Migration as Human Capital: The case of the Highlands and Islands & Company Empire in Asia, c.1720 - c.1820

Dr Andrew Mackillop

Migration is rightly seen as central to the history of the modern Highlands and Islands. However, this human mobility is usually analysed as a reaction to changes in regional, national or international conditions, be it attitudes among the landlord class, sheep and kelp prices, or the availability of land in North America.

This paper views migration from a different perspective. It argues that the Highlands and Islands are a significant example of a region of Western Europe which lacked substantial reserves of finance capital but still participated disproportionately in a key phase of historic globalisation and empire. It did so by using its people as a proxy form of wealth - as human capital. Viewed in this way, the Highlands and Islands were not as ‘poor’ as conventional, monetary measures of wealth might suggest. Migration emerges as a more multifaceted phenomenon, both a social reaction to destabilising economic change and a highly effective investment strategy. Using this framework of 'human capital', the paper explores the involvement of individuals and networks from the Highlands and Islands in the United English East India Company’s early territorial expansion in Asia.

Dr Andrew Mackillop is a senior lecturer in Scottish History at the University of Glasgow. His research interests focus on post-union Scotland's experience of globalisation through participation in British imperialism and the impact of such involvement on its national culture, regions and people. His monograph, Human Capital and Empire: Scotland, Ireland, Wales and British Imperialism in Asia, c.1690-c.1820 will be published in Manchester University Press's Studies in Imperialism Series in September 2021.

This talk was delivered to a live online audience on Thursday, 13 May 2021. You can watch a recording of the talk below:

Image: The Battle of Perumbakkam, Srirangaptana mural, c.1790. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7564401.