Population Geography -

Migration
World Geography
 Why Do People Migrate?
• Ravenstein’s Laws
of Migration –
The reasons
migrants move,
the distance they
move, and major
characteristics of
migration
• Cyclic movement
v. periodic
movement v.
migration
International v. Internal Migration
Center of Population in the United States
What can we learn from this map?
 Why Do People Migrate?
Forced Migration Voluntary Migration

• Step Migration – When migrants

• Holocaust follows a path of a series of
• Trail of Tears stages toward a final destination
• Atlantic Slave Trade (farm to town to suburb to city)
• Often occurs during • Chain Migration – When migrant
times of war and communicates to family and
conflict friends at home, encouraging
further migration along the same
path
– Creates Chinatowns, “Little Italys,”
etc.
Forced Migration – African Slave Trade
Across Atlantic
 Push, Pull, or Both?
• Economic Conditions
• Political Circumstances
• Invasion of Activity Space
• Armed Conflict and Civil War
• Environmental Conditions
• Culture and Traditions
• Technological Advances
 Global v. Regional Migration Flows

• Regional Migration Flows • Global Migration Flows

– Migrants go to – What events
neighboring countries:
historically led to
• For short-term
global migration
economic
opportunities flows?
• To reconnect with • 1.
cultural groups across • 2.
borders
• 3.
• To flee political
conflict or war
 Economic Opportunities
• Islands of
Development – Places
within a region or
country where foreign
investment, jobs, and
infrastructure are
concentrated
• In late 1800s and early
1900s, Chinese
migrated throughout
SE Asia to work in
trade, commerce, and
finance
Reconnecting Cultural Groups
- Example:
- About 700,000 Jews
migrated to then-
Palestine between
1900 and 1948
- After 1948, when the
land was divided into
two states (Israel and
Palestine), 600,000
Palestinian Arabs
fled or were pushed
out of newly-
designed Israeli
territories
 Immigration Issues
• Guest Workers
– Migrants whom a country
allows in to fill a labor
need, assuming the
workers will go “home”
once the labor need
subsides
• Have short-term work
visas
• Send remittances to
home country
• Quotas
– Limit the number of
migrants from each
region into a country (can
be selective in nature)
Guest Workers to Europe
 Refugees
• What is a refugee?
• Characteristics of a refugee:
– Takes only what they can carry
– Journey often by foot
– Lacks documentation, has no clear destination,
hopes to return home someday
• Types of refugees: Political, Economic, Environmental
• Impacts of Refugees?
– Environmental
– Social
• What regions generate the most refugees?
 Applying Migration Theory
• Why are some areas more popular to move to
than others? How can we predict that
movement?
– Gravity Model of Migration
• Theory: The interaction between two places is equal to
the product of the places’ populations, divided by the
square of their distance apart
• Impact: Large cities (New York and Los Angeles) may
have extensive and important interactions, despite
being separated by great distances Population 1 x Population 2
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distance²