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The major human movements listed above are just a partial list of major
human migration flows throughout history, but they each have had a lasting
impact. You should be familiar with these historical migrations and able to
major effects they are notable for. In the pages that follow, each will be
discussed along with some of the impacts.
On your learning targets, the effects are listed as political, social, economic,
and cultural. Be aware that none of these effects exist in isolation –
immigration has an effects on all aspects of human activity, both in the source
place and in the destination. While each example above may be used to
highlight and discuss just one effect of that particular migration stream, the
other effects may also be happening in that place, just to a lesser extent. Also,
these migrations are just one example of patterns repeated across migrations
throughout human history, so you will need to be able to apply these ideas to
analyze any migration for political, social, economic, and cultural impacts.
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The map above shows net interregional migration within the U.S. Counties
shown in Red have negative net migration – that means more people are
moving out of those counties than are moving in. The blue counties show a
positive net migration – many more people are moving in than are moving out.
The vast majority of the Red counties are northeast of the yellow line (added
by me to show the pattern). This region is known as the “Rustbelt” – it is the
old industrial center of the United States. As the United States has transitioned
to a post-industrial (service-based) economy, the old factory towns are in a
period of decline. Residents have moved to the south and west (the “Sun
Belt”) as economic conditions are more favorable in that (perceptual) region.
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Notice the change between the Rustbelt states (circled in orange in both 2000
and 2016) and the Sunbelt states (circled in yellow for both years). Colorado
and Nevada went from Red (Republican) to blue (democrat) – these two states
are major destinations for Rustbelt-to-Sunbelt migrants. At the same time, the
rustbelt states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Iowa flipped from
blue to red. This is in large part because of campaigning on a promise to bring
factory jobs back to the region. These states have been hit the hardest by
deindustrialization in the transition from a factory-based economy to a service-
based post-industrial economy. The populations remaining in the Rustbelt tend
to be older, less mobile adults (due to family ties, finances, or other reasons
that keep them rooted in place). The challenges for those who remain in the
Rustbelt are that they are likely approaching retirement age, their employment
history may be limited to factory-type work and they do not have the job skills
needed for higher-paying service jobs. While this is not the case for ALL
residents of the rustbelt, it is an issue for a larger-than-average share of the
population (compared to non-deindustrialized areas).
4
Two U.S. immigration policies helped shaped immigration trends to the U.S.
over the course of our history which set up a major change in the flows into the
U.S. from other parts of the world. The chart above shows changing sources of
immigrants to the U.S. Notice that prior to 1940, the vast majority of migrants
came to the U.S. from Western (green) and Southern/Eastern Europe (yellow).
Beginning in the 1960s to today, the largest source of migrants into the U.S.
are Latin America (red) and Asia (blue).
Prior to the 1940s, the U.S. had very “protective” immigration laws – the
migrants accepted into the country were of similar ethnic backgrounds.
Western Europeans were thought to better assimilate (adopt) to the American
culture because the only major change they had to make was to learn English
since American culture is rooted in Western European culture due to our
colonial history. Immigrants from other parts of the world were prohibited as a
way to “protect” the American culture from outside influences. The most strict
of these examples was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 completely
stopped immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. It was later extended
and then made permanent in 1902. This legislation was made in response to
the large influx of Chinese laborers to California during the Gold Rush of the
1850s. After the law was passed until it was repealed, there were almost NO
legal migrants from Asia in to the U.S.
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Changing patterns
During the Great Depression and World War II, immigration into the U.S.
reached historic lows as the world was at war. Things began changing,
however, in the mid 1940s. In 1943, the ban against Chinese immigrants was
repealed, and 105 Chinese were permitted to enter the country each year. In
1942, new legislation was introduced that abolished direct racial barriers to
immigration, and in 1965 the Immigration and Nationality Act further removed
barriers. As you can see on the chart above, the changing laws resulted in a
major shift to migrant origins, and our culture has become much more diverse
as a result, with a much larger share of the migrants coming from Asia and
Latin America. Today, India provides the 2nd highest numbers of migrants to fill
highly skilled jobs such as in the medical and technology fields.
