Migration Patterns the Americas, Since

Migration Patterns

The Americas, since their discovery by Europeans, have existed as a destination for groups of people from a wide array of geographic and cultural backgrounds. Migration patterns have depended largely upon economic, social, and political factors both within America and worldwide. Internal economic conditions demanded the enormous volume of African slaves imported during the first four centuries of European colonization. By the nineteenth century world events coupled with economic trends facilitated substantial immigration from Eastern Europe. Both of these patterns were driven by American demands for labor. Yet they differed in the manner of that labor, the conditions of migration, the time period, and -- most obviously -- their reasons for departure. Migration to America from Africa and Eastern Europe was demanded by similar economic conditions, but the differences in their migration patterns can be accounted for by the unique political and social conditions from which they were seeded.

The slave trade was as ancient as civilization itself by the time the Americas were discovered by Columbus; but as the European powers scrambled to maximize their power and wealth in this new world, slavery took on a new form. Agriculture quickly became the key to acquiring capital and "in the 17th century it was discovered that sugar cane grew well in the West Indies, but growing it involved a huge number of workers." Doubtlessly, too few settlers inhabited these lands to generate the workforce colonial powers demanded, so West African traders began to supply a constant flow of kidnapped slaves to the new world -- thus, the infamous "middle passage" was born. Simultaneously, in North America, "It was soon discovered that another valuable crop, cotton, could grow well in the hot humid weather of the southern area and the demand for slaves grew even larger." Over the next several hundred years millions of African slaves were transported across the Atlantic Ocean as a result of a high demand for agricultural workers and a severe dearth of colonists.

Migration from Eastern Europe also resulted from American demands for labor. By the last half of the nineteenth century increases in industrialization called for vast amounts of low level workers. "Countries such as the United States, Canada, and Australia had a labor shortage and looked to people from Europe to work in their factories and also in agriculture." Clearly, had political ideologies of the time permitted it, it is likely that North America would have once again looked towards weaker nations for kidnapped slaves. Fortunately, this was not necessary; the advent of the steamship and governmental turmoil in Europe made a massive influx of willing immigrants possible. By contrast to African slaves, the nature of the work the Europeans found was rather different but the economic conditions in America that demanded both migrations were analogous.

The path to America from Africa -- by and large -- was inhumane, brutal, painful, and done forcibly. Most African-Americans today are descendants of slaves who traveled this route in sailing vessels commanded by European or African merchants. "Merchants who carried slaves had a strong interest in packing as many slaves as possible into their ships, and this practice contributed substantially to making the trip both uncomfortable and dangerous." Accordingly, it was common practice to select the healthiest and most physically fit persons to make the voyage; this precluded the selection of too old, too young, or those suffering from any obvious disabilities. It is also important to note that the lands raided by these slave merchants were relatively poor and weak -- they had no military or political means to prevent their people from being sold into slavery. Mostly, these were tribal communities, spanning a wide variety religious beliefs and cultural practices. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries most slaves from Africa possessed no knowledge of western society and were haphazardly assimilated into the American slave culture once they arrived.