Whaling, Fishing, and Industrial Employment in Southeastern New England

From New Bedford, the Portuguese spread to other New England coastal ports. Sizeable Portuguese communities developed in Newport, Rhode Island, the ports on Nantucket and Marthas Vineyard Islands, Provincetown on Cape Cod, the Boston metropolitan area, and Gloucester to the northeast. In these towns, they engaged in whaling, as well as other maritime activities, including cod fishing.

During the last two to three decades of the nineteenth century, as the whaling industry diminished and industrialization became a more important component of urban growth, Portuguese immigration increased significantly. New immigrants were attracted by employment in the textile factories in the industrial towns of southeastern New England. New Bedford provided substantial industrial employment, but other large Portuguese communities developed around the textile factories in nearby Fall River and Providence, as well as in the industrial towns around Boston, including Cambridge, Somerville, and Lowell.