"Einfallstore".: Hafenstädte, Migration und Kontrolle 1890 – 1930

Abstract

Port Cities, Migration, and Control, 1890–1930

Port cities were gateways of globalization and nodes of mobility, particularly in the late 19th century. Several million migrants crossed ports like Hamburg on their way into the New World, contributing substantially to the rise of several shipping companies. Due to fears of migration and hygienic conceptions, port city councils enacted a strict regime of control, keeping certain ethnic groups like Eastern Jews and Chinese migrants under intense scrutiny. The article sketches and compares some cases of maritime migration control in Western Europe, North America, and Australia. Shipping and port cities, connecting the world, could be targeted as a threat of potential invasion in the western hemisphere.