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Emigration as a mass behaviour phenomenon spread mainly from west to east. The mass emigration started first in Norway, and was intense in central-southern and far northern Norway and the interior mountain districts. Denmark had few districts with extensive emigration, emigration was most common from Northern Jutland and the southern islands. The core emigration areas in Sweden were the southern and southwestern parts and at a later stage northern areas, especially Norrland. In Finland the emigration started later and affected mainly the province of Ostrobothnia. In Iceland the emigrants mostly left from the eastern and northern parts. The regional distribution of emigrant remained relatively stable; although the wave of emigration spread over a steadily larger area, it continued to be intense in those parishes and provinces from which the emigrants had previously come.
The emigrant traffic across the Atlantic had the character of a large industry. Until the 1830's the Dutch cities were the most frequented, but then the emigrant traffic shifted to Hamburg and Bremen. It was, however Liverpool that became the main port of embarkation for the Nordic emigrants. Especially those from Sweden and Finland used the route via England, whereas many emigrants from Norway and Denmark went directly from the domestic ports to America. The most common ports of departure for the emigrants in the Nordic countries were Christiania (Oslo), Bergen and Trondheim in Norway; Copenhagen, Denmark; Gothenburg, Sweden and in Finland, Hangö. The emigrants went first with North sea shipping companies to Hull. From there they travelled by train across England and continued from Liverpool with the larger Atlantic ships to America. Until 1893 Finnish emigrants went usually via Sweden to Liverpool. The first direct Swedish steamship connections to America came in 1915 with the establishment of the Swedish-American line. Arrival ports in North America were except New York, Philadelphia, Boston, New Orleans and Quebeck.
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