Urban History of Overseas Migration in Habsburg Central Europe: Vienna and Budapest in the Late Nineteenth Century

The complex routes taken by overseas migrants through nineteenth-century Central Europe included Vienna and Budapest as nodal points. In contrast to the ports of departure and arrival, and the role of labour migrants in urbanisation, the place of overseas migrants in larger urban histories of Vienna and Budapest remains largely unexplored. By using two case studies that represent the opposite sides on the spectrum of overseas travellers through Central Europe, this article aims to trace new directions such an exploration might take. Aiming to introduce the ‘spatial turn’ into the subject of overseas migration in Vienna and Budapest, it analyses how, on the local level, railway stations and the neighbouring areas functioned to accommodate shipping agencies, their agents and lodging houses, as well as the police, detention centres, and the local enterprise that helped to direct – facilitate or restrict – traffic through the urban fabric and between cities.