scots' worldwide dispersion

[piperdbh]

I just found this on Wikipedia, so you can believe as much of it as you want, but it's some interesting numbers.

Total population of Scotland
6–8 milllion
Ancestral Diaspora
est. 28–40 milliona[1][2]

Regions with significant populations
Scotland 4,459,071 (2001)
(Scottish descent only) [3]
United States 9,365,490b [4][5]
Canada 4,719,850 [4]
Australia 1,501,204 [6]
Englandc 795,000
Argentina 100,000 [7]
Chile 80,000 [8]
New Zealandd 12,792 [9]
Isle of Man 2403 [10]

[room2ndfloor]

I've been interested in emigration/immigration for many years.

Someone can quibble over the numbers, especially for the United States and Canada, where one person may count as of Scottish descent, of English descent, and of German descent.

When I was a child in public school Georgia, USA, we were taught many Scottish folk songs, and we learned to recite a couple of Robert Burns's poems. That was the end of the history lesson. Despite the numerous "Mac...." and other Scottish family names among us, we were not taught about the prominent role of the Scottish Highlanders in the early days of Georgia, as a British colony.

One of my Canadian clients commented that my son Andrew has a strong Celtic look about him, and from that I started to learn of Scots settling in Canada.

There's always so much more to learn. Family histories yield American/Canadian history in miniature.

[McClef]

Certainly I came across quite a few transplanted Scots in the Isle of Man.

The courier who guided our coach round the island and gave us many facts and figures (my mother thought too many!) was from Edinburgh originally.