Here we will read about the Celts,
...how they made their mark in the World outside of Euro-Asia,
...the World beyond the Oceans,
...The New World
(Some of these Histories may not yet be substantiated, or may be speculative....yet also may be true.
In fairness to that possibility they are included)
"Breathes there a man
with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land?"
Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter had it part right...In many ways it is a sad tale - a people leaving their land to emigrate to other lands to develop them. But there must be admiration for so many heroic Celtic men and women who have given the world so much. The Celts always loved their land, but truly they loved their Culture, their way of life, their love of Freedom. They adopted and were adopted by the Lands they lived in and were intensely loyal to the Celtic Way. For this reason they were of great influence no matter where they roamed, from the mountains of Bavaria, through the Mediterranean basin, Atlantic Europe, to the islands and highlands of Ireland, Wales and Scotland, and finally to:
Click on each area to see how Celts affected their history!
Early Hawaii
Scots around the World: how they made their mark
Why we are still Celt: from Siol nan gaidheal
Electric Scotland: go to "histories" for the finest collection of Celtic History on the web.
New World Paradigm. Mairéid Sullivan is a singer/songwriter, poet and student of history. This article is about how Celtic History affects music here.
The Wild Geese Stories of Irishmen fighting all over the World , but especially in the New World
The Highland Clearances by Ian Kerr a very good article regarding why the Scots are in America
"The Scottish participation in the settlement of America dates from the early seventeenth century, and from that time until the American Revolution probably around 150,000 Scots emigrated to the New World. During the seventeenth century many Scots settled within the English, Dutch and French colonies, while others attempted to establish independent Scots colonies in Nova Scotia, New Jersey, South Carolina and at Darien (Note: Darien is the Scots' name for Panama.--GB). After the political union of Scotland and England in 1707 the Scots had unrestricted access to the English plantations in America. Emigration expanded slowly but steadily until 1763 when a combination of factors in Scotland and America stimulated emigration, especially from the Highlands. Although Scots could be found throughout the American colonies from Barbados to Rupert's Land, areas such as Georgia, the Carolinas, upper New York, Nova Scotia and Jamaica had the greatest concentration of Scottish immigrants. This then was the general pattern of Scottish immigration and settlement in colonial America."
"The Original Scots Colonists of Early America" 1612 - 1783, David Dobson, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, Maryland, Copyright 1989
Some interesting facts* From STV
Many Highland Scots – with names like Ross and Macdonald – became part and parcel of the Indian nations of the southeast. For generations the principal chiefs of the Creek were called either MacIntosh or McGillivray. However, it is a sad irony that the Native Americans also had no more bitter enemies than the Scots-Irish and lowland Scots.
Highland Jacobites were some of King George’s most loyal Americans. Even Flora Macdonald, saviour of "Bonnie Prince Charlie" turned loyalist when she immigrated to the Carolinas.
The great names of the western frontier – Davie Crockett, Jim Bowie, Daniel Boone, Jeremiah Johnston – were of Scots-Irish stock.
The Scots-Irish, the Lowland Scots and the Welsh were the backbone of George Washington’s army. The Scots almost exclusively fought one of the key battles in the War of Independence – on both sides. (King's Mountain -ed)
Many of the signatories to the Declaration of Independence of 1776 were Welsh, Scots and Irish-Scots.
Those of Celtic descent played a significant role in expanding the boundaries of the USA. The Welsh largely built up America’s iron and steel industry.
The mass emigration of the (mainly) Catholic Irish during the potato famine in the early 19th century became one of the defining moments of American history.
Modern historians calculate that when the civil war broke out about 75% of the South’s population was Celtic. The Confederate flag was a transatlantic version of the saltires of St. Andrew and St. Patrick, celebrated as ‘the bonnie blue flag’.
The end of the civil war saw the manifestation of the most unpleasant Celtic institution, the Ku Klux Klan, and of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the forerunner to the IRA.
The economic plight of post-war USA presented big opportunities for Scots businessmen – investment trusts were set up which ploughed a huge amount of Scots money into railways, cattle ranches, mines, forestry and land.
The Scots-Irish provided the USA with an extraordinary number of presidents – Andrew Jackson, James Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses Grant, Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter.
As well as providing fine politicians, inventors and businessmen, the darker side of the Celtic Americans was never far away. There was a revival in the Ku Klux Klan in 1915 and the Welsh, for some reason, proved adept urban gangsters.
In the 50 years between 1880 and 1930 around 760,000 Scots, Irish and Welsh immigrated to the USA. Those of Celtic descent continue to make a massive contribution to the USA, and more and more they like to express something of their culture – with Highland Games and St. Patrick’s Day parades popular across the country.
Today, there are more people of Celtic
descent in North America than in all the European based Celtic countries put
together!
* Scottish Television (STV) series began on 12th June and ended on 17th July 2003
go to The Whins of Time © Terry Mechan 2003 to hear this
Anthem
of the Ulster Scot
As I face the final battle now
I remember long ago
When I heard the sounds of the Cruithin blow
Across the Land I know
A
Land where whins so yellow bloom
By Moorland, Heath and Sea
Where I heard my ancient kin folks speak
These ancient words to me.
We
vowed to stand ‘gainst foreign foe
When we were holding fast
So we will come and stand by you
The Future with the Past
Together
we will win again
And make a settled home
Where Children, wives and friends of ours
Need never more to roam
We’ll
hold the hand of friendship out
To former fighting men
As long as they remember we’re
A nation once again
So
come on home you Ulster-Scots
Before your race is through
And join once more the Ranks of those
Who love this land like you
Though we are scattered like the seeds
Upon the winds of time
I’ll always keep my Ulster Home
Within this heart of mine
And
when my race is over, Lord
And yellow Whins grow high
May my soul rest with the Ulster Scots
Wherever they may lie
Write to: NewWorldCelts@gmail.com