The Transportation Revolution and Transatlantic Migration, 1850-1914
Author(s)
Keeling, Drew
Abstract
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, innovations in the engines, propulsion, and hulls of transatlantic steamships enabled increased speed and carrying capacity by which the greatest intercontinental migration in history was effected. Contradicting anecdotal emphasis on steamship company exploitation of migrants, more systematic analysis points instead to better travel conditions, not lower fares, as the primary incentive motivating large population flows between the labor markets of Europe and the United States.
