Emigration in the 17th-18th centuries

clipped from www.ireland.com The traditional view of emigration in Presbyterian Ulster differed greatly from the image prevalent among the great mass of the population, the Gaelic Catholics. In the popular mythology of the Scots-Irish, the New World offered an almost biblical deliverance from religious intolerance and economic oppression, whereas to Catholics emigration meant exile. Until 1780, Catholic immigration was officially forbidden in the Americas, and even if they possessed the inclination and the ingenuity to get to America, few Catholic Irish had the means. As a result of the trade between the American colonies and such southern ports as Cork and Kinsale, Catholic Irish managed to settle in the new colonies, particularly in Virginia and Maryland, where such names as "New Ireland" and "New Munster" appear. Another route for emigrants at this period was to Newfoundland, which maintained strong ties with Waterford and Wexford.