Emigration literally means going from one place to another; but in its established signification it implies (1) permanently leaving a place to make a home elsewhere; (2) going out of one country to another, and generally to a distant part of the world; (3) going out from a community and leaving the bulk behind—in this sense the word is opposed to migration, which implies the movement of whole tribes or nations; (4) going out spontaneously, not as part of some systematic scheme of settlement—in this sense the word has been sometimes opposed to colonisation. In the country which people leave they are called emigrants or wanderers out; in that in which they settle they are usually called immigrants. Jacob and his family were immigrants to Egypt, and their descendants became emigrants from that country when they went to inherit the Promised Land.
Among the principal causes which have led to emigration at different times in history may be noticed the pursuit of wealth, the pressure of population at home, and political, social, or religious discontent. The Spaniards went to America to get gold. Many of the Greeks in old times, like many of the English in our own, emigrated because of over-population. Political and social discontent, as well as over-population, accounts in great measure for the large numbers of Irish emigrants. The burden of compulsory military service is supposed to be, and to have been, one determining cause of German emigration. And religious oppression led to the emigration of the Huguenots from France to England, and of the Puritans from England to North America.
In ancient times, when the Mediterranean was the centre of the world, the Greek race sent out most emigrants. The Phoenicians were rather traders than settlers, and the Roman colonies were mainly military stations, carefully designed by government. The Greeks emigrated because their space was limited at home compared with their numbers, and because in the small towns which made up Greece party spirit ran high, and often led to large bodies of citizens leaving for a new home. Greek emigrants settled along the shores of the Mediterranean, from Cyprus in one direction to Marseilles in another, and these settlements were quite independent of, and in many cases greater than, the mother-cities.
Between ancient and modern times there intervenes a long period of the world's history, during which there was a perpetual ebb and flow of races throughout Europe; but the movements of the barbarians who overran the provinces of the Roman empire, and even the later and more organised enterprises of such peoples as the Normans, fall rather under the head of migration, invasion, or conquest, than under that of emigration. At the end of the 15th century, the opening of the passage to India round the Cape of Good Hope by Vasco da Gama, and the discovery of America by Columbus, at once disclosed new lands to which Europeans might emigrate, and stimulated the restless spirit which prompts to emigration. The Spaniards went to the west, the Portuguese to the east; and, being natives of the south of Europe, they were better fitted than the more northerly nations to make their homes in hot climates. Large numbers of Spaniards emigrated to the West Indies and to Central and South America. The Portuguese were fewer in numbers, and the East Indies, to which at first they chiefly went, were less suitable than America for European settlement; still, at the present day, their descendants are left in India, Ceylon, and elsewhere. To Brazil, which was outside their beat, they found their way by accident, and that country became the home of many Portuguese. Among the nations who followed the Portuguese and Spaniards to the east and west were the Dutch, the French, and the English. The Dutch, though great traders, did not send out many emigrants compared with other colonising peoples; but in addition to those who were attracted to the East Indies by commerce, Dutchmen emigrated to what is now known as New York, and still more to the Cape of Good Hope. The French were rather conquerors than settlers, but many Frenchmen emigrated to various parts of the world, as to the islands of Mauritius and Bourbon, to some of the West Indian islands, to Louisiana, and notably to Canada, where their descendants are now multiplying very fast. The English emigrated principally to the West Indies, to North America, and later to Australasia and South Africa.
European emigration has been greatest in the 19th century, because the population of Europe has increased so enormously. It is necessary to consider (1) the countries to which the emigrants go; (2) the countries from which they come. As regards the former, it is obvious that the favourite fields for European emigration must always be (a) countries with a suitable—i.e. a temperate climate; (b) countries which have not an over-large population already; (c) countries which have large resources—i.e. large facilities for making wealth. Tried by these tests, it is clear that, as has actually been the case, the United States and British North America, the Australasian colonies of Great Britain, South Africa (though there the native population is large), and the more temperate parts of South America—e.g. the Argentine Republic—would be the places which would attract most emigrants.
