Migration: Introduction

Forced Migration. Image credit UNHCR

• Migration is the permanent or semi-permanent movement of people from one area to another, one country to another or one continent to another.
• This involves the change of residence
• There are several ways to classify migrations and these are:
  1. In terms of decision:
     1. Unconscious–drifts, such as the random, perhaps indeterminate, migration of early man for example the Bantu Migrations
     2. Compulsory/Forced movements, such as the transportation of slaves during the African Slave Trade
     3. Voluntary-such as the modern migration for example Zimbabweans in the Diaspora
  2. In terms of time:
     1. Temporary-transient movement of people for example seasonal movements or even the daily commute
     2. Permanent-long term migration to other countries for example or rural to urban migrations for long periods of time
  3. In terms of pattern:
     1. Internal migration-within a country’s borders
     2. International migration-transcends borders for example from Zimbabwe to the United Kingdom
     3. Inter-regional-movement from one region to another for example movement from Netherlands to Sweden all of which are in the EU or movement from SADC countries to ECOWAS countries such as Nigeria

To access more topics go to the O Level Geography Notes page