“To the Ends of the Earth:
Scotland's Global Diaspora”
The 2011 Royal Society of Edinburgh Christmas Lecture
Delivered by Professor Tom Devine on 12 December 2011
At a time when Victorian Scotland was becoming one of the richest nations on earth, records show that Scots were leaving in droves. Between 1825 and 1938, over 2.3 million Scottish people abandoned their homeland. This exodus led to Scots being labelled one of Europe’s greatest emigrant peoples. In his lecture To the Ends of the Earth, Professor and historian Tom Devine explained why so many Scots were pushed and pulled out of their country at a time of such prosperity, and the consequences – both good and bad – that this had. His surprising answers to this puzzle came live from Glasgow Science Centre's IMAX Theatre.
The lecture in full
To the Ends of the Earth - Full Lecture
To the Ends of the Earth: Scotland's Global Diaspora. Professor of History Tom Devine OBE delivers the annual Christmas lecture of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. BBC World Affairs Correspondent Allan Little describes some of the key moments from his career and answer questions about what it is like to report the world in an age of conflict. Bill Boyd reads his poem Hogmanay, written in the style of Robert Burns.