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Refugees are people who must flee their home country in fear for their lives
and safety. The host country they are arriving in must provide them with
temporary assistance: especially shelter and food. If the number of refugees
streaming into the neighboring countries is almost equal to the size of the
country’s own population, the strain on the people and government of the host
country is overwhelming. Such is the case with Syrians fleeing into neighboring
countries – there are too many, too fast, for the host countries to provide all the
necessary aid.
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Most Syrian refugees have relocated to neighboring countries in the Middle
East. Recently, an increasing number have been arriving in Europe creating
problems for countries on that continent. There are two sides to the Syrian
refugee issue: humanitarian and practical side. There are only so many
people each country of the world can accept as refugees. A huge influx of
people in a short period of time raises many issues concerned with housing,
jobs, stress on services, schools, as well as successfully integrating a large
number of culturally different people into a country. However, turning people
away does not appeal to the humanitarian aspects of the problem. If countries
DON’T accept refugees, what will happen to them? Where will they go?
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In September of 2015, a crush of Syrian refugees has reached the countries of
Eastern Europe seeking a new life. Countries such as Hungary allowed some
in but have now erected fences and made it much more difficult to enter.
Refugees want to reach economically healthy such as Germany, France, and
the UK.
8
Both groups experienced a similar political push factor in the Iran/Iraq war
during the 1980s. Men of fighting age and families with men that could be
forced to fight were the most likely to migrate. Sweden opened her arms to
Iranians during the Islamic Revolution in 1979 until the end of the Iran/Iraq
conflict in the early 1990s. Dictator Saddam Hussein was hostile to minority
Kurds and Sunnis encouraging their migration from Iraq. Iraqis did not
emigrate to one single location but rather through out Western Europe.
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China became more urban than rural between 2010 and 2015. This rural-to-
urban migration is the largest movement of people in human history.
China’s registration systems, knowns as the hukou system, introduced in the
1950s, labels people as rural or urban depending on the place of birth and
family history. The hukou system also ties people's access to services
provided by the govt to their residential status meaning that those in rural
areas that moved to cities were not eligible for the same services as those
labeled urban. These labels have been relaxed over the past few decades,
and tens of millions of migrant workers left the agricultural fields to work in
factories, toil on building sites, serve in restaurants or clean homes,
contributing to China's spectacular economic growth (information published in
The Guardian 7/31/14). Like other places experiencing rapid rural-to-urban
migration, slums develop in the shadows of the prosperous high-rise buildings
as people scramble to find affordable housing. These make-shift settlements
typically use whatever materials they can find to build shelter (bootstrap
buildings) and lack infrastructure such as electricity, water, and sanitation.
10
A diaspora (die-as-pora) means “scattering”, or the dispersion of any people from
their original homeland
The Chinese migrated to Southeast (SE) Asia to act as the middleman between
European and SE Asians locals. Often the Chinese are the minority ethnic group in
SE Asian countries (except for Singapore) yet are more economically successful than
the local ethnic majority. This potentially leads to resentment, jealousy, and conflict
as the ethnic Chinese are wealthier than the local (majority) population.
In this case, the income disparity is in favor of the immigrants, but typically the
opposite effect is true (see Irish example coming up).
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Like many migrations, Moroccans moved in search of jobs to the European
country which colonized them (France colonized Morocco). As a residents of a
French colony, Moroccan males were allowed to come to France to work and
join the armed forces. During a post-WWII industrial boom, there was a labor
shortage in Western Europe. European countries sought unskilled/low-wage
laborers to fill jobs. Morocco was targeted as a country with just such a labor
force.
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The chart above shows the distribution of Moroccans living abroad (in another
country). The majority (36%) live in France as of 2004.
