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Seven ill years
The seven ill years was a period of national famine in Scotland in the 1690s. It resulted from an economic slump created by French protectionism and changes in the Scottish cattle trade, followed by four years of failed harvests (1695, 1696 and 1698–99). The result was severe famine and depopulation, particularly in the north. The famines of the 1690s were seen as particularly severe, partly because famine had become relatively rare in the second half of the seventeenth century, with only one year of dearth (in 1674). The shortages of the 1690s would be the last of their kind.
During this period, starvation probably killed 5–15 per cent of the Scottish population, but in areas like Aberdeenshire death rates reached 25 per cent. The system of the Old Scottish Poor Law was overwhelmed by the scale of the crisis, although provision in the urban centres of the burghs was probably better than in the countryside. It led to migration between parishes and emigration to England, Europe, the Americas and particularly Ireland. The crisis resulted in the setting up of the Bank of Scotland and the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies. The eventual failure of the Company in the Darién scheme increased the pressure for political union with England, which occurred in 1707.
==Causes==
Before the seventeenth century, with difficult terrain, poor roads and methods of transport, there was little trade between different areas of Scotland. Most settlements depended for subsistence on what was produced locally, often with very little in reserve in bad years. Most farming was based on the lowland fermtoun or highland baile, settlements of a handful of families that jointly farmed an area notionally suitable for two or three plough teams. These were allocated in run rigs, of "runs" (furrows) and "rigs" (ridges), to tenant farmers.〔J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), ISBN 0-7486-0276-3, pp. 41–55.〕 Those with property rights included husbandmen, lesser landholders and free tenants.〔 Below them were the cottars, who often shared rights to common pasture, occupied small portions of land and participated in joint farming as hired labour. Farms also might have grassmen, who had rights only to grazing.〔R. Mitchison, ''Lordship to Patronage, Scotland 1603–1745'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1983), ISBN 074860233X, p. 82.〕 There were also large numbers of casual wage labourers who carried out basic agricultural work. Labourers on fixed incomes, along with pensioners, were particularly vulnerable to the impact of famine, but it also affected those with land, who could not save enough seed for future planting and feed their families. Even pastoral farmers were affected as the price of animal feed became unaffordable.〔K. J. Cullen, ''Famine in Scotland: The 'Ill Years' of the 1690s'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010), ISBN 0748638873, p. 55.〕
The closing decade of the seventeenth century saw the generally favourable economic conditions that had dominated since the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, come to an end. There was a slump in trade with the Baltic and France from 1689–91, caused by French protectionism and changes in the Scottish cattle trade. These were followed by four years of failed harvests (1695, 1696 and 1698–99).〔R. Mitchison, ''A History of Scotland'' (London: Routledge, 3rd edn., 2002), ISBN 0415278805, pp. 291–2 and 301-2.〕 The period is named after the Biblical famine in Egypt predicted by Joseph in the Book of Genesis.〔K. J. Cullen, ''Famine in Scotland: The 'Ill Years' of the 1690s'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010), ISBN 0748638873, p. 14.〕 The famine was evident for five years nationally and was present for less time in some regions. However, there is evidence that the harvest failures from 1685 followed years of relatively poor harvests from the 1680s and that the impact of poor harvests did not entirely subside until after 1700.〔K. J. Cullen, ''Famine in Scotland: The 'Ill Years' of the 1690s'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010), ISBN 0748638873, p. 15.〕 The 1690s marked the lowest point of the Little Ice Age, of colder and wetter weather.〔I. D. White, "Rural Settlement 1500–1770", in M. Lynch, ed., ''Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), ISBN 0199693056, pp. 542–3.〕 This reduced the altitude at which crops could be grown and shortened the growing season by up to two months in extreme years, as it did in the 1690s.〔T. C. Smout, "Land and sea: the environment", in T. M. Devine and J. Wormald, eds, ''The Oxford Handbook of Modern Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), ISBN 0191624330, pp. 22–3.〕 The massive eruptions of volcanoes at Hekla in Iceland (1693) and Serua (1693) and Aboina (1694) in Indonesia may also have polluted the atmosphere and filtered out significant amounts of sunlight.〔I. Morrison, "Climate: ", in M. Lynch, ed., ''Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), ISBN 0199693056, pp. 99–101.〕
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