Summary
Highlights
The globalized economy still relied heavily on coerced and semi-coerced labor. The Atlantic slave trade continued at the beginning of this period, forcibly moving people, though many states would later abolish slavery. Convict labor, exemplified by penal colonies in British Australia and French Guiana, saw criminals sent across the world for hard labor. Indentured servitude also filled the need for cheap labor following the decline of slavery, where laborers contracted to work for a set number of years in exchange for free passage to new destinations, such as Indian laborers in the Caribbean and Chinese laborers in Malayan tin mines.
From 1750 to 1900, industrialization profoundly influenced global migration. Significant demographic change, marked by an explosion in global population, especially in Europe due to improved medicine and diets, led to increased lifespans. This, coupled with agricultural mechanization, displaced many rural workers, compelling them to migrate to cities for industrial jobs. Famine, like the Irish Potato Famine in the 1840s, also spurred mass migration as millions left Ireland for other places, including the United States.
New transportation technologies, such as railroads and steamships, significantly facilitated this era's migration. These innovations offered cheaper and faster travel, enabling both internal and international movement. The majority of migrants settled in urban centers within imperial states and colonial territories, leading to massive urbanization. While many migrants never returned home, affordable transportation allowed some, like Lebanese merchants in Argentina and Brazil, to travel back and forth.
Economic factors were a primary driver of migration, largely stemming from people seeking work. Many migrated freely, making personal decisions to escape joblessness and economic hardship, such as Irish, Italian, German, and Chinese immigrants moving to urban centers in the U.S. for jobs in industries like railroad construction. However, a significant portion of migration was coerced or semi-coerced.