migration practice questions Flashcards
explain why so many irish families migrated to england in the 19th century? (8 marks)
by 1880, there were 1.5 million irish migrants in britain.
one reason why the irish migrated to england was that there was a potato famine in ireland in 1840. their crops were disease ridden and there were many starving people in ireland. even at the height of the famine, the british government decided to export potatoes (and gain a profit) rather than feed the starving population. the famine in ireland provoked them to move to more prosperous areas.
a second reason why irish families migrated to england was because of the swift industrialisation that was taking place in all the major cities of england. unlike in ireland, where only one city (belfast) was industrialising, the creation of factories and railways increased employment opportunities. this proved to be appealing to irish migrants as it would’ve given them a chance at a steady income.
overall, irish families migrated to britain in the 19th century to improve their economic position.
explain the impact on britain of the arrival of jewish refugees from eastern europe (14 marks)
After the 1880s, there was a new wave of Jewish immigrants coming to England to seek asylum. They were poor and fleeing pogroms in Eastern Europe. In 1900, 3000 Jewish people walked from Romania to permanently seek refuge in Britain and many more followed.
One negative impact of the Jewish refugees coming to Britain was that some of them refused to assimilate despite being urged by the Jewish upper classes. As thousands of Jewish refugees were arriving each week, many parts of the country were being transformed into areas of Jewish shops, kbusinesses, synagogues. Furthermore, many European refugees continued their traditions: speaking in the Yiddish language, clothing, music and faith. In 1885, the Jewish chronicle wrote: “they must either earn their own living without charity or return to the land from which they came”. However, some Jewish people did choose to assimilate into wider society by converting to Christianity, like former British PM Benjamin Disraeli.
On the other hand, the conditions faced by the new arrivals and their treatment at work provoked the creation of trade unions. Trade union activism grew as many women – who made a living out of making matches for a very poor wage – joined the match girls’ strike in 1888 and a year later there was another strike of 10,000 sweatshop workers which demanded a 12-hour working day. They had the support of some wealthy Jews but were condemned by others. In addition, the work of Jewish women led to the creation of many prominent chain stores. Marks and Spencer, Burton and Moss Bros were products of Jewish immigrants, who had first started out by hand-making clothes from home and selling them.
Moreover, the extreme conditions faced by the Jewish workers led to the revolution of radical thinking in Britain. Many radical thinkers met regularly with the aim of fighting social injustice. Britain granted asylum to two important figures of radical thinking: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. They played active roles in the working-class political movements. Due to London having so many political refugees, who were also Jewish, it became a place where ideas could be exchanged and debated freely.
In conclusion, I believe the arrival of Jewish refugees had a good impact on Britain because it allowed for the formation of trade unions and the creation of important political works that had a massive impact on world history on the twentieth century. Despite the struggle in assimilation, Jewish people were able to create strong, long-lasting communities in Britain.
explain why william paterson proposed the darien scheme (10)
one reason why william paterson proposed the darien scheme was because of scotland’s deteriorating economy at the time. there was much poverty in the country at the time partly because of the navigation act which prevented scottish ships from trading with england and its colonies overseas. furthermore, scotland had no access to the monopolies of trade that the EIC and RAC had, which meant that ther was no possible chance in trading goods or enslaved people.
another reason why paterson proposed the darien scheme was because of the unequal relationship between england scotland. england’s involvement in certain wars meant that much of europe was cut off from trading with, leading to further poverty and neglect of the scottish people. in addition, much of the scottish parliament was appointed by the king, who was in london. paterson believed that the darien scheme would give scottish settlers autonomy and control over their own affairs.
‘scotland gained more than it lost from the act of union’. how far do the sources convince you that this view is correct? (20)
overall, the sources partially convince me that scotland gained more than it lost as part of the union.
source 1 partially convinces me that scotland gained more than it lost as part of the union. in this source, the author argues that in a time of economic ruin, scotland required the “protection of some powerful neighbour nation”. however, he does mention that if the union takes place then they will be “obliged to prefer the counsel” suggesting that there will be a further imbalance in power as all decisions will be made by the english parliament. this was a speech to the scottish parliament a year before the act of union took place and it is clear that william seton is trying to convince the scottish parliament to agree with the union as it will eventually benefit scotland and lift the people out of a state of poverty.
additionally, source 2 convinces me that scotland gained more than it lost as part of the act of union because scottish men were able to go to london… (unfinished)
explain the challenges facing the triangular trade after 1713?
- one challenge the triangular trade faced after 1713 was that some african rulers opposed the human trafficking that the triangular trade resulted in and even fought against it. for example, agaja (the king of modern benin) attacked and destroyed and attacked european forces, which allowed many captives to escape
- another reason was the sudden increase in piracy after the spanish war of succession (1714). after the war many men were laid off and wages fell so there were too many men seeking jobs. furthermore, working conditions for the sailors were awful and many of them chose to become pirates after mutinies on slave ships
‘the plantation was a highly effective way of making money’ how far do sources 1, 2 and 3 convince you that this view is
overall, the sources don’t really convince me that plantation was a highly effective way of making money.
source 1 partially convinces me that plantation was an effective way of money because in his letter, william byrd somwhat boasts about the lack of expenses and having “no bills to pay” but doubts the efficiency of the system saying that it is “attended by a great deal of trouble” as he stuggles to delegate duties to his workers to make the system functional. we know that plantations were viable only due to their large scale and because they were highly organised businesses but otherwise they were inefficient because the system was hard to manage and the workers were hard to control because they simply did not want to be there. as the source is a letter to someone of a higher status, it could be that william byrd is complaining about the state of the plantations [unfinished]
source 2 does not convince me that the statement is accurate because walter tullideph writes that the torture of the enslaved africans took up “all our time”. this suggests that they focused more on punishing the labourers instead
