Chapter 1: Overseas Migration from Europe
Migration: moving
Immigration: moving beyond national frontier
60 million people left Europe to immigrate.
Europeans considered themselves to be quite superior to others, they were racist. (moral superiority too).
for the Europeans-labor/economic issues were primary issues.
Advanced technology (Age of Discovery)
-guns and ships
-200 years ago: Marco Polo, Trader from Italy
-Mongols in Persia- genocide, plague victims and contaminated everyone.
Push: Europeans coming because of population/labor policies developed. Socioeconomic conditions in home country
Pull: Opportunities in new colonies for these new immigrants. Desire for economic gain
People of Central Mexico suffered one of worst disasters in human history, which greatly affected their population numbers. Their culture was also destroyed because more and more people were dying and not many were living to hold on to the traditions and culture that was engrained within these people.
Later settlers that came to the lands were using the techniques and skills that the people before them were living by. They were also teaching one another survival techniques.
I found it quite interesting that Canadians call their society a mosaic, since most of the people live by their own traditions, culture, religion; yet they are all Canadian in the same way.
Mixed ancestry- Mestizos
Traditional occupations for French include fur trapping.
“Laws of Migration”- push, pull, means.
push: why immigrants are impelled to emigrate
pull: what draws them to emigrate to that particular country? What does country offer them? What types of opportunities do they have by going there?
Means: are the immigrants capable of emigrating. Do they have the ability…that could refer to money, physical and emotional strength, etc. and also how they immigrated!
Major immigration myths that most Americans believe are as follows:
1-Plymouth Rock: religious/political liberty
2- Statue of Liberty: Idea that the poorest of the poor emigrate to the U.S.
3-Melting Pot: Different nationalities/ethnic groups come together and combine their beliefs and also try to become Americanized since they live in America. melting pot while maintaining their own identity.
Most migrants tend to be young…I also related this statement to my own family because various family members have moved from country to country while they were young in order to be able to start their life there and also be physically fit to move and then do labor work as well.
According to Ravenstein’s “laws”, only minorities of populations are likely to migrate. Immigration statistics in the U.S were certainly compromised since illegal aliens were not documented as well as family members of those migrating. And there were also those whom returned back to their country of origin…or even went back and forth, this was all not recorded in the statistics so there was no certainty in the number of people immigrating in and out of the United States.
The people were coming here for an adventure, even a dream. The United States was for many, a country that people escaped to in order to free themselves and find a better life for themselves basically.
Immigrants-young adults, predominantly male from middle class
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