Scottish Football
Who invented the modern game of football? Where was the founder of the English League born? Who played in the first International match? Scotland, of course.
Scotland's global family
It’s sometimes said that no matter where you go in the world, you’ll bump into a Scot. It might be tongue in cheek but it is actually not far from the truth.
The Scots have been travelling all over the world since the middle ages and the Scottish diaspora is estimated to be around 40 million – eight times as many people as live in Scotland itself.
This continues to the present day, with an estimated one million people born in Scotland currently living elsewhere.
The wanderlust of the Scots has taken them to all corners of the globe, from North America, to Asia, to Africa, Scandinavia and elsewhere.
There are few countries today without a Caledonian or St Andrews Society.
Between 1825 and 1938, over 2.3 million people left Scotland for overseas destinations.
Scots went to a greater range of overseas destinations than probably any other European country.
They left for a number of reasons, sometimes because of crisis, but more often than not it was to exploit opportunities and achieve aspirations.
The impact of Scottish migrants on their adopted homelands has been immense, particularly in the making of North America, South Africa and Australasia.
The diaspora has made its mark worldwide, contributing to fields such as education, exploration, science, finance, engineering and many others.
The Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies at Edinburgh University was set up in 2008 to investigate the worldwide impact of Scotland's emigrants
The centre is the first such research unit in the field and is helping to place Scotland at the forefront of diaspora research.
The Centre is headed up by Scottish historian Professor Tom Devine who has written a new book exploring the nature and impact of emigration on Scotland over three centuries.
‘To the Ends of the Earth’ investigates the extraordinary scale of Scotland’s emigration in terms of numbers and time.
Famous trailblazers of the Scottish diaspora:
David Livingstone (1813-1873)
The son of a Blantyre shopkeeper, he went to Africa in 1841 as a medical missionary. He was one of the first Europeans to explore the continent, crossing the Kalahari Desert and discovering Lake Ngami (in present-day Botswana). His travels saw him mapping the Zambezi River and the Victoria Falls in 1855.
Andrew Carnegie (1835 – 1919)
The most famous example of a Scot who made his fortune in the USA. Born in Dunfermline, Fife, Carnegie arrived in America as a poor weaver’s son but built a fortune in the steel industry. He was also one of the most important philanthropists of his era, and funded venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, theatres, libraries, public parks, and schools and college in Britain and America.
John McDouall Stuart (1815 – 1866)
One of Australia's greatest explorers and pioneers. Born in Dysart in Fife, he emigrated at the age of 23 and became the first explorer to journey through the centre of Australia. His name is immortalised in the Stuart highway, which carves its way from Port Augusta in the south to Darwin in the north.
Thomas Blake Glover (1838 – 1911)
In the 1860s, the young Aberdeenshire clerk arrived in Nagasaki, Japan and quickly became a prominent trader and businessman. Known as the ‘Scottish Samurai’, he was a major force in the industrialisation of Japan and the development of the country’s railways and shipbuilding industry. He founded the Mitsubishi company and became the first foreigner to be awarded one of Japan’s highest honours, the Order of the Rising Sun.
Mary Slessor (1848 - 1915)
Born in Aberdeen, the jute mill worker set sail for Africa in 1876 to work as a missionary. She became an ardent campaigner for the rights of women and children, and when she died in Nigeria in 1915 was given a state funeral in honour of her work. More than 80 years after her death in Nigeria in 1915, she became the first woman to be depicted on a Scottish banknote.
Are you a member of the Scottish diaspora and want to connect with others?
Then why not join the ScotlandExchange
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