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2.11 Forced vs. Voluntary Migration

4 min readjanuary 9, 2023

E

Edmund Scanlan

E

Edmund Scanlan

Immigration is incredibly common in today's world, but not everyone leaves their country and home voluntarily. Keep reading to find out the different kinds of migrations.

https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/fiveable-92889.appspot.com/o/images%2Fimage14.png?alt=media&token=6eb83a67-951b-4365-8635-1c11026f55d2

Forced Migration

is probably the best example of . During the 17th and 18th centuries, hundreds of thousands of Africans were forcibly brought to the Americas in the

Forced migrations produce different types of migrants according to the :

  1. are people that are forced to migrate because of a threat to their life and cannot return for fear of persecution. An example would be people who have fled Syria, because of the ongoing civil war.

  2. are similar to , but they have not migrated internationally. In 2012, Colombia had around five million IDPs, because of the rampant drug cartels throughout the country.

  3. are migrants to another country that are hoping to be recognized as . An example of this is the migrant caravan that was traveling to the United States in 2018 from Central America. The migrants claimed they fled because of persecution in their home countries.

Causes of Forced Migration:

  • : People may be forced to leave due to persecution, violence, the threat of harm, or the destruction of their homes.

    • Example: The Syrian refugee crisis

  • : Any kind of violation of human rights can cause , such as persecution based on race, religion, ethnicity, or political beliefs.

    • Example: The Rohingya refugee crisis

  • : Natural disasters, or the effects of climate change can force people to leave their homes.

    • Example: The displacement of people due to Hurricane Katrina

  • : If people are living in economic hardship or in poverty, they would be forced to leave in search of better opportunities and a higher standard of living.

    • Example: The movement of people from Eastern Europe to Western Europe

  • : Forced relocation or evictions placed by the government are often causes of .

    • Example: The forced relocation of indigenous communities in North America

  • : People might be forced to migrate due to , such as the lack of access to medical care or the threat of infectious diseases.

    • Example: The Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014-2016


Voluntary Migrations

can also happen for a number of reasons:

  • are definitely the main reason people migrate from one country, region, or area to another. People will look for better job opportunities.

  • is the moving from one coast of a county to another. During the California Gold Rush, a number of people migrated out west in hopes of striking it rich!

  • is a seasonal migration that herders make with their livestock to allow them to graze. They change elevations depending on the seasons. This is still done today in Mongolia today but has largely died out.

  • is migration within a country. During the first half of the 20th century, a number of African Americans moved from the south to the north where a number of factory jobs opened up.

  •  happens when one family member migrates to another place. Once he is established with a job and a home he will start to bring his family to the new home. Some of the Lost Boys of Sudan migrated to the United States and after getting established, they brought their mothers, siblings, and wives over as well.

  • happens when someone is traveling to a distant location. They might move from a rural area to a nearby village. Then they move to a town and finally to a city.

  • are immigrants who have traveled to a country on a work visa. Sometimes it is short term and sometimes it becomes permanent. Germany has a number of Turks that live there today.  In the 1960s and early 1970s, they came as cheap labor and a number ended up staying. Today there are over two million people of Turkish ancestry that live in Germany. 

  • is when people from farming areas move to cities. This happens frequently in developing countries. In China, almost a hundred million people have moved from the rural interior to the east coast where factory jobs are prevalent.

🎥 Watch: AP HUG - Causes of Migration

Key Terms to Review (22)

Asylum Seekers

: Asylum seekers are individuals who have left their home country due to fear of persecution and are seeking international protection but whose claim for refugee status has not yet been determined.

Chain Migration

: Chain migration is a process where migrants from a particular town follow others from that town to a particular destination. The decision to migrate is influenced by family or friends who have already migrated.

Economic Reasons

: Economic reasons refer specifically to financial motivations behind decisions and actions. In terms of migration, economic reasons might include seeking higher wages, better job opportunities or improved living standards.

Environmental Disasters

: Environmental disasters refer to catastrophic events caused by environmental factors that harm the environment and lead to significant human loss or property damage.

Forced Migration

: Forced migration occurs when individuals must leave their homes due to factors outside their control such as war, natural disasters or persecution.

Government Policies

: Government policies are laws or principles set by governments that guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. They can range from taxation rules to healthcare regulations.

Guest Workers

: Guest workers are foreign laborers who are allowed to live and work temporarily in another country. They're usually invited by governments during periods of labor shortage or for specific jobs that aren't being filled by local workers.

