Scotch Irish Influences on Appalachian Culture and American History

A large number of people of "Scotch-Irish lineage" settled in The Appalachian Mountain area of North Carolina. By the beginning of the 1800s, the residents of the Appalachian Mountains were of several different ethnic backgrounds; there were English, Germans, French Hugenots, Irish, and some Indians. Nevertheless, the majority of the settlers in this area were the Scotch-Irish, from Ulster. The Scotch-Irish, were the most influential people in America by the end of the 1700s, because they "numbered 3,172,444" which was about 14 percent of the population. The Scotch-Irish people who immigrated to the English colonies from Ulster were influential in the instigation of the American Revolution, then when the war began they contributed many resources to the war effort. After the American Revolution was won and the nation was forming, the Scotch Irish played an essential part in the creation of Appalachian culture, as we know it today.

The Scotch-Irish were an unusual culture from the British Isles.

[Royal Avenue, Belfast. County Antrim, Ireland] (...

Ireland's Highest Peak

Areas with greatest proportion of reported Scotch-...

They were not quite Scottish and they were not Irish, but they were known as "Celtic" as any other people from the British Isles were.

Most of the Scotch-Irish people were Presbyterians originally from the highlands of Scotland and the Scottish English border, which moved to Ulster, Ireland during the seventeenth century. They moved to Ulster, because King James I had created plantations where they could work. Then in early eighteenth century, the Scotch-Irish moved again, this time immigrating to the British colonies across the Atlantic. They made this move to the Americas because of restrictions that the British placed on their religion, Presbyterianism, and because of "economic deprivations" in Ulster. It is estimated that a quarter of a million Scotch-Irish left Ulster during the 18th century. These peoples left the British Isles on ships from Belfast, Portrush, Larne, Londonderry, and...