The Nineteenth Century ( - ) As food prices fell, consumption in Britain rose. From the mid- nineteenth century, faster industrial growth in Britain also led to higher incomes, and therefore more food imports. Around the world – in Eastern Europe, Russia, America and Australia – lands were cleared and food production expanded to meet the British demand. It was not enough merely to clear lands for agriculture.
Railways were needed to link the agricultural regions to the ports. New harbours had to be built and old ones expanded to ship the new cargoes. People had to settle on the lands to bring them under cultivation. This meant building homes and settlements.
All these activities in turn required capital and labour. Capital flowed from financial centres such as London. The demand for labour in places where labour was in short supply – as in America and Australia – led to more migration. Nearly million people emigrated from Europe to America and Australia in the nineteenth century.
All over the world some million are estimated to have left their homes, crossed oceans and vast distances over land in search of a better future. Fig. – Emigrant ship leaving for the US, by M.W. Ridley, .
Fig. – Irish emigrants waiting to board the ship, by Michael Fitzgerald, . Prepare a flow chart to show how Britain’s decision to import food led to increased migration to America and Australia.