Mass migration refers to the
migrationHuman migration is movement by humans from one district to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups....
of a large group of people from one geographical area to another. Mass migration is distinguished from individual or small scale migration; it is also different from
seasonal migrationSeasonal human migration is very common in agricultural cycles. It includes migrations such as moving sheep or cattle to higher elevations during summer to escape heat and find more forage...
, which occurs on a regular basis.
A specific mass migration that is seen as especially influential to the course of history may be referred to as a '
great migrationGreat Migration can refer to any one of several different historical migrations of people, including:* The Migration which resulted during Partition of British India....
'. Examples of great migrations include the Barbarian Invasions during the
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
, the
Great Migration from EnglandMigration to New England was very marked in its effects in the two decades from 1620 to 1640, after which it declined for a while. The term Great Migration has been used to apply to the migration in this period of English people to New England, particularly in the years 1629 to 1640.-Context:King...
of the 1630s, the
California Gold RushThe California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered by James Wilson Marshall at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, California. News of the discovery soon spread, resulting in some 300,000 men, women, and children coming to California from the rest of the United States and...
from 1848–1850, and the
Great Migration of African AmericansThe Great Migration was the movement of 1.3 million African-Americans out of the Southern United States to the North, Midwest and West from 1910 to 1930. Precise estimates of the number of migrants depend on the time frame. African Americans migrated to escape racism and seek employment...
from the rural American south to the industrial north during 1920–1950.
Historians often identify an 'age of mass migration', occurring from c.
Mass migration refers to the
migrationHuman migration is movement by humans from one district to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups....
of a large group of people from one geographical area to another. Mass migration is distinguished from individual or small scale migration; it is also different from
seasonal migrationSeasonal human migration is very common in agricultural cycles. It includes migrations such as moving sheep or cattle to higher elevations during summer to escape heat and find more forage...
, which occurs on a regular basis.
A specific mass migration that is seen as especially influential to the course of history may be referred to as a '
great migrationGreat Migration can refer to any one of several different historical migrations of people, including:* The Migration which resulted during Partition of British India....
'. Examples of great migrations include the Barbarian Invasions during the
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
, the
Great Migration from EnglandMigration to New England was very marked in its effects in the two decades from 1620 to 1640, after which it declined for a while. The term Great Migration has been used to apply to the migration in this period of English people to New England, particularly in the years 1629 to 1640.-Context:King...
of the 1630s, the
California Gold RushThe California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered by James Wilson Marshall at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, California. News of the discovery soon spread, resulting in some 300,000 men, women, and children coming to California from the rest of the United States and...
from 1848–1850, and the
Great Migration of African AmericansThe Great Migration was the movement of 1.3 million African-Americans out of the Southern United States to the North, Midwest and West from 1910 to 1930. Precise estimates of the number of migrants depend on the time frame. African Americans migrated to escape racism and seek employment...
from the rural American south to the industrial north during 1920–1950.
Historians often identify an 'age of mass migration', occurring from c. 1840 to 1914 (sometimes 1940), in which long distance migration occurred at an unprecedented and exceptionally high rate. It usually refers to the voluntary
transatlantic migrationTransatlantic migration refers to the movement of people across the Atlantic Ocean in order to settle on the continents of North and South America. It usually refers to migrations after Christopher Columbus' voyage to the Americas in 1492...
of
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an peasants and labourers to the
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
. However, it has been argued that the term should include other mass migrations that occurred in the same period, since similar large numbers of people migrated long distances within the continent of
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
, most notably during the
Pakistan MovementPakistan Movement or Tehrik-e-Pakistan has its origins in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh . Muslims there were a minority, yet their Elite had a disproportionate amount of representaion in the civil service and overall influence...
.
Mass migration is not always voluntary, sometimes including
forced migrationForced migration refers to the coerced movement of a person or persons away from their home or home region. It often connotes violent coercion, and is used interchangeably with the terms "displacement" or forced displacement...
, such as the
Atlantic slave tradeThe Atlantic slave trade, also known as the transatlantic slave trade, was the trading, primarily of African people, to the colonies of the New World that occurred in and around the Atlantic Ocean. It lasted from the 16th to the 19th centuries...
. Similarly, mass migrations may take place in the form of
deportationDeportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The expulsion of natives is also called banishment, exile, or penal transportation. Deportation is an ancient practice: Khosrau I, Sassanid King of Persia, deported 292,000 citizens, slaves, and conquered people...
; for example, Japanese internment in the United States and imprisonment in
Nazi concentration campsNazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps were greatly expanded in Germany after the Reichstag fire in 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, deportations to
GulagThe Gulag or GULAG was the government agency that administered the penal labor camps of the Soviet Union. The term is infamous for its association with remote places where prisoners were kept and sometimes disappeared...
camps in the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
, and
coolieCoolie is:* A historical term for manual labourers from Asia, particularly China and India, in the 19th century and early 20th century....
-labour in
Southeast AsiaManila
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City
Kuala Lumpur
Singapore
Yangon
Bandung
Hanoi
Surabaya
Taichung
Kaohsiung
Medan|-|}...
and the
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
.
See also
- Human migration
Human migration is movement by humans from one district to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups....
- Great Migration
Great Migration can refer to any one of several different historical migrations of people, including:* The Migration which resulted during Partition of British India....
- Transatlantic migrations
Transatlantic migration refers to the movement of people across the Atlantic Ocean in order to settle on the continents of North and South America. It usually refers to migrations after Christopher Columbus' voyage to the Americas in 1492...
- Mass Migration (Band)
- Urbanization in China
At the end of 2008, China's total population was 1.33 billion, with 723 million and 607 million residing in the rural and urban areas respectively . The rural population fraction was 64% in 2001 and 74% in 1990...