Migration is a fundamental feature of human experience. This extraordinary collection of essays focuses on a particularly intriguing sequence of migrations: those of Scots during the period 1600-1800. The book first considers the “near-abroad” (Ireland), the “middle-abroad” (Poland and Lithuania), and the “far-abroad” (the Americas), and then details a number of acutely revealing case histories of Scottish communities in Bergen (Norway), Rotterdam and the Maas (the Netherlands), Gothenburg (Sweden), Kèdainiai (Lithuania), and Hamburg (Germany). Then, concentrating on the Netherlands, the focus shifts to specific cultural/occupational milieux: exiles (usually for religious reasons), students, and soldiers or sailors. In conclusion, three leading scholars—Lex Heerma van Voss, Sølvi Søgner, and Thomas O’Connor—offer wider contextual perspectives that compare the Scottish experience with that of other countries. As Professor T.C. Smout says in his Foreword, “The present volume is a breakthrough, surely the biggest advance in the field for a hundred years.”

Contributors include: Douglas Catterall, David Dobson, Patrick Fitzgerald, Ginny Gardner, Alexia Grosjean, Lex Heerma van Voss, Waldemar Kowalski, Andrew Little, Esther Mijers, Steve Murdoch, Thomas O’Connor, Nina Østby Pedersen, T.C. Smout, Sølvi Sogner, Kathrin Zickermann, and Rimantas Žirgulis.