Migration

Question 1

Mention the discussed migration movements: why, when, who

Answer 1

First Wave

Mainly protestants, about 60.000 people

to England (mainly from Flanders): huge communities in Norwich, London (still there - Austin Friars)
And to German states

Second wave (1572-1585): first labor migrants

Labor migrants: people invited to come to the North
Relatively small, selected group
Especially in Leiden: textile industies
Poperingen (city in Flanders): from 18.000 inhabitants in 1566 to only 385 in 1586
Other cities in the North kept their gates closed (Delft for instance)

Third wave
After the Fall of Antwerp
1585-1600 /1620

Start mass migration from the South to the North
About 150.000 people left the Southern Provinces
Many of them being rich merchants and skilled artisans, scholars
Antwerp and other cities in the South were hit badly:
Antwerp 1585: about 100.000 citizens, and in 1600: 42.000

Question 2

Illustrate the influence on economy and culture

Answer 2

Rich merchants with their knowledge and networks

Skilled workers with their techniques

A real ‘brain drain’: publishers, schoolmasters, painters, poets, mapmakers came from the South – the economic and cultural center until 1585 – to the North