Crossings: The Great Transatlantic Migrations, 1870-1914During the period 1870-1914, the Atlantic was a broad highway for migration. Unchecked by government restrictions, wars, or economic depressions, and aided by the new technologies of steamships and railroads, millions of people uprooted their lives and set off for new lands. Americans understand this story as a great saga of immigrants and assimilation of people drawn to the United States as to the promised land of opportunity. But what lay behind this great migration? And how unique was the American experience? To answer these questions, Walter Nugent looks at this massive movement of people from both sides of the Atlantic. Tracing the migrations of more than a dozen national groups from Europe to the four major New World receiving countries - Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and the United States - Nugent discovers a complex story of crossings and recrossings, of tens of millions of human experiences and decisions. Nugent follows the migrants who left rural Europe for American mines and factories, but he also compares the experiences of Europeans on the very different frontiers of settlement at the far reaches of the four receiving countries. And he discusses the migration of women, not only wives and mothers within migrating families but also individuals seeking a new life on their own. Nugent asks important questions about American uniqueness in the context of transatlantic migration history and about the validity of widely held theories of development. He finds that the history of the great migrations is more complex and subtle than these theories. His superb synthesis broadens the scope and clarifies the details of a fascinating story of enormous social and demographic change. |
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Page 96
... northern Italians had a long tradi- tion of migration within Europe and continued it through the 1871-1890 period . While such migration was often seasonal and made up of young men , almost half of the northern Italian migrants to ...
... northern Italians had a long tradi- tion of migration within Europe and continued it through the 1871-1890 period . While such migration was often seasonal and made up of young men , almost half of the northern Italian migrants to ...
Page 98
... Northern Italians usually headed for Brazil and Argentina , while southerners more often went to the United States ( and , years later , to Canada ) . The reasons for this distribution were partly acci- dental . The end of slavery in ...
... Northern Italians usually headed for Brazil and Argentina , while southerners more often went to the United States ( and , years later , to Canada ) . The reasons for this distribution were partly acci- dental . The end of slavery in ...
Page 142
... northern New York . From Montreal , French families went to New York and New England mill towns , Scots to the American Northwest . From Chatham , Ontario , near Detroit , some Canadians left for American industrial towns , but those ...
... northern New York . From Montreal , French families went to New York and New England mill towns , Scots to the American Northwest . From Chatham , Ontario , near Detroit , some Canadians left for American industrial towns , but those ...
Contents
The Atlantic Region in the Late Nineteenth Century | 11 |
General Patterns and Motives | 27 |
Introduction | 41 |
Copyright | |
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agricultural American areas Argentina arrived Austria-Hungary Austrian became began birth rates Brazil Brazilian Bremen Britain British Buenos Aires Burgdörfer Canada Canadian census cities colonies death rates decade decline demographic demographic transition donor early East European economic emigration Empire England-Wales ethnic Europe European countries farm females Ferenczi and Willcox fertility figures foreign-born France frontier Fundação Getulio Vargas Galicia German groups Hamburg Historical Statistics History Hungary Ibid immigration included industrial International Migrations Ireland Irish Italians Italy Jewish Jews labor labor-seeking land late nineteenth century living major male million modernization mortality Norman North America numbers passengers Paulo peasants percent period Poland Poles population ports Portuguese prairie provinces railroads reasons received return migration Rio de Janeiro Runblom rural Russia sailing Scandinavians settlement ships Slovaks Social societies South southern Spain Spanish steamships Sweden tion traditional transatlantic migration United University Press urban Volga Germans West West Prussia women workers World York young