Population & Migration - AP Human Geography

The “centroid” refers to the geographic center of the population of a country. So, if more people in a country live in the West than in the East, the “centroid” will be further west. The “centroid” of the United States has moved consistently west and south basically since the country was founded. This is because a larger and larger share of the population is living in the West and the South. This is primarily a consequence of migration from the East to the West and from the North to the South.

The “Sun Belt” is the name used to describe much of the South and West of the United States. Beginning in the second half of the twentieth century, cities in these regions experienced dramatic population growth as many Americans migrated away from the Northeast and the Midwest. Chicago is a northern city, so it is not considered part of the “Sun Belt.”

A Push factor is a reason to leave a country while a pull factor is a reason to move to a country. If the country which someone is living in is at war, they are pushed to leave for fear of their life and livelihood, especially if their lives were particularly endangered.

While moving to a country that has more job opportunities is what often happens, this is a pull factor to pull someone to a country rather than a push factor which pushes someone out of a country.

Often the country that they are leaving is their native country and the country they are migrating to is foreign to them. If they are not living in their native country, that is not a push factor to leave although it could be a pull factor to return to their homeland.

Natural disasters are surprisingly not often considered in the process of migration. Even if they were taken into account, people would not purposefully migrate to a region that has more natural disasters than the region they are already in.

Someone who is forced to leave their home country is a refugee, regardless of what country to which they migrate.

An illegal immigrant is someone who illegally immigrates into a country that is not their home. If they illegally immigrated due to being forced to leave their country under persecution they claim refugee status and are classified as a refugee and not as an illegal immigrant.

There were many Soviet refugees during the break up of the U.S.S.R. and there still are many refugees who are Soviets. But the definition of a Soviet does not equal someone who is forced to migrate due to persecution. The definition of a Soviet is simply someone from the Soviet region of Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

A prisoner of war is not forced to leave their home country due to persecution. Rather, they are persecuted in a foreign country due to the war that is on-going. They are under captivity in a foreign country.

The “Great Migration” began in the late nineteenth century and continued throughout much of the early twentieth century. It involved the migration of African-Americans from the Deep South to cities like Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York - the industrial centers of the American northeast and midwest.

Great Britain's North American Colonies saw a wide variety of people take the opportunity to settle America's Atlantic coast. Due to the wide variety of colonies and locations from which people came, the reasons for traveling to the New World ran the gamut from political and religious reasons to simple economic necessity and serving punishment in the colonies. Almost all of the colonists were middle or lower class individuals seeking a better life, rather than individuals trying to get rich quickly.

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.