IE - Why did people migrate?

Jacobites

• Catholics who supported James II and were banished after the 1715 uprising

• emigrated to the Americas as labourers to avoid execution.

Convicts

• Criminals shipped across the Atlantic to ease prison overcrowding and get rid of undesirable groups

• sold as labourers on arrival.

Indentured Servants

• Labourers who agreed to work unpaid for 7-8 years, some hoping for a new life

• majority poor people sold to ship captains.

Ulster Scots

• Scots settling in Ulster due to better weather and soil

• offered land after the Treaty of Limerick in 1691.

Adventurers

• Scots seeking trade opportunities in Asia and the Caribbean

• served as administrators and soldiers in various regions.

Transportation Act

• Enacted in 1718 to transport convicted criminals across the Atlantic to work on tobacco plantations for 7 years.

Indenture

• Agreement to work as someone's property for a specified period,

• often 7-8 years

• in exchange for passage and eventual freedom.

Tobacco Plantations

• Farms where tobacco is grown

• where many convicts ended up working for 7 years before gaining their freedom.

Madras

Location where increasing numbers of Scots served as administrators for the East India Company between 1720 and 1757.

Mercenary Soldiers

Individuals hired to serve as soldiers for pay, including large numbers of Scots in European wars and Irishmen in the French army.

Treaty of Limerick

Treaty in 1691 offering Scottish Protestants attractive land offers in Ulster after the Irish were displaced.