Slavery money in the Highlands

Two researchers working for Community Land Scotland, Iain MacKinnon and Andrew Mackillop, traced who bought the estates of the west Highlands and Islands. They found that dozens had been bought by people whose wealth came from slavery, whether directly, by marriage or through the compensation paid to slave-owners after 1833.

The purchases peaked in the late 1830s, soon after the compensation was paid out. On the estates bought with this money, the new owners evicted at least 5,000 people from their homes.

The money was made by enslaved people in the Caribbean, who were never paid for their work, and some of it was spent clearing Highland families off their land. Scottish Land and Estates, which speaks for landowners today, disputes that the study has any bearing on who owns the land now. As history, the link between the plantation and the clearances is on record.