Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1942, Page 47

ICELANDIC EMIGRATION TO AMERICA
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mention of large-scale emigration schemes is met with in the
i86o’s, the only result being, however, the departure of a few
people for Brazil. The selection of this particular destination
proved unfortunate: the journey was trying, and the climate
unsuitable. But once started, the movement could not be ar-
rested. A Danish business man, who had lived in Iceland for
some time, left for the U. S. A. in 1865. In his letters to friends
in Iceland he advised them to follow his example, and as a result
four Icelanders went to America in 1870. Together with the
Dane they settled in Washington Island in Lake Michigan at
the mouth of Green Bay, which at that time was densely wooded
and almost uninhabited. During the next 25 years some twenty
other Icelanders joined them, and a little Icelandic colony sur-
vives there to the present day. During the early 18/o’s a number
of Icelanders came to Milwaukee, where they celebrated the
first Icelandic festival on American soil, viz. the millenary of
Iceland in 1874. This colony was, however, soon dispersed, and
when Icelandic emigration began to assume larger dimensions the
emigrants went to other parts of the Continent.
The full flow of emigration only set in 1873, when the first
shipload of Icelanders arrived at Quebec, a town which later on
was to become the principal port of entry for the Icelandic emi-
gration to America. In the following years the number increased,
reaching peak figures in 1887—88. It then gradually declined
until it practically ceased about the turn of the century.
The following table shows the total emigration from Iceland
during the period 1871—1901 together with the increase of
population (in p.c. of the total population)
Emigrants Excess of Births in p. c. Emigration in p. c. Net increase of Population in p. c.
1871—80 3006 0.80 0.42 + 0.38
1881—90 5781 0.60 0.81 — 0.21
1891—1901 3223 1.31 0.39 + 0.92
It will thus be seen that in the whole period under review a
total of about 12,000 persons emigrated from Iceland, practically
all of them going to North America. The increase of the home
population during the same period was about 8,700. Thus the
country lost nearly three fifths of its birth surplus by these thirty