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St Kilda was continuously inhabited for two millennia or more, from the Bronze Age to the 20th century.〔(St Kilda: Revised Nomination of St Kilda for inclusion in the World Heritage Site List ) Retrieved 21 March 2007〕 However, little is known of the early history, the first written record of which dates from the late 14th century when John of Fordun mentions 'the isle of Irte, which is agreed to be under the Circius and on the margins of the world'.〔Maclean (1972) page 34 quoting John of Fordun's ''Scotichronicon'' of c. 1380〕 The islands were historically part of the domain of the MacLeods of Harris whose steward was responsible for the collection of rents in kind and other duties. The first report of a visit to the islands dates from 1549 when Donald Munro suggested that:
The chaplain's best efforts notwithstanding, the islanders' isolation and dependence on the bounty of the natural world meant their philosophy bore as much relationship to Druidism as it did to Christianity〔Keay, J., and Keay, J. (1994) ''Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland'', London, HarperCollins〕 until the arrival of Rev John MacDonald in 1822. For example, Macauley (1764) reports the existence of five druidic altars including a large circle of stones fixed perpendicularly in the ground, by the Stallir House on Boreray.〔Macauley, Rev Kenneth (1764) ''History of St Kilda''. London〕 At the time of Martin's visit in 1697 the population was 180 and the steward:
==Religion and tourism in the 18th and 19th centuries== However, visiting ships in the 18th century brought cholera and smallpox〔Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004) ''The Scottish Islands'', Edinburgh, Canongate〕 and in 1727 the loss of life was so high that there were not enough men to man the boats and new families were brought in from Harris to replace them.〔This is the date provided by Quine (2000) for the marooning of the group on Stac an Armin, (see 'Buildings on other islands' above) although Steel (1988) page 144 states the outbreak took place in 1724.〕 By 1758 the population had risen to 88 and reached just under 100 by the end of the century. This figure remained fairly constant from the 18th century on until 1851 when 36 islanders emigrated to Australia on board the ''Priscilla'', a loss from which the island never fully recovered.〔Maclean, Charles (1977) ''Island on the Edge of the World: the Story of St. Kilda'', Canongate〕 One factor in the decline was the influence of religion. A missionary called Alexander Buchan came to St Kilda in 1705, but despite a lengthy stay there the idea of organised religion did not seem to take hold. This changed when Rev John MacDonald, the 'Apostle of the North' arrived in 1822. He set about his mission with zeal, preaching thirteen lengthy sermons during his first eleven days there. He returned regularly and fund-raised on behalf of the St Kildans, although privately he was appalled by their lack of religious knowledge. The islanders took to him with enthusiasm and wept when he left for the last time eight years later. His successor, who arrived on 3 July 1830 was Rev Neil Mackenzie, a resident Church of Scotland minister who greatly improved the conditions of the inhabitants. He re-organised island agriculture, was instrumental in the rebuilding of the village (see below) and supervised the building of a new church and manse. With help from the Gaelic School Society, MacKenzie and his wife introduced formal education to Hirta, beginning a daily school to teach reading, writing and arithmetic and a Sunday school for religious education.〔 Mackenzie left in 1844 and although he had clearly achieved a great deal, the weakness of the St Kildan's dependence on an external authority was exposed in 1865 with the arrival of Rev John Mackay, a minister in the new Free Church of Scotland. Mackay was a religious zealot who may have done more than any single individual to destroy the St Kildan way of life. He introduced a routine of three two to three-hour services on Sunday at which attendance was effectively compulsory. One visitor noted in 1875 that:
The excessive time spent in religious gatherings began to interfere seriously with the practical routines of running the island. Old ladies and children who made a noise in church were lectured at length and warned of the dire punishments they could expect in the afterworld. During a period of food shortages on the island a relief vessel arrived on a Saturday only to be informed by the minister that the islanders had to spend the day preparing for church on the Sabbath and it was Monday before any supplies were landed. Children were forbidden to play games and required to carry a bible wherever they went. The St Kildans endured Mackay for twenty four years.〔 Tourism had a different but similarly de-stabilising impact on St Kilda. During the 19th century steamers began to visit Hirta, enabling the islanders to earn money from the sale of tweeds and bird's eggs but at the expense of their self-esteem as the tourists clearly regarded them as curiosities. The boats also brought other previously unknown diseases, especially ''tetanus infantum'' which resulted in infant mortality rates as high as 80% during the late nineteenth century.〔 The ''cnatan na gall'' or boat-cough became a regular feature of life.〔Cooper, Derek (1979) ''Road to the Isles: Travellers in the Hebrides 1770–1914''. London. Routledge & Kegan Paul.〕〔("Life in St. Kilda" ), an account by J. Sands in Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Art, 1877. Retrieved 1 January 2007.〕 By the turn of the 20th century formal schooling had become a feature of the islands and in 1906 the church was extended to make a schoolhouse. The children all now learned English in addition to their native Gaelic. Improved midwifery skills, denied to the island by Reverend Mackay, reduced the problems of childhood tetanus. There had been some talk of an evacuation in 1875 during MacKay's period of tenure, but despite occasional food shortages and flu epidemic in 1913 the population was stable at between 75 and 80 and there was no obvious sign that within a few years the millennia old occupation of the island was to end.〔〔Steel, Tom (1988) ''The Life and Death of St. Kilda'', London, Fontana〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of St Kilda」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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