The Steam Revolution

The European revolution in steam power helped make possible the "Great Migration" of the nineteenth century. The transformation from sail to steam power on ships that occurred in the 1860s not only reduced the cost of passage to North America but also shortened a typical 6-week crossing of the Atlantic to 10 days. The efficiencies and speed of steam travel even allowed for the exchange of labour between continents. Because of the ease of,

and cheap rates for, steam travel, migrant workers could now take jobs seasonally, or only for a few years, in distant settings before returning home. The proliferation of railways in Europe, and later in North America, also created new access to agricultural hinterlands. Once immigrants were established on new lands, railways gave them the means to transport agricultural and natural resource products to distant markets.

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