Ulster Scots people

The Ulster Scots people or Scots-Irish are an ethnic group descended largely from Lowland Scottish and Northern English settlers who moved to the northern province of Ulster in Ireland mainly during the 17th century. There is an Ulster Scots dialect of the Scots language.

Historically, there have been considerable population exchanges between Ireland and Scotland over the millennia. This group are found mostly in the province of Ulster; their ancestors were Protestant settlers who migrated from the Scottish Lowlands and Northern England during the Plantation of Ulster, which was a planned process of colonisation following the Tudor conquest of Ireland. The largest numbers came from Ayrshire, Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway, Durham, Lanarkshire, Northumberland, Renfrewshire, Scottish Borders, Yorkshire and, to a lesser extent, from the Scottish Highlands.

Ulster Scots people, displaced through hardship, emigrated in significant numbers around in the British Empire and especially to the American colonies, later Canada and the United States. In North America, they are sometimes called "Scotch-Irish", though this term is not used in the British Isles.