Scottish Communities Abroad in the Early Modern Period

This collection draws together the leading scholars of Scottish overseas community development for the first time. They were not simply asked to submit papers but were challenged to consider new theoretical concerns, the work of fellow contributors to the collection and contrast their findings with equivalent research from elsewhere. In a unique conclusion to a collection, a panel of European experts tested the veracity of the resulting claims and considered their international relevance. Professor T.C. Smout, FBA (Historiographer Royal in Scotland), declared the collection “a breakthrough, surely the biggest advance in the field for a hundred years” confirming its significance.

Scholarship in this genre usually celebrates contact by one ethnic group (e.g. Scots) as they settle in another location (e.g. Denmark), but often over extended time-periods (sometimes up to 1000 years). Uniquely, this collection addressed community developments in multiple locations but focussed on the same time period. Through extensive intra-contributor dialogue, innovative methodology and European contextualisation, the collection delivers a rigorously researched and original contribution of relevance far beyond Scottish history. As Professor Ohlmeyer observed “In an excellent introduction, the editors provide helpful working definitions of 'community' and offer conceptual frameworks that others might usefully borrow”. Professor Jane H. Ohlmeyer, The Historical Journal, vol. 50 no. 2, (2007)

Other Reviews:
"This is clearly an impressive, far-reaching volume that ads much to our understanding of Scottish migrant communities in the early modern period." Derek J. Patrick, Journal of Early Modern History vol. 10 no. 3, (2006)

“Certainly,a kaleidoscopic range of "Scottish communities abroad" have been interpreted here, as they should be, within multi-national, multi-ethnic settings. Sociological models are employed effectively by the editors (pp.2-3, 22), who acknowledge that community members could be "atypical of the place where they come from," besides there being cases where Scottish emigration did not lead to the establishment of a Scottish community (p.20). Such humility shows the degree of thoughtfulness that went into the volume, the fruits of long and arduous work, which will surely inspire others to research further in the field.”
David Worthington, H-Net Atlantic, March 2006.