Health Concerns

: Health concerns in AP Human Geography refer to the impact of geographical factors on health issues, such as disease prevalence, access to healthcare, and health outcomes.

Human Rights Violations

: Human rights violations occur when actions by state (or non-state) actors abuse, ignore, or deny basic human rights (including civil, political, cultural, social, and economic rights).

Internal Migration

: Internal migration refers to moving within a country, rather than across international borders.

Internally Displaced Persons

: Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are individuals who have been forced to leave their homes due to conflict, violence, disasters or human rights violations but unlike refugees, they remain within their home country's borders.

Poverty and Economic Hardship

: Poverty is a state where an individual or community lacks financial resources and access to basic necessities. Economic hardship refers to difficult economic conditions experienced by individuals or communities due to poverty.

Refugees

: Refugees are people who have been forced to flee their home country due to severe threats such as war, violence or persecution based on race, religion, nationality or political opinion.

Rural-to-Urban Migration

: This term refers to the movement of people from countryside areas (rural) to cities and towns (urban). It often occurs when individuals seek better opportunities for employment, education, healthcare, and lifestyle.

Slavery

: Slavery is a system where individuals known as slaves are treated as property and forced into labor without consent and with no freedom of movement or rights.

Step Migration

: Step Migration is when an individual or group migrates through stages instead of going directly from start point to end point. They might stop at several places along the way before reaching their final destination.

Transhumance

: Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism; it involves moving livestock seasonally between highland and lowland pastures.

Transnational Migration

: Transnational migration refers to the process of migrating from one country to another, often with the intention of living and working in the new country.

Triangle Trade

: The Triangle Trade refers to a historical trading system that took place between the 16th and 19th centuries, involving three regions: Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Goods were shipped from Europe to Africa, slaves from Africa to the Americas, and raw materials from the Americas back to Europe.

UNHCR

: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people.

Voluntary Migrations

: Voluntary migrations are movements by individuals or groups who choose to relocate, often for economic or social reasons rather than being forced by conflict or persecution.

War and Conflict

: War and conflict refer to a state of open, often prolonged fighting between nations, states, groups, etc., typically involving violence, destruction, and loss of life.

2.11 Forced vs. Voluntary Migration

4 min readjanuary 9, 2023

E

Edmund Scanlan

E

Edmund Scanlan

Immigration is incredibly common in today's world, but not everyone leaves their country and home voluntarily. Keep reading to find out the different kinds of migrations.

https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/fiveable-92889.appspot.com/o/images%2Fimage14.png?alt=media&token=6eb83a67-951b-4365-8635-1c11026f55d2

Forced Migration

is probably the best example of . During the 17th and 18th centuries, hundreds of thousands of Africans were forcibly brought to the Americas in the

Forced migrations produce different types of migrants according to the :

  1. are people that are forced to migrate because of a threat to their life and cannot return for fear of persecution. An example would be people who have fled Syria, because of the ongoing civil war.

  2. are similar to , but they have not migrated internationally. In 2012, Colombia had around five million IDPs, because of the rampant drug cartels throughout the country.

  3. are migrants to another country that are hoping to be recognized as . An example of this is the migrant caravan that was traveling to the United States in 2018 from Central America. The migrants claimed they fled because of persecution in their home countries.

Causes of Forced Migration:

  • : People may be forced to leave due to persecution, violence, the threat of harm, or the destruction of their homes.

    • Example: The Syrian refugee crisis

  • : Any kind of violation of human rights can cause , such as persecution based on race, religion, ethnicity, or political beliefs.

    • Example: The Rohingya refugee crisis

  • : Natural disasters, or the effects of climate change can force people to leave their homes.

    • Example: The displacement of people due to Hurricane Katrina

  • : If people are living in economic hardship or in poverty, they would be forced to leave in search of better opportunities and a higher standard of living.

    • Example: The movement of people from Eastern Europe to Western Europe

  • : Forced relocation or evictions placed by the government are often causes of .

    • Example: The forced relocation of indigenous communities in North America

  • : People might be forced to migrate due to , such as the lack of access to medical care or the threat of infectious diseases.

    • Example: The Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014-2016


Voluntary Migrations

can also happen for a number of reasons:

  • are definitely the main reason people migrate from one country, region, or area to another. People will look for better job opportunities.

  • is the moving from one coast of a county to another. During the California Gold Rush, a number of people migrated out west in hopes of striking it rich!