As regards the countries from which the emigrants come, the Teutonic nations have supplied the largest number, including English, Germans, and Scandinavians. The Germans have gone in great measure to the north central districts of the United States, the Swedes to Minnesota and Canada. Latterly there has been a large emigration from Iceland to Canada. Of the Celtic peoples the Irish have emigrated in largest numbers, mainly to the United States. There, in 1890, 14.77 per cent. of the total population were foreign born. And of the foreign born 20.23 per cent. were from Ireland, 10.91 from England and Wales, and 2.62 from Scotland (collectively 33.76 from the United Kingdom), 30.11 from Germany, 10.09 from Scandinavian lands. In New York city the Irish element is exceptionally large. France sends out few emigrants; but there is a large stream of Italian emigration to the Argentine Republic.
Great Britain not only furnishes a very large proportion of the total number of European emigrants, but is also a place through which very many foreigners pass on their way to America. The returns issued by the Board of Trade show that during the forty-two years 1853–94, 7,915,359 emigrants of British and Irish origin left British ports for places out of Europe, 52 per cent. being English, 10 per cent. Scotch, and 38 per cent. Irish. Of the total number, 67 per cent. went to the United States, 10 per cent. to British North America, 17 per cent. to Australasia, and only 6 per cent. to all other places. The number of emigrants officially sent back from the United States as being likely to be a public charge was 307, of whom 179 were British and Irish. Emigration from British ports is subject to the Passengers Acts, which are administered by the Board of Trade, and which contain provisions for the proper food, accommodation, and medical care of emigrants. For many years there was a Colonial Land and Emigration Board, subordinate to the Colonial Office; but with the gift of responsible government to the larger colonies, the consequent handing over of the public lands to the colonial governments, and the growing number of settlers, the functions of the board became necessarily curtailed, and such work as remained to it, consisting mainly of the supervision of coolie emigration from India to some of the tropical Crown Colonies, has been transferred to the Colonial Office. In 1886 a small office, managed by a voluntary committee, but subsidised by the government, and under the general control of the Colonial Office, was established at 31 Broadway, Westminster, SW., for giving accurate and useful information to intending emigrants to the British colonies. The number of written and verbal applications made to this office is a proof of the great interest which attaches to the question of emigration at the present time. There are various acts in existence authorising the application of public funds to purposes of emigration. Powers are given to the guardians in England and Wales to apply money to this purpose under certain conditions, and the Local Government Bill of 1888 authorises a County Council to advance money for emigration or colonisation, if the repayment is guaranteed by a local authority in the county, or by the government of a colony. State aid to emigration has also been sanctioned under certain Irish acts and in the case of the crofters of Scotland.
With regard to recent emigration from Great Britain, we may say: (1) There is a growing movement in favour of supplementing the efforts of voluntary emigration societies by state aid given directly or indirectly on a large scale. This movement is due to the great growth of population at home, the occasional distress caused by bad trade, and the congestion of labour in the large towns. (2) Colonisation as opposed to emigration is attracting much attention—i.e. the sending out large bodies of people, on a well-defined system, to a particular place and a fixed employment, as opposed to the sending out isolated individuals or families to take their chance in the new country. (3) While the interest in emigration is growing rather than declining at home, the feeling in the countries which are the main fields of labour is not so favourable to efforts in this direction. But little assistance to emigrants is now given by the colonial governments; and the assistance, when given, is mainly confined to farmers, farm-labourers, and female domestic servants. The feeling against emigrants in the United States and in some of the British colonies (as to which see also under IMMIGRATION) is due partly to the jealousy of imported labour felt by the working-classes on the spot, partly to past experience of the many unsuitable emigrants sent out in former years. The Alien Contract Labour Laws (1885–7–8 and 1891, and extended to Hawaii) of the United States, by which immigrants are not allowed to enter the country under contract to fill any situation, except it be a new industry, has had a considerable effect in reducing immigration, as they are strictly enforced. (4) There has latterly been a falling off in the number of emigrants from Britain. The total number of native emigrants who left Britain in 1880 was 227,542; in 1890, 218,116; and in 1899, 146,777—their destination being for the most part the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The gold of the Transvaal and Klondyke attracted many emigrants to South Africa and Canada.