13
After the Civil War and Emancipation, African Americans moved to take
advantage of industrial and manufacturing jobs in the major urban centers of
the Northeast and Midwest. Due to strict immigration quotas at the time, there
was a significant labor shortage in these areas (the major concentration of
factories in the U.S. at that time). Meanwhile, in the post-Civil War South,
racism, Jim Crow laws (laws that enforced legal racial segregation) and the
lack of economic opportunity after Reconstruction (the post-Civil War era) were
major push factors out of the agricultural south. Major cities such as Chicago,
Detroit, Philadelphia, and New York City saw major demographic changes
during this time period.
14
The potato crop in Ireland failed in the late 1840s due to a crop disease known
as “potato blight.” The potato was far and away the staple food crop of Ireland
and the resulting Irish Potato Famine was catastrophic. Many Irish had two
choices, stay in Ireland and starve to death or emigrate (impelled migration).
The US was the most popular choice for Irish emigrants. The initial wave of
Irish immigrants in the late 1840s-early 1850s set firm footing for further chain
migration (kinship links).
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The Irish Potato famine happened around the time that the United States was
experiencing rapid industrial growth - yet new arrivals, especially those new
immigrants who were ethnically discriminated against (for different religion,
different language, different cultural dress/practices, etc.) found it difficult to
find work. This leads to immigrant neighborhoods (that form as a result of
chain migration) to typically have a lower economic status than other groups
(income disparity where immigrants are at a disadvantage).
The most well-known example of this immigrant discrimination, the “No Irish
Need Apply” era, held that businesses in large urban areas such as New York
City and Chicago (destination cities for many Irish immigrants) would advertise
that they were hiring, but with the restriction that the Irish need not apply,
because they would not hire an Irishman. In reality, while some discrimination
likely did occur, the scale at which it happened is likely exaggerated to
mythical proportions, perpetuated by popular culture such as songs and kitsch
(kitsch is inexpensive art/décor often considered tacky – for an example,
search for “Irish Need Not Apply” on amazon or other online retailer and see
the samples that pop up).
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Note the overlap of the two migration streams – they overlap because they
were connected. While there is no key for this map, all of the countries shaded
a color other than gray were once colonies of European powers: Red show
English colonies, Yellow Spanish, Green Portuguese, Blue French, light blue
Dutch, Purple Russia.
Europeans emigrated overcrowded, rapidly growing population centers in their
home countries to seek economic opportunity on other continents. They took
their cultures with them – for example, English is spoken as a primary
language in almost all of the countries shown in red. Spanish and Portuguese
are spoken throughout Latin America, and French is either spoken or evident
on the cultural landscape in its former colonies as well.
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With increased demand for agricultural products as Europe progressed
through the Industrial Revolution (cotton, tobacco, sugar, etc.) the Europeans
needed labor for their farms – to meet their needs and reach maximum profit,
they used forced labor. Slaves. The slaves also brought their cultures with
them as they were forcibly moved from their African homelands (tribal lands) to
the Americas.
The Atlantic Slave Trade brought Africans to the Americas (not just the U.S.).
The flow map above shows the movement – the size of the line represents the
volume of migration along that route. Note that the biggest streams went to the
Caribbean (sugar and fruit plantations) and Brazil (rubber, cotton, coffee, tea,
and other cash crops). The American South was known for it’s large
plantations for cash crops such as cotton and tobacco, which require
significant labor to harvest and process.
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Cultural diffusion means spreading culture from its place of origin to another.
This can happen between interactions between people or through movement
of people
The culture of the African natives brought to the Americas is still present in
American cultures today. In the Caribbean, languages and religions reflect the
tribal languages and religions of the African homelands of the slaves. For
example, in Haiti, a former French colony, the natives today speak a mixture of
French and ancestral slave languages known as Haitian Creole. Vodou (tribal
religion) is mixed in with the Catholic practices in the country and in places
populated by Haitians through the Haitian diaspora, such as the U.S., Cuba,
Dominican Republic, and Bahamas. In Louisiana, it is known as Vodoun. A
characterized (stereotypical) version of Vodoun was illustrated in the Disney
movie The Frog Princess.
In the Southern U.S., the African cultures of the slaves had a lasting impact.
