The Scots Continental Europe

source:The Scots and Continental Europe
The Netherlands

It is said that the first people from the Low Countries to settle in Scotland came in the wake of Mathilda's marriage to the Scottish king, David I, during the Middle Ages. Craftsmen and tradesmen followed courtiers and in later centuries a brisk trade grew up between the two nations: Scotland's primary goods (wool, hides, salmon and then coal) in exchange for the luxuries obtainable in the Netherlands, one of the major hubs of European trade.

By 1600, trading colonies had grown up on either side of the well-travelled shipping routes: the Dutch settling along the eastern seaboard of Scotland; the Scots congregating first in Campvere – where they were allowed to land their goods duty free and run their own affairs – and then Rotterdam, where Scottish and Dutch Calvinism coexisted comfortably. Besides the thousands (or the estimated over 1 million) of local descendants with Scots ancestry, both ports still show signs of these early alliances. Now a museum, 'The Scots House' in the town of Veere was the only place outside Scotland where Scots Law was practised. In Rotterdam, meanwhile, the doors of the Scots International Church have remained wide open ever since 1643.

Till we meet again - Regards -edmondsallan