EMIGRATION 



2889 



Emigration (Latin e, from ; 

 migrare, to change one's residence). 

 Systematic migration of the sur- 

 plus population of one land to 

 another for the purpose of settle- 

 ment. This movement has been 

 one of the great factors in shaping 

 the modern world, more potent 

 even than military conquest. 

 The military victor holds his pos- 

 sessions at the point of the sword, 

 often over a rebellious people ; 

 settlers absorb the land and sooner 

 or later obtain control of it. 



The modern emigration move- 

 ment began after the discovery of 

 America, developing contempor- 

 aneously with the era of the 

 merchant adventurers. Spain led 

 the way, absorbing enormous areas 

 in S. America and in the southern 

 half of N. America. S. America is 

 still overwhelmingly Spanish, in 

 language, customs, and life. Portu- 

 gal and Holland played no incon- 

 siderable part, but Spain's main 

 rivals were France and Britain. 

 The enterprise of the merchants of 

 Bristol gave Great Britain a foot- 

 hold in Newfoundland from which 

 the British people spread to the 

 Pacific in the W. and Mexico in 

 the S. Everywhere, but especially 

 in N. America, French and British 

 found themselves as rivals in the 

 race for new empire. 



Religion played a large part in 

 the first emigration movements. 

 Zeal for the Catholic Church led 

 Spain to attempt to establish on 

 a large scale model Catholic na- 

 tions in S. America. The effort to 

 create new peoples to overcome 

 the growing heresies of Europe 

 influenced the French kings in 

 their pious endeavours to build 

 up New France along the banks 

 of the St. Lawrence. The de- 

 parture of the Pilgrim Fathers 

 from Plymouth in 1620 for New 

 England laid the foundations of 

 the U.S.A. of to-day. A second 

 great impelling force has been 

 poverty. The most marked ex- 

 ample of this was the steady exodus 

 of the Irish people to America 

 during the Irish famines in the 19th 

 century. The third cause is love 

 of adventure and ambition, of 

 which the most striking instance 

 is to be found in a large part of 

 the emigration from England and 

 still more from Scotland. 



The Outflow from Europe 

 As Spain and Portugal declined, 

 the outflow of their people ceased. 

 The Dutch settlers in many parts 

 notably in the state of New 

 York were gradually absorbed 

 in the English-speaking race. S. 

 Africa remains the outstanding 

 example of successful Dutch set- 

 tlement, and is still mainly Dutch 

 in language and institutions, al- 



though British in government. 

 France, defeated in her struggle 

 for political supremacy in N. 

 America after the Napoleonic 

 wars, became one of the least mi- 

 gratory nations in Europe, but 

 the province of Quebec still re- 

 mains distinctively French under 

 the British flag. Britain maintained 

 the outpouring of her people. 

 While she lost political control 

 of a large part of N. America, the 

 U.S.A. still remained British in 

 speech, and the British stock pre- 

 dominated. The convict settle- 

 ments of New South Wales and 

 Tasmania gave way to the free 

 British commonwealths of Aus- 

 tralia and New Zealand. The 

 growth of Australia and the open- 

 ing up of the Pacific coast of N. 

 America were enormously stimu- 

 lated by the discovery of gold in 

 California and Victoria in the 

 middle of the 19th century. 



The defeat of the liberal move- 

 ment and the triumph of im- 

 perialism in Germany stimulated 

 a German migration westwards, 

 which militarism and poverty did 

 much to encourage. The German 

 people prefer not to settle in Ger- 

 man-ruled colonies, and belore the 

 Great War went mostly to the 

 U.S.A. and to S. America. After the 

 war their migration to the U.S.A. 

 was checked, and they tended to go 

 in larger numbers to S. America, 

 Poland, and W. Russia. Italy, Rus- 

 sia, and the states of South-Eastern 

 Europe in the years immediately 

 before the Great War were the 

 main sources of European emi- 

 gration. 



Migration to the U.S.A. 



The abundant industrial open- 

 ings and the high wages of the 

 U.S.A. have made it for many 

 years the Mecca of the European 

 emigrant. The flow of population 

 early in the 20th century averaged 

 1,000,000 a year, and in 1914 was 

 over 1,200,000. Three-quarters 

 came from Russia, Italy, and 

 Austria- Hungary. Most of this 

 migration was closed down for a 

 time by the Great War. The large 

 German and Eastern European 

 settlements, and the considerable 

 negro population (9,827,703 in 

 1910, and rapidly increasing) pre- 

 sent some of America's gravest 

 social problems. Despite the large 

 Eastern European immigration in 

 recent years, the most considerable 

 section of the foreign white stock 

 in the U.S.A. is to-day English 

 speaking. 



Canada failed to draw any con- 

 siderable number of new settlers 

 until near the close of the 19th 

 century. Then, partly on account 

 of the closer settlement and grow- 

 ing scarcity of land in the U.S.A., 



a big movement, largely of far- 

 mers, started from there into the 

 prairie provinces. This ran paral- 

 lel with a movement from Europe. 

 Between 1901 and 1911, the popu- 

 lation rose from 5,371,135 to 

 7.206,643. In the next decade, 

 owing to the war and economic 

 difficulties, the growth was slower, 

 but by 1920 the population ex- 

 ceeded 8,000,000. The Dominion 

 Government showed a certain 

 timidity in dealing with immi- 

 grants immediately after the war, 

 partly owing to fear of the Labour 

 vote. Australia had gone through 

 a similar experience earlier, but, 

 learning better, launched out on 

 fresh schemes for attracting im- 

 migrants. 



Japanese on the Pacific Coast 



One of the most significant 

 movements of recent years has 

 been the large Japanese emigra- 

 tion all over the Pacific coast and 

 islands due to the rapid growth of 

 Japanese population. This has 

 given rise to serious difficulties 

 with the white nations of the 

 Pacific, more particularly with the 

 people of California, who have 

 caused deep offence in Japan by 

 carrying exclusive legislation. The 

 Japanese claim the right to be 

 treated like white men. The Cali- 

 fornians say that for them to do 

 so would involve the Japanese 

 absorption of their land. Despite 

 all repressive legislation there are 

 close on 90,000 Japanese in Cali- 

 fornia alone. The Japanese are 

 a majority of the population in 

 Hawaii, they are spreading through 

 Eastern Siberia, and they have 

 settlements in almost every port 

 or trading centre in Eastern Asia. 

 See Alien ; Immigration; Popu- 

 lation. P. A. McKenzie 



Emigres. Term applied to 

 Frenchmen who sought refuge in 

 foreign countries during, and imme- 

 diately after, the French Revolu- 

 tion. Most of these supporters of 

 the old regime went to the Rhenish 

 states of Germany, but everywhere 

 actively advocated the restoration 

 of the Bourbon dynasty. Their 

 hopes of a speedy accomplishment 

 of this object were shattered when 

 the French Revolutionary armies 

 defeated the Prussians and their 

 allies at Valmy in 1793. After the 

 final overthrow of Napoleon in 

 1815 the emigres who were still 

 alive or had not permanently set- 

 tled abroad returned to France. 

 See French Revolution. 



Emilia. Administrative divi- 

 sion of N. Italy. It slopes from the 

 Apennines to the river Po, and 

 facing the Adriatic. The name 

 is derived from the Roman Via 

 Aemilia, the great N. road which 

 passed through the territory. The 



