'The Tables Turned', 1880
American Cartoon Suggesting What City Streets Might Look Like To Irish-Americans As A Result Of Increased Chinese Migration.

6.6 G. ECN
Explain how various economic factors contributed to the development of varied patterns of migration from 1750 to 1900.

The transcontinental railroad was one of the 19th century’s greatest accomplishments. An estimated 11,000 - 15,000 Chinese laborers helped build the transcontinental railroad. Chinese workers at one point may have constituted close to 90% of the Pacific workforce.

Historical Development

Many individuals chose freely to relocate, often in search of work or new economic opportunities. The new global capitalist economy continued to rely on coerced and semi-coerced labor migration, including slavery, Chinese and Indian indentured servitude, and convict labor.

6.6 AMSCO Chapter: Causes of Migration

Key Words:

Convicts for Labor

Indentured Laborers

Penal Colony

6.6 F. ENV & G. ENC SKILL: SAQ Making connections between historical developments (Migration: Push-Pull Factors)

Skills:

SAQ

The New Global Economy Encouraged Migration

The period 1750-1900 saw human migration at a scale unmatched in previous periods of human history. Migrations within regions and across continents were no longer journeys undertaken by explorers or trade profiteers but by regular people. There were many environmental push factors causing migration.

Types of Migration

The various economic and environmental push & pull factors resulted in various types of migration across varying distances, movement from agricultural areas to urban locations, migrations within colonial economies, & European migrations to their respected colonial outposts.

Asian Migration from 1750 - 1900

Migrations based on Coerced & Semi-coerced Labor

New global capitalist economies continued to rely on coerced and semi-coerced labor. These forced labor systems resulted in large numbers of migrants.