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Historic Highland links with slave trade continue to shock Black Isle author of new book, Slaves and Highlanders, Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean





Author David Alston outside Belle View House in Cromarty which is mentioned in the book.
Author David Alston outside Belle View House in Cromarty which is mentioned in the book.

Shocking historic links between slavery and the Highlands have been revealed in a new book which is already being reprinted within weeks of publication.

Black Isle writer and historian David Alston has put the spotlight on a shameful chapter of Highland history in his book, Slaves and Highlanders, Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean.

He explores the connections between the acquisition of vast wealth and the human suffering of slaves being shipped from Africa.

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The initial print run of 1000 copies has already sold out and is now being reprinted by Edinburgh University Press.

To mark the book launch Mr Alston led two walks around Cromarty, visiting sites and buildings connected to the slave trade and the plantations of the Caribbean and South America.

Walks around Cromarty to mark the book launch visited sites and buildings connected to the slave trade and the plantations of the Caribbean and South America.
Walks around Cromarty to mark the book launch visited sites and buildings connected to the slave trade and the plantations of the Caribbean and South America.

Mr Alston, who has previously written about Scotland’s links with slavery, said his initial interest was prompted by realising there were local connections historically between Cromarty and Guyana.

"Gradually exploring all that led me to realise how extensive Highland involvement had been in the slave trade and plantations in South America and the Caribbean," he said.

Delving into the subject, he studied local and national archive material and also visited Guyana just before the coronavirus pandemic struck.

The initial print run of Slaves and Highlanders, Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean sold out in weeks.
The initial print run of Slaves and Highlanders, Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean sold out in weeks.

"I began this book with an account of an incident in my home town of Cromarty in which, more than 200 years ago, a white teenager named Hugh Miller fought with and stabbed an older black student outside the local school," he writes in the book.

"While they fought here in 1818, a number of men from Cromarty were engaged in – or were recently returned from – the oppression of thousands of Africans and their descendants on the coast of Guyana."

He says the enslaved Africans had been involved in digging more than 2.5 million miles of drainage canals, building 2176 miles of sea and river defences and moving 100 million tons of mud for the creation of plantations.

He notes the civil engineering works were the equivalent of 300 Caledonian Canals.

"There was another Cromarty – a plantation created on the coast between the Berbice and Corentyne rivers – which was but one part of that vast enterprise," he continues.

"In 1818, it held in bondage 74 enslaved men, women and children.

"Fifty two of them had endured the Middle Passage from Africa. They were but 52 among more than seven million who survived that horror."

David Alston with Cromarty Courthouse Museum trustees Christine Cameron and Mary Bowers.
David Alston with Cromarty Courthouse Museum trustees Christine Cameron and Mary Bowers.

The book has coincided with a time when racial issues have been in the spotlight through campaigns such as Black Lives Matter.

Mr Alston says reaction to the region’s connections with the slave trade are mixed.

"I think people are shocked by it and I am still shocked and surprised about it," he said.

"Increasingly, I come across aspects of this history which shock me all over again.

"I think to some extent there is anger."

Others want to deny it he says, but adds: "In general, I think there has been a creative reaction of beginning to accept this history and being prepared to talk about its consequences."

The opening up of history has been welcomed in Guyana.

"A lot of people are angry that they were never taught anything about it at school," he said.

"If you go back, it was very much a colonial education system and they were taught British history."

But there is also interest in focussing on present problems rather than dwelling on the past.

"I think people feel acknowledging the past is important and try to see that as reparation," he said.

He feels there needs to be discussion about reparation – financial and otherwise, and believes it should be part of the politicial agenda.

"I think what needs to happen is our governments both in Scotland and the UK need to be engaged in discussions with countries in the Caribbean," he said.

"There are clear proposals from countries in the Caribbean – former British colonies – about what should be done."

Slavery's legacy in the Highlands examined in documentary


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