human migration

human migration

 the permanent change of residence by an individual or group; it excludes such movements as nomadism, migrant labour, commuting, and tourism, all of which are transitory in nature.

      A brief treatment of human migration follows. For further discussion, see population: Migration (population).

      Migrations fall into several broad categories. First, internal and international migration may be distinguished. Within any country there are movements of individuals and families from one area to another (for example, from rural areas to the cities), and this is distinct from movements from one country to another. Second, migration may be voluntary or forced. Most voluntary migration, whether internal or external, is undertaken in search of better economic opportunities or housing. Forced migrations usually involve people who have been expelled by governments during war or other political upheavals or who have been forcibly transported as slaves or prisoners. Intermediate between these two categories are the voluntary migrations of refugees fleeing war, famine, or natural disasters.

      Human migrations within recorded history have transformed the entire aspect of lands and continents and the racial, ethnic, and linguistic composition of their populations. The map of Europe, for example, is the product of several major early migrations involving the Germanic peoples, the Slavs, and the Turks, among others. And in the course of 400 years—from the late 16th through the 20th century—the Americas, Australia, Oceania, the northern half of Asia, and parts of Africa were colonized by European migrants. The overseas migration of Europeans during this period totaled about 60 million people.

      The largest migration in history was the so-called Great Atlantic Migration from Europe to North America, the first major wave of which began in the 1840s with mass movements from Ireland and Germany. In the 1880s a second and larger wave developed from eastern and southern Europe; between 1880 and 1910 some 17 million Europeans entered the United States. The total number of Europeans reaching the United States amounted to 37 million between 1820 and 1980.

      From 1801 to 1914 about 7.5 million migrants moved from European to Asiatic Russia (i.e., Siberia), and between World Wars I and II about 6 million more, not counting innumerable deportees to Soviet labour camps, voluntarily migrated there. Since World War II the largest voluntary migrations have involved groups from developing countries moving to the industrialized nations. Some 13 million migrants became permanent residents of western Europe from the 1960s through the '80s, and more than 10 million permanent immigrants were admitted legally to the United States in that same period, with illegal immigration adding several millions more.

      Slave migrations and mass expulsions also have been part of human history for millennia. The largest slave migrations were probably those compelled by European slave traders operating in Africa from the 16th to the 19th century; perhaps 20 million slaves were consigned to the Americas, though substantial numbers died in the appalling conditions of the Atlantic passage. The largest mass expulsions have probably been those imposed by Nazi Germany, which deported 7–8 million persons during World War II (1939–45), and by the Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), which forcibly expelled 9–10 million ethnic Germans from eastern Europe into Germany in the closing year of the war and afterwards. Some 14 million people fled in one direction or another during the partition of British India into India and Pakistan in the late 1940s. The largest migrations in the second half of the 20th century have consisted of refugees (refugee) fleeing war, such as the estimated 3–4 million people who fled Afghanistan in the 1980s.

      The dominant trend in internal migration during the 20th century has been the movement from rural to urban areas. As a consequence, urban growth since World War II has been very rapid in much of the world, particularly in developing countries.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Human migration — Net migration rates for 2008: positive (blue), negative (orange), stable (green), and no data (gray) …   Wikipedia

  • Seasonal human migration — An American migratory worker in 1940. Seasonal human migration is very common in agricultural cycles. It includes migrations such as moving sheep or cattle to higher elevations during summer to escape heat and find more forage. Human labor often… …   Wikipedia

  • Human genetic variation — is the natural variation in gene frequencies observed between the genomes of individuals or groups of humans. Variation can be measured at both the individual level (differences between individual people) and at the population level, i.e.… …   Wikipedia

  • Migration — Migration, Migratory behavior, or Migratory may refer Gene migration, a process in evolution and population genetics Animal migration, the travelling of long distances in search of a new habitat Human migration, physical movement by humans from… …   Wikipedia

  • Migration museum — Migration museums cover human migration in the past, present and future. The current trend in the development of migration museums, named differently worldwide, is an interesting phenomenon, as it may contribute to the creation of a new and… …   Wikipedia

  • Human evolution — This article is about the divergence of Homo sapiens from other species. For a complete timeline of human evolution, see Timeline of human evolution. Reconstruction of Homo heidelbergensis which may be the direct ancestor of both Homo… …   Wikipedia

  • Migration Period — This article is about European migrations in the early part of the first millennium A.D.. For prehistoric migrations, see Human migration. For the 2003 Canadian film, see The Barbarian Invasions. 2nd to 5th century simplified migrations. See also …   Wikipedia

  • Human — Homo sapiens redirects here. For other uses, see Homo sapiens (disambiguation). This article is about modern humans. For other human species, see Homo. For other uses, see Human (disambiguation). Holozoa Human …   Wikipedia

  • Human skin color — Skin pigmentation redirects here. For animal skin pigmentation, see Biological pigment. Variety of skin colors Human skin color is primarily due to the presence of melanin in the skin. Skin color ranges from almost black to white with a pinkish… …   Wikipedia

  • Human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup — Hypothesized world map of human migrations, with the North Pole at center. Africa, harboring the start of the migration, is at the top left and South America at the far right. Migration patterns are based on studies of mitochondrial (matrilinear) …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”