Migrants and Urban Change:
Newcomers to Antwerp, 1760–1860
Anne Winter
Perspectives in Economic and Social History
978 1 85196 646 2: 234x156mm: £60.00/$99.00
978 1 85196 671 4
Taking the Belgian city of Antwerp as her case-study, Winter argues that the direction of nineteenth century societal change was such as to make some migrant groups better suited to reap the benefits of new urban opportunities than local people. Between 1760 and 1860 the city underwent a profound transformation from a middle-sized regional textile centre into a booming international port town of more than 120,000 inhabitants, making Antwerp an ideal case from which to track the dynamics of migration and its consequences. Winter uses this to formulate more general insights on the relationship between migration and urban transformation in the transition from preindustrial to industrial society.
Sample pages
Readership
Nineteenth-Century Studies, Economic History, Human Geography
Contents
Introduction
1 Explaining Migration
2 Migration in the Urban Transition
3 Migration to a Regional Textile Centre, 1760–1800
4 Migration to a Port in the Making, 1800–1860
5 Circuits, Networks and Trajectories Conclusions
Appendix I: Source Materials, Samples and Classifications
Appendix II: Additional Tables pertaining to Chapters 3–5
Reviews
'Winter’s study offers a genuine contribution to history that elucidates the sea changes of the nineteenth century: the wane of proto-industry and the great waves of urbanization to come. Written in a reflective and lucid style, it offers a theoretically informed and rich analysis that addresses successfully a major paradox of urban and migration history.'
– Leslie Page Moch, Economic History Review
'Winter proves her theories with an astonishing amount of data, both on an individual and on an aggregate level, from a very diverse range of historical source material. Moreover, many additional graphs and analyses are added in the appendices. This makes the book a great aid for every historian concerned with urban social history.'
– Mattijs Vandezande, Migration Letters
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