  • is a seasonal migration that herders make with their livestock to allow them to graze. They change elevations depending on the seasons. This is still done today in Mongolia today but has largely died out.

  • is migration within a country. During the first half of the 20th century, a number of African Americans moved from the south to the north where a number of factory jobs opened up.

  •  happens when one family member migrates to another place. Once he is established with a job and a home he will start to bring his family to the new home. Some of the Lost Boys of Sudan migrated to the United States and after getting established, they brought their mothers, siblings, and wives over as well.

  • happens when someone is traveling to a distant location. They might move from a rural area to a nearby village. Then they move to a town and finally to a city.

  • are immigrants who have traveled to a country on a work visa. Sometimes it is short term and sometimes it becomes permanent. Germany has a number of Turks that live there today.  In the 1960s and early 1970s, they came as cheap labor and a number ended up staying. Today there are over two million people of Turkish ancestry that live in Germany. 

  • is when people from farming areas move to cities. This happens frequently in developing countries. In China, almost a hundred million people have moved from the rural interior to the east coast where factory jobs are prevalent.

🎥 Watch: AP HUG - Causes of Migration

Key Terms to Review (22)

Asylum Seekers

: Asylum seekers are individuals who have left their home country due to fear of persecution and are seeking international protection but whose claim for refugee status has not yet been determined.

Chain Migration

: Chain migration is a process where migrants from a particular town follow others from that town to a particular destination. The decision to migrate is influenced by family or friends who have already migrated.

Economic Reasons

: Economic reasons refer specifically to financial motivations behind decisions and actions. In terms of migration, economic reasons might include seeking higher wages, better job opportunities or improved living standards.

Environmental Disasters

: Environmental disasters refer to catastrophic events caused by environmental factors that harm the environment and lead to significant human loss or property damage.

Forced Migration

: Forced migration occurs when individuals must leave their homes due to factors outside their control such as war, natural disasters or persecution.

Government Policies

: Government policies are laws or principles set by governments that guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. They can range from taxation rules to healthcare regulations.

Guest Workers

: Guest workers are foreign laborers who are allowed to live and work temporarily in another country. They're usually invited by governments during periods of labor shortage or for specific jobs that aren't being filled by local workers.

Health Concerns

: Health concerns in AP Human Geography refer to the impact of geographical factors on health issues, such as disease prevalence, access to healthcare, and health outcomes.

Human Rights Violations

: Human rights violations occur when actions by state (or non-state) actors abuse, ignore, or deny basic human rights (including civil, political, cultural, social, and economic rights).

Internal Migration

: Internal migration refers to moving within a country, rather than across international borders.

Internally Displaced Persons

: Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are individuals who have been forced to leave their homes due to conflict, violence, disasters or human rights violations but unlike refugees, they remain within their home country's borders.

Poverty and Economic Hardship

: Poverty is a state where an individual or community lacks financial resources and access to basic necessities. Economic hardship refers to difficult economic conditions experienced by individuals or communities due to poverty.

Refugees

: Refugees are people who have been forced to flee their home country due to severe threats such as war, violence or persecution based on race, religion, nationality or political opinion.

Rural-to-Urban Migration

: This term refers to the movement of people from countryside areas (rural) to cities and towns (urban). It often occurs when individuals seek better opportunities for employment, education, healthcare, and lifestyle.

Slavery

: Slavery is a system where individuals known as slaves are treated as property and forced into labor without consent and with no freedom of movement or rights.

Step Migration

: Step Migration is when an individual or group migrates through stages instead of going directly from start point to end point. They might stop at several places along the way before reaching their final destination.

Transhumance

: Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism; it involves moving livestock seasonally between highland and lowland pastures.

Transnational Migration

: Transnational migration refers to the process of migrating from one country to another, often with the intention of living and working in the new country.

Triangle Trade

: The Triangle Trade refers to a historical trading system that took place between the 16th and 19th centuries, involving three regions: Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Goods were shipped from Europe to Africa, slaves from Africa to the Americas, and raw materials from the Americas back to Europe.

UNHCR

: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people.

Voluntary Migrations

: Voluntary migrations are movements by individuals or groups who choose to relocate, often for economic or social reasons rather than being forced by conflict or persecution.

War and Conflict

: War and conflict refer to a state of open, often prolonged fighting between nations, states, groups, etc., typically involving violence, destruction, and loss of life.


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AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.


© 2024 Fiveable Inc. All rights reserved.

AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.