“Call and Response” form of music was influential in the development of
Rhythm and Blues and eventually Rock n’ Roll as popular music became a
prominent part of the American teenage culture.
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Colonialism not only stimulated more than 60 million Europeans to migrate to
the respective colonies, it also brought millions of Asians, Africans, and
Amerindians to Europe. In the beginning, many of these immigrants came to
Europe as slaves, but in the 20th century immigrants from Africa and Asia
served as soldiers and contract laborers in the European armies during the
two World Wars. In addition, the wave of decolonization after World War II as
Europe relinquished control over the colonies stimulated millions of former
European colonists as well as people of mixed descent and various colonial
minority groups such as the Chinese, Indians, and former African slaves to
migrate to Europe in spite of the fact that the large majority of these migrants
had never lived or visited there. The map above is a graduated symbol map
showing the country of origin of immigrants to the United Kingdom. For those
migrants traveling a great distance (not from a nearby European country), the
vast majority are coming from former British colonies.
20
Chain migration (kinship links – where immigrants later encourage or sponsor
their family members to join them in the destination country) leads to the
creation of ethnic neighborhoods.
Examples of well-known ethnic neighborhoods include Chinatown (in almost
every major city that grew during the industrial period), Little Italy (in New York,
Chicago, Philadelphia, San Diego, and a few other cities that had large
populations of Italian immigrants) and Little Havana (Cuban immigrants) in
Miami.
21
Following WWII, the United States (and Western Europe) fell into the “Cold
War” period against the U.S.S.R. (Soviet Union) and the Soviet Block (Eastern
Europe), where the ideologies of the democratic West were at odds with the
communist ideologies of the USSR and the “Communist Block”. The Cold War
did not stay between the U.S. and Eastern Europe, however. It spilled over into
Asia where “Containment” was the official U.S. foreign policy – the U.S. was
trying to keep communism from spreading beyond where it already was.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Communism, back by the Chinese, was spreading
into the former French colony of Vietnam. The U.S. and other western
countries were opposed to this spread, which led to an armed conflict as the
American and Western forces backed the democratic government in South
Vietnam. The Hmong people of Northern Vietnam and neighboring Laos
backed the U.S. and French forces. When U.S. and allies pulled out of
Vietnam and the South Vietnam government fell into Communist control, the
Hmong people were at a significant risk for opposing them and fled the
country.
This chart displays the number of Vietnamese refugees arriving in the United
States each year between 1975 and 2002. The spike during 1975 was the end
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of the Vietnam war as the communist Northern Vietnamese over ran the US-
backed south of the country. In 1980, President Carter raised the quota for
immigrants fleeing communist countries, with about 95,000 Vietnamese
refugees arriving in the U.S. during that peak year. The map shows the route
the immigrants took, first into the country, and then a secondary migration
within the U.S. to Fresno, California, where a large community resides today.
22
Today, there is a large population of Vietnamese in North Austin – it is one of
the largest Vietnamese communities in the country. Pflugerville ISD (which
includes North Austin) has a Vietnamese bilingual elementary school program.
The image above is a Vietnamese Church located in North Austin. Chain
migration, in which family members of resettled Vietnamese refugees were
reunited with their families contributed to the formation of these communities.
23
Following World War II, there was a rapid decolonization of former European
colonies. India, a former British colony had large populations of both Hindu and
Muslims. To set up a country for both populations, the decision was made to
partition India into two separate countries: India (Hindu majority) and West and
East Pakistan (Muslim majority). East Pakistan is now Bangladesh.
The partition displaced between 10–12 million people along religious lines,
creating overwhelming refugee crises in the newly created states (countries);
there was large-scale violence, and an estimated 200,000 to 2 million people
died before as during the partition as people rushed to get to the “right side” of
the their respective borders. Many of the migrants moved on foot, with ox
carts, or on loaded into overcrowded trains. The political relationship between
the two countries remains strained today, with one of the world’s most disputed
territories located between them – Kashmir. The border zone is one of the
most fortified in the world, and movement between the two countries is
restricted.
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