1. Ch.3 Key Issue 1
Why Do People Migrate?

2. What is Migration?
A type of mobility/movement that involves leaving home
Cyclic movement (commuting/seasonal movement- “Snow Birds”)
Periodic movement (migrant labor, attending college)
Migration
Immigration (In)
Emigration (Out)

3. Migration Movement resulting in permanent relocation
Results in relocation diffusion
Multiple types:
International (transnational)
Internal
Interregional
Intraregional

4. Ravenstein 11 “laws” makes up Geography’s study of migration
3 main categories
Why immigrants move
Distance they typically move
Characteristics

5. Main Laws of Ravenstein
Majority of migrants move a short distance
Longer traveling migrants mostly choose big-city destinations
Urbanites are less likely to migrate than rural peoples
Families are less likely to make international moves than young adults

6. Ravenstein (see Kuby activity)
Gravity model
Interaction is based on population and distance-
Likely to travel further if destination is a large populated city (Law #3)
Distance decay
Number of migrants decreases as the distance they have to travel increases (inverse relationship)
Affects pull factors- is it really worth it?

7. Reasons for Migrating Migration is either forced or voluntary
Not always a clear distinction
Potato famine in Ireland (forced) but Irish chose to go to US (voluntary)
Push/pull factors with voluntary migration ONLY
Who chooses if a family/household migrates voluntarily?
Gendered power relationships and family responsibilities
Men are more mobile, migrate farther than women
Men have more choices/chances of work

8. Reasons for Migrating Forced migration- involuntary movement
Atlantic slave trade
Transmitted culture (i.e. relocation diffusion): Caribbean, Brazil
Britain shipping convicts to Australia
“Trail of Tears” and other uprooting of Native Americans, forcing onto reservations
Jews during the Holocaust
Countermigration- returning illegal immigrants to home country
Refugees

9. Reasons for migrating voluntarily
There are reasons why people move from a country (source) to another (destination) voluntarily
Push and Pull factors:
Economic
Cultural
Environmental

10. Push vs Pull
Migrants will perceive push factors more clearly since it is the conditions in which they are experiencing
Pull factors can be misinterpreted since they are based on things heard, read or believed to be true about a destination country rather than experiences

11. Economic push/pull Most people migrate for economic reasons
Push and pull factors
Economic: people move away (pushed) from places with poor economic opportunities and (pulled) toward places with better ones

12. 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.

13. Cultural push/pull Cultural factors
Forced migration (e.g., slavery, refugees)
Political factors (democracies vs. dictatorships)
Communist governments and dictators- Vietnam, Uganda, Cuba (“Mariel Boatlift”)

14. Forced Migration – the Atlantic Slave Trade

15. Environmental Conditions
Potato famine in Ireland
Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans
If event is bad enough, return might be impossible
Montserrat Volcano- 10,000 to 3,000.

16. 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.

17. ***Other Push/pull factors
Armed conflict and War
Yugoslavia conflicts, Rwanda, Sudan
Threatening culture and traditions
Partition of India into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan
Whites leaving South Africa after apartheid ended
Technological Advances spur migration
Transportation instead of walking, fast news about far places
Kinship links- communication between relatives
Chain migration- migrating to where your family is
Immigration waves- multiple chains of migration

18. Step Migration
Migration appears on maps as a long flow, but is really a series of stages
Move from village/small town, to town, to city then to a metropolis
Migrants face new set of pull factors at each “step”
Most face an intervening opportunity along the way

19. Intervening Opportunity
At one of the steps toward the destination, pull factors encourage the migrant to settle at a particular place.
EX: During the Great Migration of African Americans north to find work after WWI, many found work along the way in St. Louis—never made it destinations of Chicago and Cleveland

20. Intervening Obstacles
Historically these have been environmental (mnt., ocean, etc.)
Improved transportation methods have alleviated
Now, local diversity in gov’ts are intervening obstacles.
Quotas
Strict immigration laws
Walls/barriers

21. Distance of Migration Internal migration Most immigration is internal
Interregional migration = movement from one region to another
Intraregional migration = movement within a region

22. Distance of Migration International Migration
Voluntary
Forced
International migrants leave stage 2 countries of the dem. tran. for stage 3 and 4 countries;
Internal migration is more important for countries in stages 3 and 4 (cities to suburbs).

23. 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 (steps within the flow).

24. Global Migration Patterns

25. Characteristics of Migrants
Most long-distance migrants are
Male
Adults
Individuals
Families with children = less likely to migrate long distances

26. Characteristics of Migrants
Gender
Traditionally, males outnumbered females
In the United States today, just over half of immigrants are female
Family status
In the United States today, most immigrants are young adults, aged 25–39 (working age!)

27. ***Important to remember
Whenever people migrate, the cultural landscape of both the source country and the destination are changed.
People take their culture with them to their new place (relocation diffusion)
We’ve talked about some changes already but keep your eyes open for more examples in the rest of this chapter!