M i g r a t i o n
The definition of the word can be "the movement of people from one place to another".
There are two main types of migration:
· Internal migration, i.e. migration within one country, from one state to another.
· International migration, which means the movement from one country to another.
Why do people migrate?
The reasons for migration can be divided into two main aspects, the so-called "push" and "pull" factors.
Push factors are those in their old place which force people to move.
· For example, there may be civil wars or wars in general in the country, but political or religious oppression, climate changes, lack of jobs or simply poverty are all important push factors.
Pull factors are factors in the target country which encourage people to move;
· These include peace and safety, a chance of a better job, better education, social security, a better standard of living in general as well as political and religious freedom.
Types of migration
Migrants can be divided into five main categories: settlers, contract workers, professionals, unauthorized workers and asylum seekers and refugees.
Settlers are people who intend to live permanently in their new country. Most head for the main countries of settlement, notably the United States, Canada and Australia. Around one million travel year, the majority of whom are joining close family members.
Contract workers are admitted to other countries on the understanding that they will stay only for a specific period: the length of their contract. Some are seasonal workers. Others will be on longer-term contracts, of a year or more. Most are to be found in the Gulf countries.
Professionals include employees of transnational corporations who are moved around from one country to another. These tend to involve fairly small numbers, typically fewer than 1% of people employed in local affiliates are expatriates.
Irregular workers sometimes called undocumented or illegal immigrants. There are significant numbers in most immigration countries. Some have been smuggled in others are overstaying their visas, or are working on tourist visas.
Asylum seekers and refugees have left their homes to escape danger; if their claims for asylum have been accepted they are then classified as 'refugees'. In some cases of mass flight, however, when thousands of people escape across a border they are accepted as refugees without going through this individual process.
H i s t o r y i n M i g r a t i o n
Slave trade
Portuguese sailors began to enslave Africans around 1442, transporting them back to Europe for use in their own households. But it was not until 1550 that the first slave ship sailed from Africa to the West Indies to meet the need for intensive field labor in the sugar and tobacco plantations of the Caribbean. Over the next couple of centuries the slavers are thought to have taken some 15 million people from Africa though many perished along the way.
Indentured workers
Indentured workers also known more derogatively as 'coolies' came chiefly from China and India but also from the Pacific. From about 1830 onwards they went to British colonies in North America, Africa and Asia, as well as to French, German and Dutch colonies around the world. They also went to the United States and to the newly independent countries of Latin America. The total number of men, women and children sent abroad may have been as many as 37 million.
From Europe to the new world
Between 1846 and 1890 around 17 million people left Europe for the New World. Of these the largest number of emigrants, 8 million, came from the British Isles. This was partly because Britain was one of the earliest countries to industrialize but also because large numbers left Ireland following the potato famine of 1845-47. The German territories also provided large numbers of migrants in this period — around 3.5 million, impelled by rural poverty and periodic crop failures.
But the peak of migration was around the turn of the century. Between 1891 and 1920, 27 million people left Europe, particularly from Southern and Eastern Europe. This represented a significant percentage of the population of the sending countries. The First World War marked the end of this mass migration. The flows did continue but at a rather lower level, blocked to a certain extent by new US immigration laws. The depression years in the US also dissuaded migrants. Then the Second World War effectively put a stop to migration.
After World War II
The end of the Second World War saw massive population movements within Europe. Around 15 million people awaited transfers from one country to another.
Many were German nationals living outside German territory who had to return within its new boundaries. Others had been uprooted during the war or had to relocate as a result of boundary changes. Emigration to the traditional receiving countries also revived, peaking at around 800,000 in 1949.
Many Europeans were also tempted to emigrate during the austerity years of the 1950s, though few European governments were keen to encourage emigration, since the war had cost 7.8 million lives.
The United Kingdom was again the major source, followed by Italy, the Netherlands and the Federal Republic of Germany. The main destinations were Australia, Canada, and the United States but many Europeans also went to South America and to Israel.
