Chapter 6.4 Communities in Diaspora
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Compare the experiences of European and Asian emigrants in the mid- to late nineteenth century
- Analyze the response of the Americas to the immigration of Europeans and Asians in the mid- to late nineteenth century
As the world transformed in the second half of the nineteenth century, large numbers of people found themselves displaced by the changes. A series of wars, political upheavals, and natural disasters drove people from their homes in southern and eastern Europe, East Asia, and India, while at the same time industrialized nations sought people to work in mines and factories, and countries that had developed export economies needed hands to work in their forests and fields. These forces combined to promote a mass migration of people across the face of the earth, assisted by new industrial technologies.
European Immigration
Over the course of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century, approximately sixty million Europeans sought better economic opportunities on other continents. Most came from relatively nonindustrialized or agricultural regions, such as southern Italy and Sicily. Approximately twenty-eight million Europeans and Canadians immigrated to the United States during this time, the majority between 1890 and 1914. Most were peasant farmers from southern and eastern Europe. Many also continued to arrive from Germany and Ireland, the countries that had been responsible for the greatest influx of immigrants in the first half of the nineteenth century. Along with those fleeing poverty came victims of religious persecution, especially Jewish people of the Russian empire. They had faced discrimination and anti-Semitism, which often culminated in waves of violence called pogroms that left people dead and their property destroyed. Political dissidents and craftspeople displaced by industrialization made up the rest.
After the United States, it was Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay that received the largest numbers. Some 4.5 million emigrants went to Argentina, where at one point they made up 30 percent of the population. Latin America attracted many Italians and Germans as well as Spanish and Portuguese settlers. Canada was the destination of approximately 5.1 million people between the 1850s and the 1920s. Other common landing places for European immigrants were Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Particularly attractive after gold was discovered there were Australia in 1851 and South Africa in 1886.
Once in their new homes, European immigrants performed a large variety of jobs. Many worked in factories. Jewish people were especially active in the garment industry in places like New York City. In the United States, Polish people and other eastern Europeans worked in the steel industry in Pittsburgh and in Chicago’s stockyards. The Portuguese often worked in the fishing industry or, in New Englan