Migration
AP Human Geography
Migration
• Migration: a change in
residence that is intended
to be permanent.
• Emigration: leaving a
country.
• Immigration: entering a
country.
Little Haiti, Miami, Florida
Types of Migration
• Forced Migration:
migrants have no choice
– they must leave.
• Periodic Movement:
short term (weeks or
months) seasonal
migration to college,
winter in the South, etc.
Commuter train in Soweto,
South Africa
Types of Migration
• Cyclic movement: daily movement to
work, shopping.
• Transhumance: seasonal pastoral farmingSwitzerland, Horn of Africa.
• Nomadism: cyclical, yet irregular
migration that follows the growth of
vegetation.
From 12 to 30 million Africans were forced from
their homelands in the 18th century. It took
generations to restore the population balance.
Catalysts of Migration
• Push-Pull Factors
– Push factors induce people to leave
– Pull factors encourage people to move to an
area
Catalysts of Migration
• Economic conditions
– poverty and a desire for opportunity
– has driven millions from their homelands
– North America has received many legal and illegal immigrants
from Mediterranean, Caribbean, across the Rio Grande
• Political conditions
– persecution, expulsion, or war
– oppressive regimes- Mariel Boatlift from Cuba 125,000, Boat
People from Vietnam in 1970s and 80s
• Armed Conflict-War
– Rwanda-militant Hutus versus minority Tutsi and moderate
Hutus-600,000 died in out migration-2 million fled to Zaire
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.
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.
Catalysts of Migration
• Environmental conditions
– crop failures, floods, drought, environmentally
induced famine.
– Ex. potato famine 1840s Ireland
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.
Catalysts of Migration
• Culture and tradition
– threatened by change
– Millions fled India for Pakistan, Soviet Jews
fled to Israel
• Technological advances
– easier and cheaper to sail or fly
– air-conditioning made south and southwest US
more desirable.
Reconnecting
Cultural Groups
•About 700,000 Jews
migrated to thenPalestine 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.
Pull Factors
• Same as push factors, but positively
• Ex: United States
–
–
–
–
–
Plenty of economic opportunity
Politically free
Temperate climate
Melting pot of culture
Technologically advanced
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.
Voluntary Migration – Migrants weigh push and pull
factors to decide first, to emigrate from the home country
and second, where to go.
Distance Decay
weighs into the
decision to
migrate, leading
many migrants to
move less far
than they
originally
contemplate.
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.
Ernst Ravenstein’s “Laws of
migration”
1885 he studied the migration of England
•
•
•
•
•
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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.
Continued…
• Today in the US young people in their 20s are the
most mobile.
• Today 40-60% of migrants are women and girls so
the young males rule is less valid today than it was
Migrants face obstacles
• Quota Laws-limit the number of immigrants
from a particular country
– Today: 480,000 family-sponsored immigrants
plus 140,000 employment-related immigrants
– Brain Drain: preference is given to educated
immigrants thus causing a lack in their home
countries
Guest Workers or Time-Contract
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
Examples
• Only recently has Germany allowed the
Turks-now 2nd or 3rd generation-to become
German citizens
• Nigeria kicked out its guest workers
• Indonesia pulled out its many citizens in the
Middle East before the 2003 Iraq War
Cultural Problems
• U.S. attitudes toward immigrants
Post-September 11
Tuaregs
Article Questions
• Describe the Tuareg culture.
• Why do the Tuareg continuously migrate?
• Why has the country of Mali pushed the
Tuareg out?
• How has climate affected migration?
• What political migration issues do the
Tuareg now face?