The Battle for the Migrants: Introduction of Steamshipping on the North Atlantic and Its Impact on the European Exodus(50 Research in Maritime History)

This book approaches the well-documented study of European mass migration to the United States of America from the viewpoint of mass migration as a business venture. The overall purpose is to demonstrate that maritime and migration histories are interlinked and dependent on a deeper understanding of the social, economic, and political factors at work in the nineteenth century Atlantic community. It centres on both the evolution of the port of Rotterdam as a migration gateway, and the crucial role of the Holland-America line as a regulator of the North American passenger trade. The first part of the book explores the simultaneous rise of transatlantic mass migration and long-distance steamshipping between 1830 to 1870. The second part, divided into five chapters, explores how mass migration became a big business between 1870 and 1914, and scrutinises how steamship companies organised and provided initiatives for transoceanic migration, plus the role of shipping agents and agent-networks, and how passenger services were constructed within transatlantic networks. Over the course of the text it becomes increasingly clear that by approaching mass migration as a trade issue, the role of steamship companies in the facilitation of transatlantic migration is rendered both intrinsic and pivotal. It consists of an introduction containing contextual information, two sections providing historical overviews, five chapters exploring different aspects of the shipping industry’s response to mass migration, conclusion, bibliography, and six appendices of passenger, destination, agent, and advertising statistics.

Table of Contents:
About the Author / iii Acknowledgements / v Figures and Tables / vii Introduction / 1 Part 1: State Policies and Their Influence on the Connections between Maritime and Migration Networks, 1830-1870 / 11 Part II: The Impact of Steam Shipping on Transatlantic Migra-tion, 1870-1914 / 67 Chapter 1: The Role of Middlemen / 71 Chapter 2: Competition and Collusion: The Growing Pains of Passenger Shipping Conferences / 119 Chapter 3: The IMM Merger and Further Consolidations in the Shipping Industry / 163 Chapter 4: The Nationalization of American Migration Policies and the Visible Hand of the Shipping Lobby / 211 Chapter 5: Shipping Companies’ Interference with the Enactment and Implementation of Immigration Laws during the Progressive Era / 263 Conclusion / 315 Appendix 1: Rates of the NDLV Members for the American Market / 323 Appendix 2: HAL Total Passengers, 1873-1914 / 331 Appendix 3: Total Passengers of the Main Services on the North Atlantic and Number of Sailings, 1899-1914 / 333 Appendix 4: HAL Through Rates to and from Hinterland Destinations, 1893-1907 / 363 Appendix 5: New York Agents and Agents under Bond, 1897-1909 / 365 Appendix 6: Advertisements by the HAL in American Newspapers / 373 Bibliography / 379