Migration
Chapter 3
Migration
• Migration A change in
residence that is intended
to be permanent.
• Emigration-leaving a
country.
• Immigration-entering a
country.
Little Haiti, Miami, Florida
• On average, Americans move once every 6 years.
• US population is the most mobile in the world with
over 5 million moving from 1 state to another every
year.
• 35 million move within a state, county or community
each year.
• Migration a key factor in the speed of diffusion of
ideas and innovation.
• Our perception of distance and direction are often
distorted-thus a sizable % of migrants return to their
original home due to these distorted perceptions.
Types of Migration • Forced Migration-migrants
have no choice-must leave.
• periodic movement-short term (weeks or months) seasonal migration to college, winter in the south, etc.
• Cyclic movement-daily movement to work, shopping.
• Transhumance-seasonal pastoral farming-Switzerland, Horn of Africa.
• Nomadism-cyclical, yet irregular migration that follows the growth of vegetation.
Commuter train in Soweto,
South Africa
Key Factors in Migration
• External Migration-from one country to another (emigration & immigration)
• Internal Migration-from one part of a country to another part
• Direction:
– Absolute-compass directions
– Relative-Sun Belt, Middle East, Far East, Near East
• Distance:
– Absolute distance “as the crow flies”
– Relative distance-actual distance due to routes taken such as highways or railroads
Catalysts of Migration • Economic conditions-poverty
and a desire for opportunity.
• Political conditions-
persecution, expulsion, or war.
• Environmental conditions-
crop failures, floods, drought,
environmentally induced
famine.
• Culture and tradition-
threatened by change.
• Technology-easier and cheaper
transport or change in livability.
• Chain migration-migration of people to a specific
location because of relatives or members of the same
nationality already there.
• Step migration-short moves in stages-e.g. Brazilian
family moves from village to town and then finally Sao
Paulo or Rio de Janeiro
• Refugees-those who have been forced to migrate.
• Push-Pull Factors-push factors induce people to leave.
Pull factors encourage people to move to an area.
• Distance decay-contact diminishes with increasing
distance. (both diffusion and migration)
• Intervening opportunity-alternative destinations that can
be reached more quickly and easily.
Internal Migration -
Movement within a single country’s borders
(implying a degree of permanence).
Distance Decay
weighs into the
decision to
migrate, leading
many migrants to
move less far
than they
originally
contemplate.
Voluntary Migration – Migrants weigh push and pull
factors to decide first, to emigrate from the home country
and second, where to go.
Economic Conditions – Migrants will often risk
their lives in hopes of economic opportunities that will
enable them to send money home (remittances) to
their family members who remain behind.
In Altar, Sonora, migrants called pollos (chickens), stock up
On supplies for the desert crossing.
Most illegal immigrants are Mexicans, but a growing number
Are from Central and South America, like the men waiting
Outside of “Bar Honduras” in Nuevo Laredo.
• A massive dump site in Arizona’s Upper Altar Valley. After walking 40 miles through the desert, illegal immigrants are met here by coyotes. They are told to dump their old clothes & packs and put on more “American” looking clothes the coyotes have brought. They then begin the trip to an urban stash house.
Environmental Conditions –In Montserrat, a 1995
volcano made the southern half of the island, including
the capital city of Plymouth, uninhabitable. People who
remained migrated to the north or to the U.S.
Economic
Opportunities
Islands of
Development –
Places within a
region or country
where foreign
investment, jobs,
and infrastructure
are concentrated.
Economic
Opportunities
In late 1800s and
early 1900s,
Chinese migrated
throughout
Southeast Asia to
work in trade,
commerce, and
finance.
Reconnecting
Cultural Groups
•About 700,000 Jews
migrated to then-
Palestine between 1900
and 1948.
•After 1948, when the
land was divided into
two states (Israel and
Palestine), 600,000
Palestinian Arabs fled or
were pushed out of
newly-designated Israeli
territories.
Jerusalem, Israel: Jewish settlements on the
West Bank.
