Migration past and present: causes and globalization

Migration in the past and present

Migration in the past

Mobility is a human’s characteristic. In many ways, the history has shown people's movement from one place to another, even from one continent to another. Thanks to the migrations, humanity began knowing its surroundings and adapted, which caused changes in its body, in its way of life and organization. With the discovery of agriculture, the human groups were becoming sedentary. As the population grew, they needed new territories where to live.

Migration and modernity

In modernity, in the 16th century, millions of people left Europe to conquer, almost always by force, new territories in America, Africa and Oceania. In some cases that action reached genocide. With the development of commercial relations, around 10 million people from Africa were violently displaced and subjected to slavery by the colonial system, mainly in America.

Globalization

With globalization, conditions were created for countries to eliminate customs barriers and products and capitals circulate around the world without restrictions, supported by the development of the leading economy and knowledge economy. The migration of the business sector and highly qualified professionals from poor countries to First World countries was facilitated. However, the more openness capital has been given, the more the mobility of people from one country to another has been controlled, especially that of workers.

Migration in Latin American

The current population of Latin America is the result of several migrations that have taken place from the first settlements to the present. In the Aboriginal Era the great empires (among them: the Maya, the Aztec and the Inca), caused important forced migrations in their processes of expansion and conquest.

Types of migration

To better understand migrations, their types must be established. In this regard, there are several criteria. If length of stay of people who move is taken into account, there are three types of migration: definitive migration, when those who left do not return to their place of habitual origin or residence; temporary migration, when the departure is for a certain period and stationary migration, when they move to a place by seasons. For example, there are workers who go from one place to another during harvest times and after a few months they return to their place of residence every year.