Understanding Migration Patterns: A Comprehensive Overview

1. What is Migration?

2. Migration • The movement of people from one place to another • Movement speeds the diffusion of ideas and innovations • It intensifies spatial interaction and transforms regions • It is closely linked to environmental conditions

3. Movement • Movement takes many forms • Mobility can be local or global • All movement involves leaving home • There are three types of movement that vary based on time away from home • Cyclic Movement • Periodic Movement • Migration

4. Cyclic Movement • Involves journeys that take us away from home, but then bring us back • Daily movement within an area is called an activity space • North American activity spaces are much larger than African or Southwest Asian spaces

5. Commuting • Commuters practice cyclic movement • The average North American travels more daily than the average Chinese villager does in a year • Commutes can range from a few minutes, to hours • Transportation speeds vary as well

6. Seasonal Movement • Movement that occurs based on changing weather patterns and environmental conditions of the seasons • Example: seasonal travelers that flee the northern winters for the southern states

7. Nomadism • Nomadism is a matter of survival, tradition, and culture • Nomads are usually found in Southwest Asia and Africa • Nomadic herders usually follow the same routes year after year • They need to know where to find food, water, and shelter as the seasons change

8. Periodic Movement • Also involves returning home, but people that practice this type of movement are away for longer periods of time • Migrant workers are examples of people that practice periodic movement

9. Transhumance • A specialized form of periodic movement • This is a system of pastoral farming where ranchers move animals according to the seasonal availability of pastures

10. Other forms of Periodic Movement • Going away to college • Typically lasts nine months • Military Service • Can last years

11. Migration • A permanent relocation across significant distances • It can involve the movement of an individual, household, or larger group

12. International Migration • Movement across country borders (also called external migration) • When a migrant leaves a home country, they are considered an emigrant (Exits) • Subtracts from the total population of a country • When the same migrant enters a new country, they are considered an immigrant (In) • Adds to the total population of a country

13. Internal Migration • Most migration in North America is internal • Internal Migration refers to migration within a country’s borders • Most North American migration is toward the South and West • The US population is the most mobile in the world • Most Americans move once every six years

14. Rural to Urban Migration • The world’s rural to urban balance is now mostly urban • Moving from an urban area to a neighboring smaller town is called suburbanization • Moving from an urban area to a rural area is called counterurbanization • This is becoming a trend with the DINKs (Dual Income-No Kids )