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The 17th century saw civil war in England and in
Scotland, the affairs of the two countries now being inextricably entwined.
Emigration from Scotland increased, at first to continental Europe where
Scottish merchants and soldiers became commonplace. Scots also migrated
westwards to Ulster in the north of Ireland and onwards across the Atlantic
to America.
The hard-fought civil wars dominated the century,
with political and religious differences becoming bitter. In England the
Glorious Revolution of 1688 brought the protestant William of Orange to the
throne. Most Scots supported him but there were some who remained loyal to
the deposed James VII. These were the Jacobites whose periodic rebellions
were to end ultimately in failure.
