The period between 1830 and 1930 was a time of explosive immigration from the Old World to the New World - North, South and Central America. In the United States, for example, almost 15 percent of the population was born outside of the country in 1890. For the first 60 years of this period, almost all immigration to the United States was from Northwestern Europe, especially from Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, and Germany. Then, as the flow of immigrants from these countries declined, large numbers of people began to make the journey from countries in Southern and Eastern Europe. In addition, a smaller but significant number of immigrants came to the United States from Asia, particularly China and Japan. Finally, during the early part of this period, there was forced migration of Africans as slaves to many places in New World.
The largest number of immigrants went to the United States, but substantial numbers also went to Canada. Initially, like the United States, most immigrants to Canada came from Northwestern Europe; subsequently, there was a shift to Southern and Eastern Europe as the primary sources of immigration. In South America, Argentina and Brazil received the largest number of immigrants during the same period. About 6.5 million immigrants went to Argentina and about four and half million went to Brazil. In Argentina, the majority came from Spain and Italy, and in Brazil, most immigrants came from Portugal, Italy, and Germany.
A number of factors lay behind immigrants' decisions to leave their home countries. Sociologists and economists generally categorize these as "push" and "pull" factors. Push factors are characteristics of the home country that make staying there less attractive. Pull factors are characteristics that make new country more attractive, despite the hardship of giving up a familiar life and of taking a difficult journey. Although immigrants all had their own reasons for leaving home, one push factor -economic hardship- was behind most of the decisions to risk an uncertain future in the New World.
In nineteenth century Europe, economic hardship affected workers of all kinds. Both agriculture and industry were in transition. The old agricultural system that depended on large numbers of unskilled workers was disintegrating and half left many farm farm workers unemployed. The farm work that remained available was difficult and uncertain. When a harvest failed, there was not enough to eat. The persistent failure of the potato harvest in Ireland (1845-1852) caused widespread starvation and more than 750,000 deaths. However, it was not only farmers who endured such difficult conditions. Industrialization was drawing large numbers of people into the cities. This growing supply of workers depressed wages, so often jobs did not pay enough to support a family. Many people could not find work at all.
In contrast, life in the New World offered several pull factors that attracted immigrants. For farmers, good land in the New World was inexpensive. The governments in many countries, including the United States and Canada, encouraged immigrants by offering land at low prices or in some cases, at no cost to farmers who ere willing to build homes and communities. Many countries in the New World also had a large and growing demand for non-farm labor. Companies sent representative to countries all over Europe to recruit both skilled and unskilled workers, offering higher wages than European factories. With the invention to the steamship, travel time from Europe fell from several months to just two weeks, making the option to immigrate more attractive. Finally, countries that experienced the highest rates of immigration - the United States, Canada, Argentina, and Brazil - also offered political stability. These push and pull factors combined to fuel a colossal immigration wave that peaked between 1900 and World War I.
During this period, the strongest demand for labor in the New World was for the most difficult jobs: building subways and railroads, harvest in sugar cane, picking fruit, and mining precious metals. Such robust demand led many countries to turn the system of contract labor. In this system, a company paid the cost of the immigrants' journey to the New World. The companies profited in two ways: first, the immigrants had to work for the company, usually low wages; and second, they had to pay back the cost of the journey plus interest. Many Asians, pushed by poor economic conditions in tehir own countries, came to the New World under this system. In South America, many Chinese and Japanese went to Peru, and to lesser extent, Brazil, during this period. There was also substantial immigration from Asia to the United States. More than 400,000 Chinese immigrated to the United States during this period, including about 50,000 Hawaii, which was not yet part of the United States. About 380,000 Japanese came to the United States, 200,000 of them to Hawaii. Some, though not all, cane as contract laborers.
Finally, a large number of laborers were brought to the New World against their will. The slave trade began in the seventeenth century and reached its height before the age of immigration Brazil was the last country in the South America to abolish slavery in 1888, by which time, between 9 and 10 million Africans had been brought to the New World. Only about five percent went to the United States. The majority of slaves were taken to South America and Caribbean, with the largest number going to Brazil. In many countries, including the United States, slaves worked in physically demanding jobs for which it was difficult to find enough paid laborers.
The age of immigration, which closed with the beginning of World War II, prepared the way for a multicultural New World. Following the war, immigration continued, but patterns and directions of immigration changed. In addition, although the number of immigrants remained high is some countries, the percentage of immigrants in the population has never been as high as it was during the Age of Immigration.
