Perspective: European Immigrant

Several key developments prompted this mass departure from Europe. Europeans confronted economic changes that included the rapid industrialization of their home regions and upheaval in their traditional ways of life. Significant changes in the ownership and farming of land were occurring. Land consolidation, changing traditions of land ownership, higher land prices, and rising ratios of people to land forced younger people to look elsewhere for farming opportunities. Technical changes, especially the development of faster steam transportation, provided quicker and cheaper means to travel to the

outside world. The same technology helped spread the word about the economic opportunities and living conditions to be found in other settings. Poverty at home meanwhile made migration attractive. Friends and relatives who had previously emigrated sent information about their new homes to their relatives and friends. These first generation immigrants were likely critical in the decision making of later immigrants. They often helped pay the passage of those who followed, creating a "chain of migration" or a "friends and relatives effect" in immigration history.

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