Scottish people

Scottish ethnicity is a term used to describe the historical backgrounds and family roots of the native people of Scotland. It has two aspects, the genetic and the cultural.

The people of present day Scotland are mainly descended from five ethnic groups, two Celtic, two Germanic, and one of indeterminate origin.

The Brythonic-speaking British who were a Celtic people akin to the Welsh and who once lived in the territory south of the Forth and Clyde.
The Picts, of undetermined origin, who occupied the country north of the Forth and Clyde.

These two nations were present at the time of the earliest historical record but the Picts have left virtually no written record of themselves so little first-hand knowledge of their history or ephemeral culture exists. Ancient legends indicate they had origins in "the east" (Baltic), or in "Scythia" (the Steppes). These legends cannot be verified.

The Scots (or Gaels) came from Ireland from the third century onward. Over a prolonged period, they spread from their initial colony in Argyll. There was a secondary colonization in Galloway, in the territory of the British.

Two of the above three were Celtic. The Picts may have had some Celtic roots as well, but at this time their origins remain unknown.

The Angles moved into south-east Scotland from the fifth century and probably intermarried with the British already there. Their attempts to spread north and west of Edinburgh were short-lived.
The Scandinavians invaded northern and western Scotland in the 9th century and to some extent, intermarried with the Scots.

These last two were Germanic or closely related to Germanic.

A complex heritage

The Scots (or Gaels) who came from Ireland, the Picts (the aborigines whose antecedents are unknown) and the Brythonic-speaking Celts (akin to the Welsh) who once lived in the territory south of the Forth and Clyde, are the Celtic nationalities. The Scandinavians, as with the Scandinavian colonization of England, were principally from Norway in the north and west but were also Danes, in the east of the country. They arrived in the 9th century and, in time, intermarried with the Scots. The Angles had moved into south-east Scotland a couple of centuries before and intermarried with the Brythonic-speaking people already there.

After the Norman magnates had conquered England, they moved on to exert political influence in Scotland. While this was significant in Scottish political history, except at the highest social levels, it was not a great influence on the ethnic mix in Scotland. In addition and later, Scotland took over the Norwegian territory of Orkney and Shetland.

The most evident influence on the explicitly Scottish, modern culture comes from the (Irish) Scots, it is therefore akin to that of the Irish but clearly distinct, However, many people of Scotland share much common heritage with the people of Scandinavia and modern day England. In the Pictish heartland around Fife, there is a consciousness of the distinctive Pictish legacy, including facial features. As nearly everywhere, the international culture, with Euro-Afro-American roots pervades the whole.

Return to Ireland

In the 17th and 18th centuries the Anglo-Scottish crown sent thousands of loyal Protestant settlers (many of whom were the descendants of Irishmen settled in Scotland) to Ulster (the northern province of Ireland). Ulster had been the source of the Scots of Argyll, whose kingdom, Dalriada had lain both in Antrim and in Argyll. The 17th century colonists were planted among the Catholic Irish natives, whom they attempted to displace. The Anglican, Anglo-Irish community did not intermarry with the Irish to the same extent as the Presbyterian Scots-Irish community. Since originally the Presbyterians of Scottish descent in northern Ireland faced much of the same discrimination as their Irish Catholic neighbours under the Penal Laws, they tended to sympathize and identify with them more. Although, it has to be said, this does not show up clearly in modern Northern Irish politics.

Today there are in Scotland, about 5 million people with some Scottish ethnicity (almost all of the population), though in the north, east and south-east, it is diluted almost to vanishing point if that is taken as meaning Irish genes. As well as these, there are more than 30 million in North America and a large population in Australia.

Anglicization

There are also many Scottish surnames which have become "anglicized" (made to sound English) over the centuries. Davis, Bruce, Campbell, Salmond, Marshall, Christie, and Joy are just a few of many examples. This arose in part from effects of the Act of Union of 1707, enacted under Queen Anne, of the Scottish House of Stuart. In this, the parliaments of England and Scotland agreed to unite to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Following rebellions in Scotland, involving invasions of England, there were attempts by the English and lowland Scots, to "anglicize" Scottish culture. However most Scottish surnames have remained Gaelic, as with Irish surnames. Mac (sometimes Mc) is common as it once meant (son of). MacDonald, Balliol, Gilmore, Gilmour, MacKinley, MacKintosh, MacKenzie, MacNiell, MacRyan, MacPhearson, MacLear, McDonald, McKenzie, MacAra, MacNamara, MacManus, Lauder, Menzies, Galloway and Duncan, are just a few of many examples of traditional Scottish surnames. There are of course, also the many surnames, like Wallace and Morton, originating in parts of Scotland which were settled by peoples other than the (Irish) Scots.

A complex heritage

Return to Ireland

Anglicization

See also