ASIANOVERLAND.NET SYDNEY TO LONDON DAY 170: SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS TO GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

Our trip notes on the Scottish Highland Clearances evoked responses like:

“Explains why I can’t trace my Scottish ancestors to Scotland  ”

But many of us didn’t even realise we were Scottish, and thought we were Australian or English until DNA tracing led to the inevitable conclusion that we really are Scottish (and I’m NOT referring to the Jockeroos who were beaten by Lionel Messi magic at the World Cup).

In my case, my maternal grandfather Peter McCaull was born in Edinburgh on 28 July 1880 and had a permanent home in Glasgow, but also had a home in Sri Lanka and a rubber plantation in Selangor, Malaysia, where he was the local golf champion. My uncle and whisky drinking partner Peter McCaull was also born in Scotland, because under Scots hereditary law, only Scots who were born in Scotland could inherit under Scots law.

And my great great Aunt Jean (Bonnie) Armour married a Scot by the name of Robbie Burns and had 9 children with him, but more about Burns and Armour tomorrow, when we travel to the family home in Ayrshire. Robbie Burns was a poet and he did know it.

The area around Glasgow was home for Scots for thousands of years, with the River Clyde providing a natural location for fishing and sailing. The Romans built outposts in the area and, to protect Roman Britannia from the Caledonians (Scots), constructed the Antonine Wall. Ancient artifacts from the wall, including altars from Roman forts like Balmuildy, are at the Hunterian Museum.

Glasgow was founded by the Christian missionary Saint Mungo in the 6th century, who established a church on the Molendinar Burn, where Glasgow Cathedral stands. Glasgow grew over the centuries, and the Glasgow Fair began in 1190. 

The first bridge over the River Clyde at Glasgow was built in 1285, forming the main route over the river via Glasgow Cross. The founding of the University of Glasgow in 1451 and the elevation of the church to the Archdiocese of Glasgow in 1492, increased Glasgow's religious and educational power, as well as landed wealth. Glasgow’s early trade was agriculture, brewing and fishing, with cured salmon and herring exported to Europe.

Following the European Protestant Reformation, fourteen incorporated trade crafts federated as the Trades House in 1605, to counter the power and influence of the Merchants' Guilds and their Merchants House. 

Glasgow's income came from international trade, manufacturing and invention, starting in the 17th century with sugar and tobacco, and then cotton and linen, products of the Atlantic slave trade.

From 1668 Glasgow's Tobacco Lords created a deep water port at Port Glasgow about 32 km down the River Clyde, as the river from the city was too shallow for seagoing merchant ships. 

After the Acts of Union in 1707, Scotland traded to the new British Empire, and Glasgow became a hub of international trade with the Americas, mainly in sugar, tobacco, cotton, and manufactured goods. By the late 18th century, more than half of the British tobacco trade was on the River Clyde. 

Until the American War of Independence in 1776, Glasgow was the world's premier tobacco port, dominating world trade, thereby increasing the wealth of the Lowlands. 

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