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Loading... Early Eighteenth Century Palatine Emigrationby Walter Allen Knittle
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Walter Knittle's exploration of the 1709 immigration of Germans to England, and then the colonies, is proof that the subchapters of history are often more intriguing than the main events. History buffs will enjoy the wealth of detailed data that the autho No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)943.1History and Geography Europe Germany and central Europe Northeastern GermanyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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But back to the book. Multiple reprints and references prove this work to be critical to our understanding of American history. If author Walter Allen Knittle left nothing else in his lifetime, this alone would be a wonderful legacy. Of particular interest to me was a list of passengers, when they came, ships and ports where they came from, and details regarding their families. If you need to graze through it, due to his extensive research and scrupulous cataloging of references, you can be forgiven. The original pioneers, the progenitors who went from France to the Rhine River Valley and later out to the far corners of the earth, collected fellow travelers and family along the way, changing the course of history along with many of their surnames. In the early 1700s though, crowds gathered for recreation outside of London to marvel at both the poverty and the industriousness of the Palatines who sought refuge there.
The book skips around a bit, but this is probably necessary due to the many connections to world events and politicians of their day, their dilemmas and responses to a humanitarian crisis that was brought about by war. The invasion and destruction of settlements of a peaceful people whose existence irked a tyrannical king changed the course of future world history. The Palatines were settled on the American frontier lands and played an important part in saving British and American global trade along with the British Royal Navy and the American Navy. Supply of tar to seal the ships and make them seaworthy had been cut off from England by competitors, threatening commerce and self-defense. Pine pitch, Pinus rigida, growing in abundance in the New York colony, was absolutely critical to the manufacture of sailing ships. The Palatines were set to work in the pine bush processing this valuable commodity. Our history would certainly be very different if all ships were taken out of the story. If you want to look into a corner of history that will take you to a new place that intersects with other great historical events, take a look at this interesting book with the scholarly title. ( )