THE BUSINESS OF MIGRATION

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Please also see below re new policy and perspective on AI systems

THE BUSINESS OF MIGRATION IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT

 

Migration is ubiquitous to life. Birds do it, bees do it, even plants do it (intergenerationally), and it has been part of human history from its African origins to its globalizing dispersion today. (“Repeat Migration”, p. 160.)

 

 

For the past two centuries, economic and business factors have often helped propel and shape mass long distance relocation in pursuit of more promising, though also more uncertain opportunities than those available at home.

 

At the transatlantic heart of the globalizing economy of the early 20th century, the business of migration between Europe and the United States carried out the greatest and most diverse transoceanic relocation of all time. Migration travel was the core business of the multi-million dollar coal-powered transatlantic steamships, which, during the era of Lusitania and Titanic, brought the immigrant ancestors of over one-third of today’s Americans to immigration entry points such as Ellis Island. U.S. policy during the peak immigration prior to World War I focused on migration processes rather than migration outcomes, and, in contrast to those of more recent years, was a policy that “worked.

 

 

For more see:

  Migration Processes

  Ellis Island

  Titanic

  Migration today
  Short general articles on contemporary migration

  Scholarly historical articles

 

Full length historical book (reviews here):

"The Business of Transatlantic Migration between Europe and the United States, 1900-1914,"                       by Drew Keeling

 

Update as of January, 2024, re artificial intelligence in historical research:

This website does not use "large language model" text generation or text mining artificial intelligence systems in any form or for any purpose. It also does not support or encourage their general, widespread, or unregulated use in online historical research or writing, and opposes all forms of plagiarism and unattributed or unauthorized use of creative writing and original data. Although progress and adaptation of such systems may be rapid and some day yield substantial genuine net benefits to society, the website furthermore recommends healthy skepticism concerning over-reliance on the large, non-transparent, for-profit corporations who, while adhering to a longstanding "move fast and break things" ethic, have recently assumed leadership of this field.