Rebecca Wilkieson

My research aims to explore how growth in transatlantic trading opportunities shaped Scotland's maritime development in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This project will focus on two key themes linked to the expansion of transatlantic trade. First, the circulation of commodities between rural and urban markets linked to expanding trade. Second, the mobility of labourers between rural and urban centres by those seeking employment opportunities in transatlantic or adjacent trades.

With a focus on coastal and insular ports in the west of Scotland, my research will consider how Scotland's relationship with the sea was impacted by expanding transatlantic trading opportunities between 1690 and 1750. I hope to emphasise the intra-Scottish maritime and mobility networks that were crucial to the expansion of transatlantic trading networks centred on slaving economies.