What is Migration?

September 30, 2014

Migration

• The movement of people from one place to another– Movement speeds the diffusion of ideas and

innovations– It intensifies spatial interaction and transforms

regions– It is closely linked to environmental conditions

Movement

• Movement takes many forms– Mobility can be local or global

• All movement involves leaving home• There are three types of movement that vary

based on time away from home– Cyclic Movement– Periodic Movement– Migration

Cyclic Movement

• Involves journeys that take us away from home, but then bring us back

• Daily movement within an area is called an activity space– North American activity spaces are much larger

than African or Southwest Asian spaces

Commuting

• Commuters practice cyclic movement– The average North American travels more daily

than the average Chinese villager does in a year• Commutes can range from a few minutes, to

hours• Transportation speeds vary as well

Seasonal Movement

• Movement that occurs based on changing weather patterns and environmental conditions of the seasons

• Example: seasonal travelers that flee the northern winters for the southern states

Nomadism

• Nomadism is a matter of survival, tradition, and culture

• Nomads are usually found in Southwest Asia and Africa

• Nomadic herders usually follow the same routes year after year– They need to know where to find food, water, and

shelter as the seasons change

Periodic Movement

• Also involves returning home, but people that practice this type of movement are away for longer periods of time

• Migrant workers are examples of people that practice periodic movement

Transhumance

• A specialized form of periodic movement• This is a system of pastoral farming where

ranchers move animals according to the seasonal availability of pastures

Other forms of Periodic Movement

• Going away to college– Typically lasts nine months

• Military Service– Can last years

Migration

• A permanent relocation across significant distances– It can involve the movement of an individual,

household, or larger group

International Migration

• Movement across country borders (also called external migration)

• When a migrant leaves a home country, they are considered an emigrant (Exits)– Subtracts from the total population of a country

• When the same migrant enters a new country, they are considered an immigrant (In)– Adds to the total population of a country

Internal Migration

• Most migration in North America is internal• Internal Migration refers to migration within a

country’s borders– Most North American migration is toward the

South and West• The US population is the most mobile in the

world– Most Americans move once every six years

Rural to Urban Migration

• The world’s rural to urban balance is now mostly urban

• Moving from an urban area to a neighboring smaller town is called suburbanization

• Moving from an urban area to a rural area is called counterurbanization– This is becoming a trend with the DINKs (Dual

Income-No Kids )

Forced and Voluntary Migration

Why do people migrate?

Types of Migration

• Forced Migration: involves the imposition of authority or power

• Voluntary Migration: occurs after a migrant weighs options and choices (even desperate ones)– The distinction is not always clear– Example: Irish Potato Famine

Power Struggles

• Migration at an individual level is complex• Who makes the decisions in the household?• In many regions, men migrate more than

women, and men migrate further than women– It is possible that not all members of the household

want to migrate– In many Mexican households, men are sent out to

find work away from home– In households where there is not a strong male

presence, women are sent out to find work

Forced Migration

• The largest forced migration in history was the Atlantic slave trade, which carried tens of millions of Africans to South America, North America, and the Caribbean– Exact numbers are not known, but estimates range

from twelve to thirty million• Most slaves were transported to South America

and the Caribbean– North American slaves were very expensive (roughly

$35,000 in today’s money), and were treated more humanely

The Atlantic Slave Trade

Atlantic Slave Trade

• The slave trade began in the sixteenth century in the Caribbean– It gradually expanded northwards through North

America• The slaves performed plantation agriculture– Plantation Agriculture: producing one or a couple of

cash crops, mainly for export• Slaves were mainly exported from the western

coast of Africa, due to physical and cultural geography

Other examples of forced migration

• British convicts exported to Australia from 1788-1830s

• US government moving Native Americans to reservations in the 1800s

• Russia moving non-Russians to Central Asia and Siberia from 1920-1953

• Germans moving many groups of people to ghettos and concentration camps in the 1930s

• Countermigration is a form of forced migration– US sending back the Haitians in the 1990s

Why do people choose to migrate?

• Studies of voluntary migration indicates three reasons why people migrate where they do:– Similarity between new location and homeland– Ease of travel back to homeland– Physical distance

Push and Pull Factors

• When a person, family, or group of people makes a voluntary decision to migrate, push and pull factors come into play– Push Factors: the conditions and perceptions that

help a migrant decide to leave a place– Pull Factors: the circumstances that effectively

attract the migrant to certain locales from other places

• The decision to migrate is a combination of push and pull factors

Push Factors

• Typically more accurate than pull factors• Include individual considerations such as:– Work or retirement conditions– Cost of living– Personal safety and security– Environmental catastrophies

Pull Factors

• Pull factors can be based solely on perception

• The closer one migrates, the more accurate the perception

• Distance Decay: the intensity of human activity, process, or function declines as distance from the source increases

Other types of migration

• Step Migration: occurs when migration happens in stages– Example: a farmer moving to a village, then a town,

then a city, and finally a metropolis• Not everyone that sets out for the “big city”

makes it there• Some get sidetracked by intervening

opportunities– An opportunity that presents itself in such a way

that is a barrier to migration

Types of Push and Pull Factors

Economic Conditions

• Economic opportunities are the number one reason why people migrate

• Perceived opportunities cause millions to flee to Western Europe and North America– When the economy is in a recession, immigration

decreases, both legal and illegal

Political Circumstances

• Migrations are driven by escape and expulsion• Vietnamese immigrants that fled Vietnam

following the Vietnam War are known as “boat people”

Armed Conflict and Civil War

• Examples include the breakup of Yugoslavia (Balkanization) and the genocide in Rwanda

Environmental Conditions

• The Irish Potato famine was a result of disastrous environmental conditions

• Emigration occurs in California following every major earthquake

Culture and Traditions

• People who fear their culture and traditions will not survive a major political transition often migrate– Millions of Muslim Indians fled India to Pakistan– Many white citizens of South Africa fled to Great

Britain, Australia, and North America after the end of Apartheid

Technological Advances

• People can learn about new places, search for job opportunities, and even purchase real estate via the Internet

• Kinship links also strengthen the pull factor to a new place– Ethnic neighborhoods

• When migrants move through kinship links, this is called chain migration– Chain migration can create immigration waves, or

swells in immigration from one origin to the same destination