[lit-ideas] Re: Reality Check

  • From: David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2006 15:56:28 -0700

Yesterday I was preparing a lecture on Imperialism when I was suddenly brought up short. Among the maps and illustrations at the back of Eric Hobsbawm's, "The Age of Empire," is one showing international migrations between 1820 and 1910. (It relies for its data on "The Times Atlas of World History"). The narrative I'd developed of immigration to the U.S. in this period had folk coming from Ireland, Italy, Poland and Russia. It was a tale of huddled masses, fleeing poverty and pogroms.

Well, here are the numbers:

Immigrants from Italy...........................2 million
Immigrants from Russia......................2 million
Immigrants from Ireland......................4.1 million

and from

Germany......................................5 million
Scandinavia................................7 million


and where did by far the largest number of immigrants come from? The wealthiest country in the world at that time


Great Britain .........................12.7 million


I checked with daughters to see if current text books reflect this historical reality. They had the same narrative in their heads, I used to have in mine.

David Ritchie,
Portland, Oregon

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