Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1942, Blaðsíða 45

ICELANDIC EMIGRATION TO AMERICA
By Jakob Benediktsson, M. A.
IN the year 1870 the total population of Iceland was hardly
70,000, living in an area of 103,000 square kilometres.
Nevertheless, a considerably larger percentage of this popu-
lation emigrated during the next 30 years than was the case
with the other Northern countries. The causes underlying this
movement of population have never been investigated in detail,
and only some of the principal factors which determined it can
be dealt with below.
First and foremost, it must be borne in mind that the stream
of emigration from the whole of Europe had been constantly
on the increase since the middle of the century, and, in spite of
the isolated geographical position of Iceland, it was unavoidable
that the groundswell of this movement should have reached that
country too. The reports of the great potentialities of the trans-
atlantic countries found ready listeners in Iceland, the more so
as discontent was at that time widespread there. The principal
cause of this discontent was no doubt to seek in the prevailing
economic distress. Since the beginning of the i9th century the
population had increased greatly, especially in certain parts of
the country, and the means of living had failed to keep pace
with this growth. Hardly any new industries had sprung up,
and the whole of the natural increase had therefore to be ab-
sorbed in agriculture, which had from time immemorial been
the principal industry of the country. But agricultural conditions
had not improved; in fact the opposite was rather the case. To-
wards the end of the iSjo’s the country was ravaged by sheep
diseases, which reduced the total stock of sheep by one third.
Though this loss was subsequently made good again, sheep-
breeding was repeatedly exposed to new difficulties owing to
adverse climatic conditions, hard winters, and cold summers,
which also took a heavy toll of the stock of cows and ponies.
The decrease of the stock of farm animals culminated in the
1880’s, after some of the hardest years in the recent history of
the country. The fact that emigration reached peak figures in
the 1880’s was thus not due to chance, but is clearly connected
with the above-mentioned economic factors. It can also be shown