[This book] tells the ... story of Scotland's role in forging and expanding the Briutish Empire, from the Americas to Australia, India to the Caribbean. By 1820 Britain controlled a fifth of the world's population, and no people had made a more essential contribution than the Scots - working across the globe as soldiers and merchants, administrators and clerics, doctors and teachers. ... Devine traces the vital part Scotland played in creating an empire - and the fundamental effect this had in moulding the modern Scottish nation."--Back cover.

The Scots had an enormous impact on the global development of the British Empire as emigrants, soldiers, merchants and colonial administrators. This book explores in depth many key themes including the slave trade, the Scots on the colonial frontier, Highland soldiers and more.

This new edition of Michael Fry's remarkable book charts the involvement of the Scots in the British empire from its earliest days to the end of the twentieth century. It is a tale of dramatic extremes and craggy characters and of a huge range of concerns - from education, evangelism and philanthropy to spying, swindling and drug running. Stories of Scottish regiments on the rampage, cannibalism and other atrocities are contrasted with the deeds of heroic pioneers such as David Livingstone and Mary Slessor. Above all it tells how the British empire came to be dominated and run by the Scots, and how it truly became a Scottish empire. As the empire transformed Scotland beyond recognition, so was the Empire shaped by the Scots - a remarkable achievement from the population of so small a country, which was itself neither nation nor fully province, neither fully colonizer nor fully colonized. Michael Fry's energetic and colourful account is one of the classics of modern Scottish history.

Examines the key roles of Scots in central aspects of the Atlantic and imperial economies from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries, and demonstrates that an understanding of the relationship between Scotland and the British Empire is vital both for the understanding of the histories of that country and of many territories of the Empire.

The Scots are one of the world's greatest nations of emigrants. For centuries, untold numbers of men, women, and children have sought their fortunes in every conceivable walk of life and in every imaginable climate. All over the British Empire, the United States, and elsewhere, the Scottish contribution to the development of the modern world has been a formidable one, from finance to industry, philosophy to politics. To the Ends of the Earth puts this extraordinary epic center stage, taking many famous stories--from the Highland Clearances and emigration to the Scottish Enlightenment and empire--and removing layers of myth and sentiment to reveal the no-less-startling truth. Whether in the creation of great cities or prairie farms, the Scottish element always left a distinctive trace, and Devine pays particular attention to the exceptional Scottish role as traders, missionaries, and soldiers. This major new book is also a study of the impact of the global world on Scotland itself and the degree to which the Scottish economy was for many years an imperial economy, with intimate, important links through shipping, engineering, jute, and banking to the most remote of settlements. Filled with fascinating stories and an acute awareness of the poverty and social inequality that provoked so much emigration, To the Ends of the Earth will make its readers think about the world in a quite different way.

Scotland's Global Empire is packed with fascinating information that demonstrates the scale of Scots' contribution to making the world a better place over the last two centuries.

This is the story of two Scotsmen, Baillie and Edmonstone, who went out to India in 1782 and 1791 respectively, to earn their fortune. Neil Edmonstone rose through the ranks to be appointed the Acting Governor-General of India, Secretary of the Secret, Foreign and Political Department and for more than 20 years the Chief Intelligence Officer of the Company. John Baillie was appointed the Political Agent, aged 30, for Bundelkhand, which he brought successfully under British control, before his appointment as British Resident at Lucknow in 1807. Both men had no less than 21 Anglo-Scottish and Scottish-Indian children, 9 of whom were all sent back to Inverness in Scotland to be educated and brought up by John's sister Margaret Baillie. This book tells us their stories as well as those of their parents.