Clan is a gaelic word meaning "children " or "family ". A clan in scotland is a large family or group of families.there is a clen leader called a chief, and traditionnally the people in the clan did what the chief told them. Clans were more important in the highlands than other parts of scotland . There was often fighting between different clans . They fought over land or the animals they used to farm. Somtimes the fughting continued for many yearsm during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries alot of prople moved away from the highlands. As a result , the clans became less important.today,there are still clans and chiefs in scotland , but not in the traditional way .