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18 September 2014
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Wars and Conflict - The Plantation of Ulster

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Economic background to settlers
- Dr. Hiram Morgan

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The Plantation contribution of the Scots, I think, is significant: they bring a new religion to Ulster and that, I think, is a significant thing. They make it a much more diverse community than before.

And of course they stay very much in their own communities - they form Scottish villages and communities in Ulster: they do not mix in with the English or indeed with the native Irish to any great degree - apart from those native Irish, the few who become Presbyterians. They remain in their own communities, and they come in much greater numbers from Scotland because of the proximity from Scotland, the proximity of Ulster to Scotland.

But they remain distinct communities right up until the 19th century, so when you look at the Ordnance Survey in the 19th century, you see that there are still English areas in Ulster, and Scottish areas.

It is only with industrialisation and the so-called evangelisation of the mid-19th century, that you do see something called ‘Ulster Protestant’ emerging which is when people migrate into the towns, they form a joint Protestant identity. But before that, before urbanisation, evangelisation, and then on the other side the pressure from Irish nationalism, you do not have a distinctly British Protestant community in Ulster: you have two communities, one of English Anglican background and the other Scottish Presbyterian background - they are distinctive.
 

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