a solution to the social crisis in the Highlands. The ideas of Malthus were adopted by many in a position to influence policy. The Passenger Vessels Act was repealed in 1827 and in 1841 a select committee of the House of Commons concluded that the crofting parishes had a surplus population of 45,000 to 60,000. The primary motivation for clearance was economic. Associated with this

14478-521: Was enclosed and the run rig management of the multi-tenant baile replaced. The major part of the land was given over to large-scale pastoral sheep farming. This provided few jobs, compared to the arable and mixed farms in the south and east Highlands. The main industries intended for those displaced to crofting communities were fishing and kelp. Initially, this seemed, to the landlords and their advisors, an ideal way of providing profitable employment for those made redundant by competition for farm leases by

14605-577: Was for the benefit of those affected. Patrick Sellar , the factor (agent) of the Countess of Sutherland , was descended from a paternal grandfather who had been a cottar in Banffshire and had been cleared by an improving landlord. For the Sellars, this initiated a process of upward mobility (Patrick Sellar was a lawyer and a graduate of Edinburgh University), which Sellar took to be a moral tale that demonstrated

14732-401: Was let to sheep farmers who repeatedly impounded the cattle of neighbouring tenants, alleging that they had strayed onto the sheep grazing. Eventually the owners of the cattle obtained the help from tenants of a nearby estate, and went and recovered their stock after an angry confrontation. Emboldened by this success, a few days later, at a wedding celebration, a plan was developed to round up all

14859-400: Was mostly located in the Hebrides. The end of war reintroduced competition from Spanish barilla , a cheaper and richer product. This, combined with the reduction of duty on the foreign import, and the discovery that cheaper alkali could be extracted from common salt, destroyed the seasonal employment of an estimated 25 to 40 thousand crofters. There was little prospect of alternative employment;

14986-444: Was often accompanied by moving the people from the interior straths and glens to the coast, where they were expected to find employment in, for example, the kelp or fishing industries. The properties they had formerly occupied were then converted into large sheep holdings. Essentially, therefore, this phase was characterised by relocation rather than outright expulsion. The second phase of clearance started in 1815–20, continuing to

15113-531: Was one of the reasons for the resentment of the Clearances. The planned acts of social engineering needed investment. This money often originated from fortunes earned outside Scotland, whether from the great wealth of Sir James Matheson (the second son of a Sutherland tacksman, who returned from the Far East with a spectacular fortune), the more ordinary profits from Empire of other returning Scots, or Lowland or English industrialists attracted by lower land values in

15240-430: Was part of a slow phasing out of this role; it accelerated from the 1770s, and by the next century, tacksmen were a minor component of society. T. M. Devine describes "the displacement of this class as one of the clearest demonstrations of the death of the old Gaelic society." Many emigrated to America, in the words of Eric Richards: "often cocking a snook at the landlords as they departed". Emigrating tacksmen, and

15367-493: Was possible. However, in 1771, thirty-six families did not have their leases renewed (out of some 300 families who were tenants of Boisdale); 11 of these emigrated the next year with financial assistance from the Roman Catholic church. In 1792 tenant farmers from Strathrusdale led a protest by driving more than 6,000 sheep off the land surrounding Ardross . It was the first large protest over clearances. It started when land

15494-622: Was that almost 11,000 people were provided with "assisted passages" by their landlords between 1846 and 1856, with the greatest number travelling in 1851. A further 5,000 emigrated to Australia, through the Highland and Island Emigration Society . To this should be added an unknown, but significant number, who paid their own fares to emigrate, and a further unknown number assisted by the Colonial Land and Emigration Commission . Many Highland landlords were in debt, despite rising commodity prices and

15621-452: Was the Sieur de Roberval , who replaced Cartier as the leader of the settlement. This colony was the first known European settlement in modern-day Canada since the c. 1000 L'Anse aux Meadows Viking village in northern Newfoundland . Its rediscovery has been hailed by archaeologists as the most important find in Canada since the L'Anse aux Meadows rediscovery. Jacques Cartier Island, located on

15748-400: Was the end of the Napoleonic Wars, which had supported high prices for the small range of commodities produced in the Highlands. The extent of indebtedness among Highland landowners was enormous. The evidence of this is the very high number of hereditary lands that were sold, especially in the first half of the 19th century. Over two-thirds of Highland estates had changed hands in this way by

15875-471: Was the last part of mainland Britain to remain at risk of famine, with notable instances before the 19th century in 1680, 1688, the 1690s, 1740–1, 1756 and 1782–3. The history of the trade in meal suggests that the region balanced this import with exporting cattle, leading to a substantial reliance on trade for survival that was greater than anywhere else in Britain. There was near-contemporaneous dispute as to

16002-475: Was the suggestion by some theorists that the Celtic population were less hardworking than those of Anglo-Saxon stock (i.e., Lowlanders and, in some instances, English), so giving an economic element to a racial theory. James Hunter quotes a contemporary Lowland newspaper: 'Ethnologically the Celtic race is an inferior one and, attempt to disguise it as we may, there is ... no getting rid of the great cosmical fact that it

16129-564: Was to pastoral agriculture based on sheep. The most productive sheep were the Cheviot , allowing their owners to pay twice as much rent as if they had stocked with Blackfaces . The Cheviot's disadvantage was that it was less hardy and needed low-level land on which to overwinter. This was usually the old arable land of the evicted population, so the choice of sheep breed dictated the totality of clearance in any particular Highland location. Some of those carrying out clearances believed that this

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