Scotland’s Empire and the Shaping of the Americas, 1600-1815

Scotland’s influence was crucial for the worldwide success of Britain’s overseas empire. As emigrants, soldiers, tobacco lords, merchants, and colonial administrators, Scots were involved in nearly every aspect of running and financing Britain’s colonies in America, Australia, and India. T.M. Devine, Scotland’s leading historian, draws on a wealth of new material to provide a comprehensive examination of Scotland’s multifaceted role in colonization. He deftly portrays the key contributions by Scots to the development of the Americas, from political ideas to business. In the first of a two-volume set, Scotland’s Empire combines detailed scholarship with a compelling narrative history, setting the Scots’ story against the rise of the British Empire, the course of American history, and the changes in world history.