A drastic change of the climate was one of the causes for a wave of German emigration to the United States in the 19th century. The grandfather of Donald Trump, originally from Germany, was one of the emigrants to also make the crossing of the Atlantic in this period.
Climate scientists have long warned that climate change will have a major effect on current and future migration patterns. A team of German scientists has now taken a look at how climate change influenced the large-scale emigration that took place from Germany to the U.S. in the 19th century, and came to some remarkable conclusions.
The scientific study, led by the University of Freiburg and published in the Journal Climate of the Past, established a clear connection between a changing climate, failing crops and mass-emigration to the U.S. from the Germany’s Southwest province of Baden-Württemberg. During two distinct events of extreme weather, a “year without summer” in 1816 and a scorching hot summer in 1846, crop failure directly led to an increased emigration out of the area.
“The chain of effects is clearly visible: poor climate conditions lead to low crop yields, rising cereal prices and finally emigration,” states Rüdiger Glaser, lead author of the study.
More than 5 million Germans moved to the U.S. in the 19th century, one of them was Friedrich Trump, grandfather of the current U.S. president, who arrived in New York in 1885 as a sixteen year old without any education and only speaking…