The tartanisation of Scotland is a relatively recent historical phenomenon dating from the first quarter of the nineteenth century
and not a simply a product of the ‘authentic culture.’ Scotland was long regarded as the home of ‘noble savages’ but, stimulated
by the romantic notions in the novels of Sir Walter Scott, the tartans were adopted by English nobles (tourists) as fashion accessories and interior
decoration, Interesting, perhaps, is the contemporaneity of the Highland Clearances - the highlander became a romantic hero at exactly the time that
he was stripped of traditional land rights which were appropriated by clan leaders who replaced tenants with sheep (as the market demanded).
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Thousands of Highlanders were displaced (in
some areas so many that the population decline over 30 years was up to 40%), and moved to the cities or emigrated further afield - to the colonies
of Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc. which led to the strange cultural phenomenon that there are more whisky drinking, Burn’s night celebrating Scottish
country dance clubs outside Scotland than in.
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