MIGRATION

What is Migration?

Definition: the long-term relocation of an individual, household, or group to a new location outside the community of origin; a purposeful movement involving a change of permanent residence Migration is a good example of the spatial process (movement; diffusion; distribution; patterns).

Migration is a complex phenomenon that raises many questions.

Why do people move? All migration is a combination of push and pull factors.

What are push factors of migration?

Defined:

unfavorable characteristics of a locale that contribute to the dissatisfaction of its residents and impel their emigration Examples: widespread unemployment; poverty; discrimination; political unrest; war; famine and/or drought; land shortage; overpopulation

What are pull factors of migration?

Defined: characteristics of a locale that act as attractive forces, drawing migrants from other places Examples: employment opportunities; political and/or personal freedoms (speech; religion, right to vote, etc.); land; amenities (e.g. retirement) Important to note: Many people move based on excessively positive images and expectations (not always accurate).

Most people migrate for economic reasons.

Search for better paying jobs To find new jobs/employment To escape poverty or low standards of living

Catalysts of Migration: What causes it to happen?

Economic conditions

Poverty (push factors) Perceived opportunities in destinations (pull factors)

Technological advances

Modern transportation makes migration easier Allows people to migrate where jobs are available

Other reasons/catalysts for migration

Armed conflict and civil war

Three million people drive from their homes in the former Yugoslavia Civil war in Rwanda (Hutu and Tutsis) Oppressive regimes Cuba Vietnams boat people

Political circumstances

Reasons continued

Environmental Conditions

Potato Famine in Ireland (1840s) Major earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or hurricanes (Gulf Coast of U.S.2005)

Culture and Tradition

Muslims migrated from India when it was partitioned Jews left the former Soviet Union for Israel

Voluntary Migration

Forced Migration

Occurs when people choose to migrate Remember: the # 1 reason people migrate: ECONOMIC! Any voluntary migration flow represents the numbers going from the source to the destination minus those returning to the source.

Also referred to as involuntary migration Examples:

The Transatlantic Slave Trade: largest number of slaves were brought to plantations in the Caribbean and eastern South America; black population was one million in U.S. in 1800 Convicts shipped from Britain to Australia beginning in 1788 1800s: Native Americans in U.S. forced to live on reservations

What is activity space?

The great majority of people have a daily routine that takes them through a sequence of short moves that geographers call activity space. America is the worlds most mobile society. Technology has greatly expanded activity space, particularly in wealthier, more developed countries.

Types of Movement

CYCLIC MOVEMENT: movement that has a closed route; Examples--daily classes or a job
Commuting Seasonal Nomadism

PERIODIC MOVEMENT: examples-college attendance or armed services MIGRATORY: movement from a source to a destination without a return journey

E.G. RAVENSTEIN (18341913)

British sociologist

LAWS OF MIGRATION:

Most migrants go only a short distance. Longer distance migration favors big city destinations. In other words, people will travel farther if they are migrating to a city. Most migration proceeds 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.

About Ravensteins laws:

He concluded that most move short distances and that the frequency of moves declines with distance (distance decay). Migrants do NOT represent a cross section of the populace from which they come. The latter two laws introduce the role of personal attributes and attitudes of migrants: age, sex, education, and economic status. Ravensteins conclusion that young adult males are dominant in economically-pushed international movement is less valid today than when first proposed. In reality, women and girls now comprise between 40-60% of all international migrants worldwide. Chain migration also needs to be considered.

Defined: a process by which people are given preference for migrating to another country because a relative was previously admitted. Asians are know to be the most effective users of chain migration.

Interregional Migrations

Interregional migrations--people moving or being moved from one geographic realm (region) to another Reasons: changes in life course (marriage; divorces; having children); changes in career course (promotions; transfers); changes of residence associated with individual personality Current example: refugees/evacuees from the Gulf Coast region to other parts of the United States; For some, this move may be permanent

INTERNAL MIGRATIONS

In the U.S., internal migrations have carried the center of the countrys population westward and southward. Example: African-Americans moved northward during World War I; most migrants came from rural areas; 1970smore were leaving the North and returning to the South because of changing civil rights conditions; Perceived economic opportunities in the growing cities of the South

Post-1945 EXTERNAL MIGRATIONS

Flow of Jewish immigrants to Israel

Israel formed in 1948 through UN intervention 650,000 Jewish residents added to what was then Palestine between 1900 and 1948 Migrated westward from Eastern Europe Many were forced. Millions left Europe for other parts of the Western World. Most movement north has been unauthorized and undocumented. Has transformed the borderland of the U.S.

German migration after World War II

From Mexico to the United States

What about refugees?

UN definitions

International refugees:

Intranational refugees:

Those who have crossed one or more international borders and are encamped in a country other than their own

Those who have abandoned their homes but not their homeland

It is difficult to identify refugees.

Refugees can be identified by at least three characteristics, individual or aggregate (collectively):

Most refugees move without any more tangible property than they can carry or transport with them. Most refugees make their first step on foot, by bicycle, wagon, or open boat. Refugees move without the official documents that accompany channeled migrations.

Regions of Dislocation

Sub-Saharan Africa

Several of the worlds largest refugee crises plagued Africa during the 1990s and early 21st century Civil wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Angola Hostilities between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes in Rwanda

Other regions of dislocation

North Africa and Southwest Asia

Israel and the displaced Arab populations that surround it Exhibits qualities that are likely to generate additional refugee flow in the future The Kurdish population following the Gulf War (1991) Taliban rule in Afghanistan Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion during the 1980s

Regions of dislocation continued

South Asia

Pakistan accommodated forced emigrants from Afghanistan Major refugee problem stems from a civil war in Sri Lanka

Regions of dislocation continued

Southeast Asia

Boat people who fled communist rule in Vietnam In the early 1990s, Cambodia generated the regions largest refugee flow Today--largest number of refugees come from Myanmar (Burma)