Crofting () is a form of land tenure and small-scale food production peculiar to the Scottish Highlands, the islands of Scotland, and formerly on the Isle of Man. Within the 19th-century townships, individual crofts were established on the better land, and a large area of poorer-quality hill ground was shared by all the crofters of the township for grazing of their livestock. In the 21st century, crofting is found predominantly in the rural Western and Northern Isles and in the coastal fringes of the western and northern Scottish mainland.
Crofting () is a form of land tenure and small-scale food production peculiar to the Scottish Highlands, the islands of Scotland, and formerly on the Isle of Man. Within the 19th-century townships, individual crofts were established on the better land, and a large area of poorer-quality hill ground was shared by all the crofters of the township for grazing of their livestock. In the 21st century, crofting is found predominantly in the rural Western and Northern Isles and in the coastal fringes of the western and northern Scottish mainland.
== History == === Origins and history before 1886 === Crofting communities were a product of the Highland Clearances (though individual crofts had existed before the clearances). Previously, Highland agriculture was based on farms or , which had common grazing and arable open fields operated on the run rig system. An individual might have between five and ten families as tenants. As landowners sought to increase the income from their lands, the first step was the removal of the tacksmen. They were steadily eliminated over the last quarter of the 18th century. A tacksman (a member of the , sometimes described as 'gentry' in English) was the holder of a lease or tack from the landowner. Where a lease was for a , the tacksman usually sublet to the farming tenants and may have provided some management oversight. Tacksmen were integral to the trade in black cattle out of the Highlands, providing an important role in the overall Highland economy. By preventing this section of society from sub-letting, the landlords obtained all of the rent paid by those who worked the land. Secondly, landowners replaced the older farming methods with pastoral systems, with leases being auctioned off to the highest bidder. In early cases, these new farms raised cattle. Much more common was the introduction of extensive sheep farms. Both required the eviction of the tenants of each . In many clearances, the tenants of inland farms were moved to crofting communities in coastal areas, often on poorer quality land. This type of clearance was carried out mostly until the 1820s.
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