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Traditional historiography has perceived the early-modern northern Highlands as a region that lacked dynamism and had little contact with the outside world. I propose to establish a mercantile framework between the region and the Baltic in a period of European conflicts, but also of commercial opportunities. I investigate the trading relations between an outlying society and Scandinavia, and explore the presence of northern Highlanders to add to the successful network of Scots and Gaels from other Highland areas operating across the Baltic commercial world. These trading exchanges demonstrate the integral location of the northern Highlands within international trade routes. It further illustrates the diversity of a Nordic trade with its multiple points of entry across Scotland, despite the limited scale of these exchanges. The role of the region in international trade remained marginal, but was not altogether non-existent, as assumed in traditional historiography. These commercial relationships can be primarily described as resource-led. The limited identifiable commercial diaspora of Scottish far northerners suggests that they invested the mercantile and burghal ranks of Baltic towns rather than consigned themselves to peddling activities. These northern Highlanders could be found in both itinerant and settled communities.

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The article uses a multi-angle framework to investigate cases of witchcraft in Scotland’s northern shires between 1563 and 1660, comparing it with other mostly northern European regions. The comparatively low incidence of witchcraft accusations in these areas can be accounted for by an array of factors: a certain socio-cultural tolerance combined with the partial establishment of institutional structures and with the alternative form of judicial settlements and a greater concern for social cohesion in a society still mostly defined by kinship. The curtailment of witchcraft depended on this association of structures, actors, and on socio-economic, cultural, and religious factors acting on the localities modified by chronological and geographical variations.

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