Forms of emigration
Individual emigration was difficult in former times: there was perhaps the legal obstacle of bondage, traveling conditions were hard, ignorance of foreign countries was wide-spread. Therefore, mass emigration was the rule. One possible aim was the settling of a colony by part of the conquering people; or a people took the place of another people altogether.
Examples of migration: the Boers in South Africa, the Mormons in Utah. Examples of forced migration: the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, of the French Protestants under Louis XIV or of the Salzburg Protestants under Archbishop Firmian.
More personal freedom and more liberal traveling conditions brought about a change from mass emigration to
individual emigration since the last century.
Reasons
Expulsion, forced migration to the colonies, those were the prevailing types of emigration in centuries past. From the mid-19th century on, emigration was mostly
caused by economical conditions. An example: after 1840, starving Ireland lost almost 30% of her population within a few years.
Great Britain sent her emigrants to the colonies. The French population did not grow rapidly, but had many additions from densely populated Belgium: overall, there was more immigration to than emigration from France. The same holds true for Russia and Hungary, countries that offered a lot of space for settlement. Many emigrated from Scandinavia, although the region was sparsely populated.
InWith the exception of the 1830s and the 1850s, emigration from Germany was mainly caused by the near-impossibility to set up for oneself. The numbers of emigrants do not relate to the density of population. Many more emigrated from the sparsely settled regions of Western Prussia, Posen, and Pomerania than from the densely populated Rhineland. Where there was a fair chance to become an
independent farmer, there was little emigration. On the other hand, those countries that facilitated the acquisition of landed property were preferably chosen for immigration. Those were Russia, Hungary, Transylvania in the east and - later, when the economical conditions deteriorated there -
North America in the west.
Statistics
Number of emigrants from Germany to North America:
|
| Year
| Sum
| From Hamburg
| From Bremen
| To USA and North America
|
| 1871
| 76.224
| 30.254
| 45.658
| 73.816
|
| 1872
| 128.151
| 57.615
| 66.919
| 119.780
|
| 1873
| 110.438
| 51.432
| 48.608
| 96.641
|
| 1874
| 47.671
| 24.093
| 17.907
| 42.492
|
| 1875
| 32.329
| 15.826
| 12.913
| 27.834
|
| 1876
| 29.644
| 12.706
| 10.972
| 22.767
|
| 1877
| 22.898
| 10.725
| 9.328
| 18.240
|
| 1878
| 25.627
| 11.827
| 11.329
| 20.373
|
| 1879
| 35.888
| 13.165
| 15.828
| 12.913
|
| 1880
| 117.097
| 42.787
| 51.627
| 103.115
|
| 1881
| 220.902
| 84.425
| 98.510
| 206.189
|
| 1882
| 203.585
| 71.164
| 96.116
| 189.973
|
| 1883
| 173.616
| 55.666
| 87.739
| 159.894
|
| 1884
| 149.787
| 49.985
| 75.776
| 139.339
|
| 1885
| 110.119
| 35.355
| 52.328
| 102.224
|
| 1886
| 83.225
| 25.714
| 40.224
| 75.591
|
| 1887
| 104.787
| 22.648
| 55.290
| 95.976
|
| 1888
| 103.951
| 25.402
| 52.974
| 94.364
|
| 1889
| 87.677
| 30.510
| 39.852
| 75.102
|
| 1890
| 97.103
| 24.907
| 48.080
| 85.112
|
| 1891
| 120.089
| 31.581
| 59.673
| 108.611
|
| 1892
| 116.339
| 28.072
| 59.897
| 107.803
|
| 1893
| 87.677
| 30.510
| 39.852
| 75.102
|
| 1894
| 40.964
| 16.297
| 17.269
| 34.210
|
| 1895
| 37.468
| 13.997
| 15.160
| 30.692
|
| 1896
| 38.824
| 12.324
| 12.548
| 27.360
|
| 1897
| 24.631
| 8.802
| 9.559
| 19.030
|
| 1898
| 22.221
| 8.170
| 8.826
| 17.272
|
| 1899
| 24.323
| 10.660
| 9.126
| 19.195
|
| 1900
| 22.309
| 7.617
| 9.073
| 19.338
|
| 1901
| 22.073
| 7.324
| 9.143
| 19.912
|
| Summe
| 2.517.637
| 871.560
| 1.188.104
| 2.240.260
|
