Initiating Mass Movement: Questions of Commercial Information in Atlantic Migration from Central Europe, 1870–1900

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines the potential role of commercial information in explaining the sudden acceleration of Atlantic migration from central Europe around 1880. Drawing on examples from German Europe, and new theoretical frameworks regarding decision making, it questions assumptions held in migration macro theory that have marginalized commercial information in motivating migration decisions. Specifically, it examines this issue at the onset stages of movement. In light of this discussion, it recognizes the advantages of examining commercial material in European archives, particularly those of the successor states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which may help advance historical knowledge of one of the major nineteenth-century shifts in Atlantic movement.