Major Historical Migrations - AP Human Geography

The Pilgrims who migrated to America in the early seventeenth century did so in order to escape religious persecution in Europe. They were motivated by reasons of political repression and a desire for personal freedom.

In the early years of the American republic, white settlers and the native population clashed violently and frequently, often resulting in massacres and atrocities (more frequently, but not exclusively, committed by white settlers). In 1830, the American government passed the Indian Removal Act, which forced a large number of Native Americans (most of whom were living in the South) to migrate west of the Mississippi. The subsequent death march is referred to as the Trail of Tears. This took place during the Presidency of Andrew Jackson.

Brazil and the Caribbean were by far the most common destinations for enslaved Africans during the era of the Atlantic Slave Trade. This is because the climates of Brazil and the Caribbean were perfect for growing all sorts of different plantation-based cash crops like sugar, rubber, and cotton.

All of these are examples of forced migration except the emigration of Jewish people from Europe to Israel in the 1950s. You could easily claim that Jewish people migrating away from Europe in the years before the end of World War Two were forced migrations, but in the 1950s most of the migration was voluntary. The desire to be part of a shared Jewish cultural identity in Israel was the primary driving force.

As Americans, we tend to primarily associate the Atlantic Slave Trade with the arrival of enslaved Africans into English colonies in North America; however, this represented a relatively small proportion of the slave trade at the time. The plantations of Brazil, and to a slightly lesser extent, the Caribbean, were the most common destinations for slaves. By some estimates, more than ten million slaves arrived in Brazil during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries.

The Dust Bowl migration of the Great Depression has been immortalized in American culture though pieces of literature like John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath (1939). The movement began because the extremely harsh and arid climate of the 1930s, combined with the loss of jobs caused by the Great Depression, meant that many farmers in America’s Great Plains and Midwest states were no longer able to sustain themselves. They migrated, with their families, en masse to the west coast. Because this migration was caused by an environmental disaster it is known as an “eco-migration.”

During the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, Europe accounted for by far the largest proportion of immigrants arriving in the United States; however, over the course of the twentieth century, this trend changed dramatically. Now, the majority of immigrants to the United States come from Latin America. A significant number also arrive from South and East Asia, particularly from India, China, and Korea.

The term “Cotton Belt” is how the South in the United States was often referred to, reflecting the region's centuries long dependence on cotton plantations for much of its wealth; however, in recent years, many Americans have been migrating from the Northeast and the Midwest to the South in search of better weather and new job opportunities. This has caused geographers to rebrand the region as the “Sun Belt.” It stretches across most of the Deep South and includes Texas and California.

During the Reconstruction era of American history and up to the Civil Rights’ Era many African-Americans migrated North, to industrial centers like New York and Chicago. They were seeking personal liberty and economic opportunity. Much of the urban ethnic makeup of contemporary America is because of this pattern of migration.

For many years, industrial centers in the midwest like Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland were home to booming economies and burgeoning populations; however, as American industry began to decline as a global force in the second half of the twentieth century, there were far fewer jobs available. This led many Americans to migrate south and west in search of greater economic opportunity and better weather. The region they left behind became known as the “Rust Belt” to reflect how the heavy machinery was going to rust due to disuse.

In general, the majority of contemporary human migration is from South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa to North America and Europe. The general pattern is north and west.

The former British colony of Australia has an interesting and somewhat unique early history compared to other British colonies. After the abolition of slave labor in the British Empire, the British began to send convicted criminals to Australia in a forced resettlement. Conditions were harsh for the convicts and their lives often shared many similarities with the lives of slaves. It is worth noting that when the Europeans arrived in Australia they did not find a deserted continent devoid of human life. There, as most everywhere else, they encountered native people (in Australia usually called Aboriginals) and violently suppressed them.

The territory that comprises the modern day state of Utah had long been settled by Native Americans when the first white settlers began to arrive in the nineteenth century. The first group to settle in Utah in large numbers was the Mormons, who were fleeing religious persecution in the East of the United States.

The Donation Land Claim Act was passed to encourage Americans to migrate westward to the Oregon Territory in the North-West of America. The act promised a sizeable grant of free land to anyone who made the endeavor and intended to reside there permanently. This sort of law was passed often in the early years of the American republic in order to encourage the westward expansion of the young nation. In the Oregon Territory it was of particular importance for the American government to encourage settlement because control over the area was disputed by the British government. If enough Americans lived there it would seem to be “natural” American territory.

The Roma people arrived in Europe some time in the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries. They migrated from some place in the East, probably over several generations, with the most commonly suspected point of origin being somewhere on the Indian subcontinent. Like the Jewish people who were already well dispersed around Europe the Roma did not assimilate smoothly into the countries they emigrated to. They retained their social customs and religious beliefs and were distrusted by large sections of the local population. For much of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries they were officially persecuted and banished by many of the societies of Europe and forced to migrate endlessly around Europe. State persecution of the Roma continues to this day in many countries.

The Boers were settlers who arrived in what is now called South Africa in the seventeenth century. They came, almost exclusively, from the Netherlands - although some were Huguenots from France and other European countries.

The first inhabitants of North America crossed over a land bridge from Asia into North America approximately fifteen thousand years ago. Having arrived in the new continent it took little more than two thousand years before the descendants of these new arrivals had spread across the whole of the Americas.

For several decades of American history Ellis Island served as the point of arrival for immigrants coming to New York City and the United States from Europe and the rest of the world. Due to the vast numbers of Americans whose ancestors arrived via Ellis Island it retains a certain cultural significance even though the vast majority of contemporary immigrants arrive via plane or land borders.

By 1998, the Croats had successfully found independence from their Serb occupiers. What's important here is that 1) Croats are a unique nationality, 2) Serbs are a unique nationality, and 3) the Muslims throughout the region are considered a nationality too. Following the Croatian victory, many ethnic Serbs living in Croatia did not want to be governed by the new Croats' government. So nearly thousands of ethnic Serbs fled Croatia for their “homeland” of Yugoslavia and Bosnia. Remember that Yugoslavia soon after devolved into Serbia-Montenegro, and the dictator Slobodan Milosevic was removed from power by his people.