Scotland, the Stateless Nation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Scotland, the Stateless Nation - Essay Example Many attempted to settle in Central America through the Scottish sponsored Darien project with a hope of establishing the same success as the English. There they were fated to die, abandoned by both the Scottish and English government. The Scottish government and investors lost huge amounts of capital that contributed to the later depression of the 17th Century3. Large numbers of Scotsmen and their lassies relocated to Canada, North American Colonies as well as Australia and New Zealand. The motivation for leaving their homeland varied over the 18th, 19th and first decades of the 20th Century. However, the main causes of this startling Diaspora arose from the blunt fact that Scotland as a nation had lost as a rival to England. This process began much earlier than the era of colonization at least six hundred years earlier. England, the poor leadership from the aristocracy of both lands, the European wars of the 18th Century and the Imperial expansion of Great Britain in the 19th proved the death of the nation of Scotland. The conquest of England by the Normans brought about a six hundred year war between England’s’ new masters and Scotland, which culminated in 1688. Malcolm Canmore, Malcolm III, and William the conqueror hated each other at first sight. However, William the Conqueror forced Malcolm III by the Treaty of Abernathy in 1072 to surrender his son Duncan to the Norman court as a hostage. Malcolm III received in exchange for this fealty land in England4. The very use of hostages was a weakening stratagem because it influenced indirectly and directly the youthful heirs of one’s opponents, in a positive manner, towards the ways of their captor (host). Herein, the English turned the Scottish laird and chieftain to their purposes and ultimately through them destroyed the Scott ish nation. The Normans and the Scots continued in a never-ending battle between each other until after the middle of the 18th century.