CAUSES of MIGRATION from 1750-1900 [AP World History Review—Unit 6 Topic 6]

Summary

This video explores migration from 1750 to 1900, highlighting the environmental, economic, and technological factors driving it. Rapid population growth, mechanized farming, and famines like the Irish Potato Famine pushed people from rural areas to cities and abroad. Advances in transportation, such as railroads and steamships, made migration easier and more accessible, enabling both permanent relocation and temporary movement. Economic motivations ranged from voluntary job-seeking to coerced and semi-coerced labor, including slavery, convict labor, and indentured servitude. The video emphasizes how industrialization, urbanization, and global economic demands shaped migration patterns, connecting personal hardships to broader historical forces of the era.

Takeaways

• 🌍 The period 1750–1900 saw significant global migration driven by industrialization and demographic changes.
• 👶 Population growth in Europe, fueled by better medicine and diets, led to rural overcrowding and increased migration to urban areas.
• 🥔 Environmental factors like famines, exemplified by the Irish Potato Famine, forced millions to migrate or face starvation.
• 🚂 Advances in transportation, including railroads and steamships, made migration easier, faster, and more affordable.
• 🏙 Migration contributed to rapid urbanization, with many migrants settling in industrial cities of both imperial and colonial territories.
• 🔄 Some migrants, such as Lebanese merchants, used new transportation to migrate temporarily and return home for economic or social reasons.
• 💼 Economic motives drove migration, with people seeking better job opportunities in domestic or international urban centers.
• ✈️ Voluntary migration included millions of Europeans, Chinese, and others relocating to places like the United States to escape poverty.
• ⛓ Coerced labor, including slavery and convict labor, continued to move people forcibly at the start of this period.
• 📝 Semi-coerced labor, such as indentured servitude, provided cheap labor for colonial enterprises, often moving people from India and China across the British Empire.
• 💡 Migration patterns were influenced by a combination of push factors (poverty, famine, persecution) and pull factors (industrial jobs, economic opportunity).
• 📈 Overall, migration during this period was a complex interplay of environmental, economic, and technological forces reshaping societies worldwide.

Q & A

What were the main environmental causes of migration between 1750 and 1900?

The main environmental causes were significant demographic changes and famines. Population growth due to better medicine and diets created job scarcity in rural areas, pushing people to migrate. Famines, like the Irish Potato Famine in the 1840s, forced many to leave their homes in search of food and survival.

How did industrialization influence migration during this period?

Industrialization mechanized agriculture, reducing rural employment opportunities, and created abundant jobs in urban centers. This pushed rural populations to migrate to cities and industrial areas, both domestically and internationally.

What role did transportation technology play in migration?

New transportation technologies such as railroads and steamships made migration faster, cheaper, and more accessible. They facilitated both domestic and international migration and allowed some migrants to return home more easily.

What is urbanization, and how was it linked to migration in this period?

Urbanization refers to the growth of cities due to an influx of migrants seeking jobs in industrial centers. Many European and colonial cities expanded rapidly as migrants settled in areas where manufacturing and economic opportunities were concentrated.

What were the two main types of economic migration?

The first type was voluntary migration for job opportunities, where people moved based on personal choice to escape poverty and find work, such as Irish, Italian, and German migrants to the U.S. The second type was coerced or semi-coerced migration, including slavery, convict labor, and indentured servitude, often driven by economic demand from industrialized states.

How did the Irish Potato Famine impact migration?

The famine caused mass starvation and forced millions of Irish to emigrate, primarily to urban centers in the United States. It was a major push factor driving international migration during the 1840s.

What is indentured servitude, and why was it significant during this period?

Indentured servitude involved laborers signing contracts to work for a set number of years in exchange for passage to a new location. It was significant because it supplied cheap labor to industrialized states and colonies after the abolition of slavery, particularly from India and China.

Can you give examples of coerced labor during this period?

Yes, coerced labor included the Atlantic slave trade early in the period and convict labor sent to penal colonies, such as British Australia and French Guiana. These labor systems forced people to work under harsh conditions in colonies and industrial projects.

Why did some migrants choose to return home despite migrating?

Thanks to affordable transportation like steamships, some migrants could move temporarily for work or economic opportunities and then return to their home countries, as seen with Lebanese merchants migrating to Argentina and Brazil.

Which regions or populations were most affected by job-seeking migration during this period?

European populations, such as the Irish, Italian, and Germans, migrated to urban centers in the U.S., while Chinese laborers moved to the western U.S. for railroad construction. Additionally, Indians and Chinese were sent as indentured laborers to British colonies in the Caribbean, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Malaysia.

How did global economic conditions contribute to migration?

Global economic demand for labor, both free and coerced, pushed people to migrate. Industrialized nations required cheap labor to maintain their economic dominance, leading to both voluntary job-seeking migration and semi-coerced systems like indentured servitude.