AHC: Have the Isle of St Kilda remain populated to present day

Hello all. I'm an Island lover at heart and of all the scattered specs within the water around Britain, none is more fascinating to me than the story of St Kilda.

St Kilda is an archipelago some 40 miles of the coast of Shetland, it is believed to have been inhabited by just under 200 hundred people at the height of the native population. However that population, like countless other native groups, suffered steady decline due to the veracity of disease from the mainland and emigration and in 1930 after an outbreak of typhoid the entire Island was evacuated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Kilda,_Scotland

So my challenge to those of you that are aware of the History of St Kilda is to find a way for the Natives to prosper and survive to the present day.
 
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Zirantun

Banned
Ha. For a minute I was like: "St. Kilda, where the fuck is that?" I'm used to hearing it called Hiorta. But I had thought that the typhoid broke out after a bad harvest.


I would say just make the harvest good.
 

Cook

Banned
So my challenge to those of you that are aware of the History of St Kilda is to find a way for the Natives to prosper and survive to the present day.

They seem to he holding their own:

poster2012_main.jpg


;)
 
Yeah, I must admit that when I first saw the thread title my immediate thought was about the Melbourne suburb rather than the island so there was a certain amount of mental 'Huh? What the...' :)
 
Yeah, I must admit that when I first saw the thread title my immediate thought was about the Melbourne suburb rather than the island so there was a certain amount of mental 'Huh? What the...' :)

Whereas I thought of the Dunedin suburb named after the Melbourne suburb, which was no doubt named after something Scottish.

Our St Kilda is a pretty seaside suburb with good surf
 
Well, reminds me of Qwghlm from the Baroque Cycle. May have very well been the inspiration, being a tiny island NW of the Outer Hebrides with horrid weather and isolated inhabitants (though Qwghlmians speak a crazy language isolate that appears to not recognize vowels).
 
I've altered the title to clear up any confusion. It wasn't just poor harvests, the diseases were imported from the mainland. The lack of permanent medical station on Hiorta, plus the small population meant that any disease was a disaster in the making.
 
Its not off Shetland, its off the Hebrides, 40 miles into the middle of the ocean, but a heck of lot nearer to Scotland.

I marooned Schellenberg there in one of my stories

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 

Artaxerxes

Banned
I've altered the title to clear up any confusion. It wasn't just poor harvests, the diseases were imported from the mainland. The lack of permanent medical station on Hiorta, plus the small population meant that any disease was a disaster in the making.

I remember reading that the island had particularly puritanical priests in the 18th century, perhaps with a more liberal one you'd see the islanders benefiting from slightly improved infrastructure which would make youngsters less likely to emigrate

The Typhoid was the last straw but the biggest reason the islanders left was living standards and a sharp drop in the young population, the mainland was just to attractive compared to shinning down cliffs for birds eggs for dinner or living under turf.

edit: Ideally it needs to be on the route to somewhere before the 20th century and from then on or near oil or another natural resource.
 
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I remember reading that the island had particularly puritanical priests in the 18th century, perhaps with a more liberal one you'd see the islanders benefiting from slightly improved infrastructure which would make youngsters less likely to emigrate

Yes that did occur to me from the wiki article

edit: Ideally it needs to be on the route to somewhere before the 20th century and from then on or near oil or another natural resource.

Wave turbines spring to mind, though practicality maybe an issue, Perhaps Soar Sheep could become the focus of the economy in someway. There's always environmental tourism as well.
 

Artaxerxes

Banned
Yes that did occur to me from the wiki article



Wave turbines spring to mind, though practicality maybe an issue, Perhaps Soar Sheep could become the focus of the economy in someway. There's always environmental tourism as well.

The problem is these things are all fairly recent, as is the technology to make the community feel somewhat more connected to the modern world which was the main thing it needs. I'm also not sure its got the quantity of sheep needed to provide a living from them, just not enough land.

One possibility perhaps is craftsmanship on the island, something like Arran, very good quality wool goods worth a lot of money and in high demand. I'm not sure how good the wool from the islands sheep is compared to other breeds though.

The main problem is keeping it habitable between say 1900 and 1980 when the focus for most people was on luxuries and progress and quality of life.

If your interested in St Kilda I recommend this book
 
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