4. Mass population movements and resettlement, 1820–1924

The examination of European immigration is centered on the crisis of peasant agriculture and the collapse of traditional rural society, beginning in western Europe in the eighteenth century and spreading eastward and southward by the late nineteenth century. Similar conditions are observed in Mexico, China, and Japan. Immigration is considered not from the standpoint of nations on the move, but of networks defined by family, kinship, friendship, and community, which give structure to migration and resettlement. International migration was facilitated by technological revolutions in postal and media communications, which spread information about travel and destinations, and transportation, which created safer, faster routinized oceanic passage. Seen from these perspectives, what appears to be the chaotic movement of inchoate masses takes on the form of a process guided by technology and linked personal experiences, while immigrants appear to be pragmatic conservatives guided by familiar relations and a willingness to test the continents in search of better lives.