The first wave of emigration started in 1825

The first wave of emigration started in 1825, when the boat “Restauration” bring the first 52 emigrants over the Atlantic from Stavanger. There is no doubt that the first emigrants left because of conflicts with the authorities, mostly religious conflicts. Emigration as a form of protest also happened, because of taxes, the rules for inheritance and other things that made people’s lives harder, according to Sverre Mørkhagen, the author of three books on the Norwegian emigration to the USA

Did not know of the USA

Many people ask why no one had gone there before. There is a simple explanation for this.

-They did not know about the USA. It was not an alternative. The country became a part of people’s collective consciousness because of the Napoleonic Wars, when 5000 Norwegian prisoners were put in English prisons. When they came back to Norway they had learned a bit of English and had been told stories of the US, according to Mørkhagen.