Migration (1750-1900)

Environmental Causes of Migration

  • Industrialization shaped the world, increasing migration.
  • Significant Demographic Change:
    • Global population boom.
    • Europe's population grew rapidly (1850-1914) due to new medicines and varied diets, increasing lifespan.
    • Rural populations increased, but mechanization led to job losses, pushing people to migrate to cities for industrial jobs.
  • Famine:
    • Non-industrialized areas faced famines due to primitive agriculture.
    • Irish Potato Famine (1840s):
      • Potato was the staple food for the Irish poor.
      • A blight destroyed potato crops, causing widespread famine.
      • Millions died of starvation, and millions immigrated, especially to urban centers in the United States.

Facilitation of Migration: New Transportation Technology

  • New transportation options enabled migration.
  • Cheap transportation modes (railroad, steamship) facilitated migrations within and between countries.
  • Most migrants settled in urban centers in imperial states and colonial territories for manufacturing jobs.
  • Urbanization: Many European cities experienced ~30% growth.
  • Transportation technologies enabled both permanent migration and return migration.
  • Lebanese Merchants:
    • Migrated to Argentina and Brazil for economic opportunities and to escape religious persecution in the Ottoman Empire.
    • Daily steamship arrivals/departures allowed many to return home.

Economic Causes for Migration

  • People moved to find work, with two main types of job-seeking migration.
  • Voluntary Migration:
    • Migrants chose to relocate due to joblessness and economic suffering.
    • Examples: Irish, Italian, and German immigrants to US East Coast cities; Chinese immigrants to the US West Coast for railroad work.
  • Forced Migration:
    • Millions migrated for work under coercion or semi-coercion.
    • Coerced Labor:
      • Atlantic slave trade was still active early in the period.
      • Convict labor: British and French empires established penal colonies (e.g., British Australia, French Guiana) where convicts performed hard labor.
    • Semi-Coerced Labor: Indentured Servitude:
      • Laborers signed contracts (typically 3-7 years) for free passage to their destination.
      • Slavery was widely abolished, but indentured servitude filled the need for cheap labor.
      • British government facilitated migration of indentured Indians to the Caribbean, Africa, and Southeast Asia due to poverty in India.
      • British used Chinese indentured servants in tin mines of Malaysia, due to poverty in China.