Ernst Ravenstein’s “Laws of migration 1885 he studied the migration of England
• Most migrants go only a short distance.
• Big cities attract long distance migrants.
• Most migration is step-by-step.
• Most migration is rural to urban
• Each migration flow produces a counterflow.
• Most migrants are adults-families are less
likely to make international moves.
• Most international migrants are young males.
• Gravity model is an inverse relationship between
volume of migration and distance to the destination.
• Gravity model was anticipated by Ravenstein.
• The physical laws of gravity first studied by Newton
can be applied to the actions of humans in terms of
migration and economics
• Spatial interaction such as migration is directly related
to the populations and inversely related to the distance
between them.
• International refugees cross one or more borders and
are encamped in a country not their own.
• Intranational refugees abandon their homes, but not
their countries-this is the largest number world wide.
The Refugee Problem
• UN definition-person who
migrates out of fear of
being persecuted for
reasons of race, religion,
nationality, social status or
political opinion.
• Difficult to get an accurate
count-governments
manipulate the numbers.
• Internal (intranational)
refugees a bigger issue than
external (international).
Refugees
A person who flees across an international boundary because
of a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race,
religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group,
or political opinion.
Characteristics of Refugees
• Move with only what they can carry or
easily transport.
• Most move first on foot, bicycle,
wagon or open boat-very low tech.
transport.
• Most have no official documentation
such as passports, identification or
other official papers.
An Example of Forced Migration-The Trail of Tears
From 12 to 30 million Africans were forced from
their homelands in the 18th century. It took
generations to restore the population balance.
Regions of Dislocation-Africa
• Endemic African
Problems:
• Weak and corrupt
governments.
• Lack of national cohesion.
• Lack of a democratic
tradition
• Historic ethnic conflicts
• Excessive number of
weapons left over from
the Cold War.
• Sub-Saharan Africa-over
8 million official
international refugees-the
largest # in the world.
• Collapse of order in
Somalia
• Civil Wars in Liberia and
Sierra Leone
• Sudan’s civil war
• Rwanda massacres and
economic disaster.
The Sudan –Fighting in the Darfur region of the Sudan has
generated thousands of refugees. In eastern Chad, the
Iridimi refugee camp is home to almost 15,000 refugees
from the Darfur province, including the women in this
photo.
Regions of Dislocation
• South West &
Central Asia:
• Kurds in Iraq, Turkey and
Syria displaced during
Gulf Wars.
• Palestinians displaced by
several wars with Israel.
• Afghanistan-many
refugees during the long
Soviet occupation, Taliban
regime and war.
• South and South
East Asia:
• Civil War in Sri Lanka-
Tamils versus Sinahlese
• Vietnam and Cambodia
after the Vietnam War
• Myanmar (Burma)
military rule has driven
many to exile.
Major Modern Migrations
• Europe to North America & South America
• Africa to the Americas (Slave Trade)
• UK to Australia, New Zealand
• India to East Africa, SE Asia
• China to SE Asia
• Eastern US to Western US
• Western Russia to Eastern Russia
Review World Regions for Test
Trans-Siberian Railway increased migration to the east.
International Migration –
Movement across country borders (implying a degree of
permanence).
Historic US Migration
• Westward to the frontier.
• Black migration to northern cities in WWI and WWII period
• 1950s, 60s Cubans to Florida from Castro’s Cuba
• In recent decades the migration from the Rust belt to the Sunbelt took place.
• Some blacks returned to the South
Waves of Immigration-US 1820-2001
Changing immigration laws, and changing push and pull factors create waves of immigration.
National Migration Flows
• Also known as internal migration
- eg. US, Russia, Mexico
Post-September 11
Guest Workers
• Guest workers – migrants whom a country
allows in to fill a labor need, assuming the
workers will go “home” once the labor need
subsides.
- have short term work visas
- send remittances to home country
- France-many from Algeria
- Germany-many from Turkey, Eastern
Europe
The End