Famous Scottish People
June 20, 2009 by The Laird
Filed under Famous Scots
Scottish People
For its size Scotland appears to have had a tremendously large impact on the world as we know it today. For example:
Scots have been largely responsible for the development of other countries i.e. grow in size and or importance such as Scots in Canada who explored country before most of the world even knew Canada existed. Did you know that 8 of the 10 Fathers of the Canadian Confederation were Scots? They also importantly founded five of the first six colleges (plus of course McGill University and Queens the Presbyterian University in Kingston) and designed and financed the development of The Canadian Pacific Railway. Most commentators would say that without The Scots employed by Hudson Bay Company that company would never have been as large and successful as it is today. You can read more about the Hudson Bay Company here.
Canada’s neighbour the United States of America also has a special connection with Scotland. The USA and Scottish Connection is particularly strong in many states especially North Carolina, Texas and California. However the Scottish tradition of holding Highland Games is now wide spread across most southern states. You might even be surprised to learn that of the first 13 governors of USA as many as nine were Scottish or were of Scottish descent. Go even deeper into American history and you will find that of the 56 people who signed the Declaration of Independence 38 percent of them have been identified as being of Scottish Ancestry. They also met in what is now called Independence Hall designed by a Scotsman Andrew Hamilton. The document was handwritten by an Ulster Scot Charles Thomson. All this was achieved at a time when the Official US Census of 1790 showed Scots only made up 6.7 per cent of the white colonial population.
Moving further afield did you know that Dunedin – the former capital of New Zealand – shares its name with Edinburgh the capital of Scotland (Dunedin is the original name for Edinburgh) with the city being designed by Rev Thomas Burns the nephew of Robert Burns the famous Scottish poet. This was also one of the first venues for the Robert Burns night suppers held outside of Scotland.
We will of course also be doing deeper articles on each of the these points in the near future but also looking India, Australia, Africa, Singapore, Russia and of course Japan and China for starters. Any help you can offer in helping to produce these or indeed other countries would be greatly appreciated.
See also Scottish Inventors who through their work changed the world as we know it today. These would include Scots who invented Steam engines, bicycles, computers and related to this the first official recognised computer programmer (Ada Bryon Daughter of Lord Bryon) was a Scot (the US Defence dept even named the ADA computer language after her), pneumatic tyres, television, Tar roads, telephones, steam engines and steam hammers, electric light (and no it was not Edison) electric batteries, and electric welding to name just a few of the inventions we will be adding as time permits. Again offers of help to produce this would be appreciated.
Dunedin is NOT the capital of New Zealand. It\’s Wellington!