Causes of Migration in an Interconnected World

Migration Through Labor Systems

With slavery abolished in more imperial territories, agricultural workers migrated to colonies to fill that production void.
Indentured Servants: Those who worked for a set number of years before becoming free, often people who were from poor communities or in debt.
Many indentured workers stayed in their new countries and brought their culture with them.
European Imperialist powers used Asian contact workers as a substitute for slave labors. They were unskilled and were exploited with subsistence wages and very poor treatment. Asian worker contracts were terminated in mid to late 19th century.
Penal Colony: Settlements established for the punishment of criminals.
Convicts in Britain’s Australia penal colony preformed forced labor rather than imprisonment.
French convicts in the Africa penal colony Devil’s Island were notoriously treated harshly and did hard labor.

Diaspora: movement/migration of people from an established homeland.
African slave trade was biggest diaspora in history, but often diaspora are due to poverty, famine, or family conditions.
Many Indians were driven out of India by poverty and British sent them to Mauritius where they signed labor contracts.
Kangani system: labor recruitment system in Ceylon and Malaya with a foreman who oversees workers and recruited from extended family.
Emigrate: to leave one’s country in order to permanently settle in another.
Many Chinese emigrated due to famine and poverty due to the Taiping Rebellion and the Opium Wars.
Great Famine: period of mass starvation, disease, and emigration due to massive destruction of potato crop in Ireland between 1845 and 1849.
Irish people emigrated to the U.S and Great Britain where they worked on railroads and canals.
Massive wave of emigration from Italy in 1861 when the country became unified (political).
Italian emigrants whether due to poverty or economic reasons (organized crime), often sent money back to encourage more emigration.

British citizens moved to other colonies for political service, military service, or economic potential.
Colonial Service: British government services.
British engineers migrated to South Asian and African colonies where they collaborated with the colonies to work on industrial projects.
British businessmen moved to Argentina where their products, banks, and industrial projects appealed to the Argentina middle class.
Japanese colonization society aimed to export surplus population to the Americas which wasn’t successful through contract workers.
Gentlemen’s Agreement: 1907-1908 agreement between the US and Japanese governments to limit Japanese immigration to the United States as well as end anti-immigration beliefs.

Agricultural contract workers went to Hawaii and other South Pacific locations to work on sugar plantations (1885-1894)
Italians moved to Argentina for better wages in factories where they expanded cities’ size and influence

With slavery abolished in more imperial territories, agricultural workers migrated to colonies to fill that production void.
Indentured Servants: Those who worked for a set number of years before becoming free, often people who were from poor communities or in debt.
Many indentured workers stayed in their new countries and brought their culture with them.
European Imperialist powers used Asian contact workers as a substitute for slave labors. They were unskilled and were exploited with subsistence wages and very poor treatment. Asian worker contracts were terminated in mid to late 19th century.
Penal Colony: Settlements established for the punishment of criminals.
Convicts in Britain’s Australia penal colony preformed forced labor rather than imprisonment.
French convicts in the Africa penal colony Devil’s Island were notoriously treated harshly and did hard labor.

Diaspora: movement/migration of people from an established homeland.
African slave trade was biggest diaspora in history, but often diaspora are due to poverty, famine, or family conditions.
Many Indians were driven out of India by poverty and British sent them to Mauritius where they signed labor contracts.
Kangani system: labor recruitment system in Ceylon and Malaya with a foreman who oversees workers and recruited from extended family.
Emigrate: to leave one’s country in order to permanently settle in another.
Many Chinese emigrated due to famine and poverty due to the Taiping Rebellion and the Opium Wars.
Great Famine: period of mass starvation, disease, and emigration due to massive destruction of potato crop in Ireland between 1845 and 1849.
Irish people emigrated to the U.S and Great Britain where they worked on railroads and canals.
Massive wave of emigration from Italy in 1861 when the country became unified (political).
Italian emigrants whether due to poverty or economic reasons (organized crime), often sent money back to encourage more emigration.

British citizens moved to other colonies for political service, military service, or economic potential.
Colonial Service: British government services.
British engineers migrated to South Asian and African colonies where they collaborated with the colonies to work on industrial projects.
British businessmen moved to Argentina where their products, banks, and industrial projects appealed to the Argentina middle class.
Japanese colonization society aimed to export surplus population to the Americas which wasn’t successful through contract workers.
Gentlemen’s Agreement: 1907-1908 agreement between the US and Japanese governments to limit Japanese immigration to the United States as well as end anti-immigration beliefs.

Agricultural contract workers went to Hawaii and other South Pacific locations to work on sugar plantations (1885-1894)
Italians moved to Argentina for better wages in factories where they expanded cities’ size and influence