CHAPTER 3: MIGRATION
LAKSHMI KOPPARAM
RMAAH MEMON
MIGRATION
DEFINITION: LONG-DISTANCE MOVE TO A
NEW LOCATION.
DETAILED DEFINITION: THE PROCESS OF
PERMANENTLY MOVING FROM YOUR HOME
REGION AND CROSSING AN ADMINISTRATIVE
BORDER OR BOUNDARY, SUCH AS BETWEEN
COUNTIES, STATES, OR COUNTRIES.
Push and Pull Factors
 The decision to migrate is usually based on thoughtful
consideration by the people choosing to make the
journey.
 Push factors are negative influences that make a person
want to move away. Ex: high taxes, high crime rates,
abusive governments, and more.
 Pull factors are positive that pull a person toward a
particular place. Ex: affordable real estate, good schools,
clean parks, and more.
 To each their own because a pull factor for one person
can be a push factor for another. Ex: being near family
members…
Migration Streams
 Definition: a pathways from a place of origin to a
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destination.
Migration patterns often offer clues as to what is
happening in various parts of the world.
Places that attract a large number of migrants has a high
place desirability, and posses features that make people
want to move there (aka pull factors)
Net in-migration is a characteristic of a place that has
more immigrants (in) than emigrants (out).
Vice versa, if a place has more emigrants than
immigrants then it has a net out-migration.
Migration Counterstreams
 In many cases, where there is a stream, there is a
counterstream of people moving back to the place of
origin form the new place.
 They can be caused by many factors including but
not limited to legal, economic, and personal.
 Ex: More recent counterstream is Mexicans moving
back to Mexico from the U.S.
Chain Migration
 Definition: occurs when people migrate to be with
other people who migrated before them and with
whom they feel some linkage, whether it is familial,
religious, ethnic, cultural, or some other type of
connection.
 Migration streams often develop because of
information exchange.
- People in the place of origin may hear of great
opportunities in a new place, may have family
members in a new community, or may be seeing ads
for a new place.
Voluntary vs. Forced Migration
 Voluntary migration occurs when migrants have
choice between moving and not moving.
 Involuntary migration is when migrants are pushed
from their land. Ex: Largest forced migration was the
North Atlantic slave trade, which forced almost 30
million Africans from their homes to migrate to the
Americas.
Refugees
 Definition: migrants fleeing some form of
persecution or abuse.
 International refugees flee their country and move
to another country.
 Internally displaced peoples abandon their homes
but remain in their country.
 Ex: The Vietnam War created nearly 2 million
refugees.
Internal and International Migration
 Internal migration is movement within a country, whereas
international (or external) migration is the movement outside a
country.
 Two types of internal migration:
- Interregional migration is the moving from one region in the
country to another region in the country
- Intraregional migration is moving within a region, such as from a
city to a suburb (occurs more frequently in MDC’s).
 A recent trend of U.S. city dwellers moving back to the serenity of
rural areas has been taking place and I known as
counterurbanization.
**On the exam it’s important to make links between chapters such as
migration and urbanization. Trends in urbanization are directly
related to internal migration and suburbanization.**
Shifting Center of U.S. Population
 Migration pattern has shifted its center westward
and south.
 Great Migration: took place when U.S. fought in
WWI, many southern African Americans moved
north in search of industrial jobs.
 In the 1970’s as factories closed down African
Americans were returning to the South.
 This closing of factories caused the U.S. to form a
Rustbelt in the Northeast and a Sunbelt in the South.
Migration selectivity
DEFINITION: THE EVALUATION OF HOW LIKELY
SOMEONE IS TO MIGRATE BASED ON PERSONAL,
SOCIAL, AND ECONOMIC FACTORS.
Factors that Effect Migration
 Age: most influential factor
- Americans are most likely to move between the ages of 18 and
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30.
Education:
The more educated people are, the more likely they are to
make long-distance moves because of their increased
knowledge of more-distant opportunities and greater job
qualifications.
Some places experience net out-migration of their most
educated workers who leave for more attractive destinations,
and suffer from brain-drain. (ex: Appalachian region in
Kentucky)
Brain-gain is used to describe regions that invest little in
education yet see educated workers still migrate there.
Ravenstein’s Migration “Laws”
 In late 1800s, British geographer Ernst Ravenstein identified
11 generalization about migrations, come of which still apply
today and some of which no longer do.
i.
Migrants who are traveling a long way tend to move to
larger cities rather than smaller cities. (duhh…)
ii. The majority of migrants travel short distances. Step
migration is when a person has a long-distance goal in
mind and gets there in small steps.
iii. Rural residents are more likely to migrate than are urban
residents. (one of those rules that’s no longer valid)
iv. Families are less likely to migrate across national borders
than are young adults. (another duhh…)
v.
Every migration stream creates a counterstream.
Models
The Gravity Model
 Geographers use the gravity model to estimate spaital
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interaction and movement between two places.
The model is pretty simple: larger places attract more
people than smaller places, and closer places attract more
migrants than more distant places.
Just think of it in terms of actual gravity.
Ex: model predicts that Mexicans choosing to migrate to
the U.S. than to England because of distance factors. U.S. is
simply closer.
Limitations of the model: does not factor in migration
selectivity based on age and education level.
Zelinksy’s Migration Transition Model
 Explains and predicts migration changes in a country
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based on the country’s stage in the demographic
transition model.
Stage 1: only moving on a temporary basis in search for
food and shelter. (high CBR, high CDR)
Stage 2: (High CBR, dropping CDR) limited
opportunities push out immigrants.
Stage 3: (Slowing growth rate) Migration is a result of
social change.
Stage 4: Less emigration, more intraregional migration
(cities to suburbs)
Societies in stages 3&4 are principle destinations to
international migrants.
Daily Movements
 Activity space is the area in which you travel on a
daily basis. Improved transportation technology
increases size of space.
 The movement during your daily routine from your
home and back is called cyclic movement
 Seasonal movement is a form of cyclic movement
that involves leaving your home region for a short
time in response to change of season (beach house,
lake house).
 Periodic movement involves longer periods of stay
such as serving in the military or attending college.
Intervening Opportunities and Obstacles
 Intervening opportunities come up when someone is
in the process of making in a long journey and find a
place along the way that they like so much that it
keeps them from continuing on to the final
destination.
 An intervening obstacle is a barrier in a migratory
journey that present the migrant from reaching the
planned, final destination. Ex: Financial problems,
immigration requirements, and wars.
Migration to U.S.
 Era I: Colonial Immigration from England and Africa
1600s- 1776
 Era II: 19th Century Immigration from Europe
- 3 peaks: 1840s -1850s, 1880s, 1900-1913
First surge: Mainly came from Northern and Western
Europe (Famine in Ireland, Germans)
Second surge: Northern and Western Europe (Swedes and
Norwegians)
Third surge: Southern and Eastern Europe (Italy, Russia,
and Austria-Hungary)
 Era III:1970s – Present
- Mainly from Asia and Latin America
Terms Associated with Migration
 Friction of distance is the difficulties we have
overcoming spatial and temporal barriers.
 Space-time compression is the process of coming
together and having more contact with each other,
even though real distance is still the same. (ex:
Skype)
 Time-Contract Workers: workers recruited for a
fixed period to work in mines or on plantations
Helpful Links
 Quizlet: http://quizlet.com/4987935/ap-human-
geography-migration-vocabulary-flash-cards/
 More flashcards: http://quizlet.com/subject/aphuman-geography-chapter-3-migration/
Work Cited
Sawyer, Christian L.. AP Human Geography Crash
Course. Green ed. Piscataway, N.J.: Research &
Education Association, 2012. Print.