The Purpose of the Programme
In 1991, Dr. F. L. Harris commenced a project to record all Cornish emigrants to America under the title of the Cornish American Connection. He enlisted Moira Tangye to head a select team of people to research and analyse Cornish emigration to the United States.
America played only a small part in the emigration story and latterly the Cornish Global Migration Programme was created to paint a much more comprehensive picture of the Cornish emigration and the way that it has affected the communities into which is has merged around the world.
Cornish pioneers went to every corner of the world; Australia, South Africa, Canada, America, New Zealand, India and South America to name just a few. Many of these places were not ideal and they were often required to work in extreme conditions i.e. jungles, the outback, frozen temperatures and high altitudes.
The Cornish trades that migrated covered all spectrums of working life; carpenters, farmers, preachers, shopkeepers and of course the miner. The Cornish miner was considered to be the finest hard rock miner in the world and it was his skills that were eagerly sought after.