In 1899 the Russian government, realising the importance of Siberia as a profitable field for the surplus population, resolved that the transportation of criminals should give way to voluntary emigration, which was also attracted by the discovery of gold-mines in various districts. In 1888 the Russian emigration to Siberia was 26,000, but had increased in 1897 to about 200,000. For emigration from other countries, see the several articles.
What has been said above refers exclusively to emigration from Europe. A few words should be added as to Chinese and Indian emigration. The opposition offered to unrestricted Chinese immigration in the United States and in the Australasian colonies shows the importance which is attached to the question of Chinese labour, and the dimensions to which it is anticipated that Chinese immigration might attain. Taking the British dependencies, Chinese emigrants have gone to British Columbia, to Queensland and other parts of Australia, to Labuan and North Borneo, and most of all to the Straits Settlements and the protected states of the Malay Peninsula, in the mining districts of which they now far outnumber the native Malays. Hong-kong is the main outlet for Chinese emigration, and at one time some difficulty was experienced by the government in checking abuses connected with indentured coolie emigration to South America. Speaking of Chinese emigration generally, the most noticeable points are (1) the numbers which emigrate; (2) the disproportion of the sexes, the enormous bulk of the emigrants being males; (3) the absence, to a certain extent, of the permanent element, as a large number of the emigrants return to China. Indian emigration is for the most part indentured emigration, whereas Chinese emigration is in great measure quite independent of any contract to employers. Under the contract system, Indian coolies have been imported into various parts of the British colonial empire, the West Indies, Fiji, the Malay Peninsula, South Africa, and Mauritius. In some of the West Indies, in British Guiana, and in Mauritius, the system has led to a large resident Indian population; in Mauritius its results are that, after fifty years of Indian immigration, two-thirds of the population of the island are Indians. It need hardly be said that the system required to be, and has been, carefully kept under government control, in order to preclude the possibility of this species of emigration becoming a modified form of slavery. See under IMMIGRATION, COOLIES; and the article COLONY.
Émigrés, the name given more especially to those persons who quitted France during the Revolution. After the insurrection at Paris, and the taking of the Bastille, 14th July 1789, the princes of the royal family departed from France. They were followed, after the adoption of the constitution of 1791, by all who considered themselves aggrieved by the destruction of their privileges, or who were exposed to persecution. Nobles quitted their châteaux; officers, with whole companies, passed the frontiers. Crowds of priests and monks fled to escape the oath of allegiance to the constitution. Belgium, Piedmont, Holland, Switzerland, and, above all, Germany, were overrun with fugitives of every age. Only a few had been able to save their property; the greater portion were in a state of destitution, and sank into utter demoralisation. A court had formed itself round the princes at Coblenz; a government, with ministers and a court of justice, had been established, and communication was kept up with all the foreign courts unfavourable to the Revolution. This conduct embittered France, aggravated the position of the king, and drove the revolutionary party forward in their sanguinary career. Under the command of the Prince of Condé, a body of émigrés was formed, which followed the Prussian army into Champagne. The result was that the severest laws were now put in force against the émigrés; their lands were confiscated; the penalty of death was proclaimed against any one who should support or enter into communication with them; thirty thousand persons were placed upon the list of émigrés, and exiled for ever from the soil of France, although many of them had refused to bear arms against their country. Not until after the failure of their attempt to land at Quiberon in 1795 did the émigrés abandon all thoughts of penetrating into France by force of arms. Condé's corps, after the peace of Lunéville, was obliged formally to dissolve, and sought an asylum in Russia. Even under the Directory, however, many had endeavoured to obtain permission to return to France. The general amnesty proclaimed by the First Consul was therefore joyfully hailed by the greater portion of the émigrés, though many did not return home till after the downfall of Napoleon. Dignities, pensions, and offices were now showered upon these faithful adherents; but, according to the charter of 1814, they were unable to recover either their estates or their privileges. Finally, on the motion of the minister Villèle, the émigrés who had lost their landed estates received, by the law of the 27th April 1825, a compensation of 30 million francs yearly on the capital of 1000 million francs. After the July revolution, however, the grant was withdrawn. See Saint-Gervais, Histoire des Emigrés Français (1823), and the works by Montrol (1825) Fornéron (4th ed. 1890), and Puymaigre (1884).