Two things led up to the migration of large numbers of Scottish Lowlanders across the water that separated Scotland from Ireland. The one was starvation; the other was King James I of England's scheme of colonization. James was particularly interested in establishing colonies, or as he called them plantations in foreign lands.
In 1610 King James put into operation his scheme for the plantation of the Irish province of Ulster He is most noted for the Jamestown Plantation in Virginia, established in 1607. During this period, he wrote a treatise on demonology, as a result of which hundreds of Scottish men and women were put to death for witchcraft, their bodies later being found in what was then called Nor Loch, now Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh. Upon the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, under the terms of Henry's will, the Crown should have passed to Lady Anne Stanley, a descendant of Henry VIII's sister Mary Tudor. Lady Margaret and her son, who were English subjects, were imprisoned by Elizabeth I. As the father of King James I, Darnley is the direct ancestor of all the sovereigns of England since 1603. From 1618 onwards, the religious conflict known as the Thirty Years' War engulfed Europe. James was forced to become involved because his daughter, Elizabeth, was married to the Protestant Frederick V, Elector Palatine, one of the war's chief participants.
Scotland was not mapped until about AD 1600, long after most of the events which created the modern nation had taken place. King James IV repeatedly visited the shrine of St.Duthac at Tain in the early 16th century, combining pilgrimage with political expediency. Medieval kings could made use of church organisation to help them establish control in their territories. The bishopric of Ross was established by the 12th century with its centre initially in Rosemarkie, then later at Fortrose Cathedral. However in much of the Highlands it was also a time of flourishing Gaelic culture and learning, with extensive links to Ireland, the Isle of Man, and continental Europe. Medical science, music, poetry and art all received patronage from clan chiefs. Saint Columba's Isle, near Skeabost on Skye was the cathedral of the Bishops of Sodor (i.e. Sudreyar, the Norse Southern Isles) and Man until they moved to Iona in 1499. Apart from castles and the remains of a few churches, there is little later medieval archaeology that can be seen today. Most houses seem to have been built using wood, peat, and thatch and most household items were also made of organic materials. Everything was recycled. However it seems very likely that many remains of deserted villages dating to the 18th and 19th centuries are sitting on top of earlier houses and fields: once you have cleared the stones from the land in the Highlands.
In the 17th century, the Covenanter Wars left battle sites at Auldearn and Carbisdale, and Montrose was imprisoned after his defeat at Ardvreck Castle in Sutherland. Oliver Cromwell established forts to control the Great Glen, including one at Inverness, now almost disappeared except for one corner of the rampart still visible in Lotland Street near the harbour. Cattle droving began to develop as a way of life - Highlanders could raise cattle and sell them on to drovers who took them to markets in central and southern Scotland and on to England. In the early - mid 19th century many drovers and cattlemen emigrated to become the cowboys of the American West.
In 1688, King James VII (II of England) was ejected by his daughter Mary and son in law (and cousin) William Prince of Orange. There followed a series of uprisings to restore James and his heirs, whose supporters were known as Jacobites (Latin Jacobus - James). Following the rising of 1715, the British Government began a national mapping programme, the Ordnance Survey, and also a programme of military road building to control the Highlands. These roads generally followed droving routes and were to form the basis of the modern road network. Barracks were built at Ruthven in Badenoch and Bernera in Glenelg, and major new Forts were built at Fort William, Fort Augustus, and near Inverness at Fort George at Ardersier. This last is still in active military use, although also open to the public.
In 1745 the Jacobite army under James's son Bonnie Prince Charlie used the military road over the Corrieyairack Pass on its way south, and finally assembled at Ruthven Barracks to disband after the defeat at Culloden. Not all Highlanders supported the Jacobites, but all suffered the consequences after the '45, as the British Government made serious attempts to destroy the local culture. The lands of Jacobite clan chiefs were confiscated and given to government supporters or sold. After the Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745 the government built roads through the highlands to control the area. They built themselves fine houses and monuments to their exploits. In Easter Ross and the Black Isle, large arable farms developed to export grain. Girnals (storehouses) by the Cromarty Firth remain as witness to this trade. Cromarty flourished as a port trading with England and the Baltic, while Dingwall built a canal to improve its competitiveness.
Fishing was also established as a new industry - Ullapool, for example, was established in 1788 to exploit the herring. Many people however suffered great hardship, especially after a series of famines in the 1840s, and left the area, leaving their villages deserted. Others however began to arrive as tourists, especially after the development of the railways.
For over two hundred years successive kings and governments had already been encouraging Highland chiefs to see themselves as landlords rather than leaders of men. Many of them were now living beyond their means and looking for increased income to support their lifestyles. As the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions took off in England and southern Scotland, tenants found themselves evicted to make way for large-scale commercial sheep farming to supply the woollen industry and the new urban markets. Estate owners meanwhile built new houses and monuments. Around the Cromarty Firth, a grain trade developed and girnals (storehouses) were built by the shore like that at Foulis. Attempts to introduce new employment meant the establishment of fishing stations like Ullapool and Pultenytown (Wick), as well as engineering and mining enterprises at Brora. The slate quarries at Ballachulish in Lochaber supplied much of Scotland with roofing, while Caithness flagstones came to pave the streets of towns and cities around the Empire. However for many people there was terrible hardship, especially after a series of famines in the 1840s, and many emigrated, leaving their villages deserted.