WHERE DO PEOPLE MOVE TO OR FROM?
Mary Frances Higuchi
11/93 (Rev. 9/98)

BACKGROUND:
Migration is the movement of people who permanently leave their homeland to relocate in a new place. Emigration is the departure from their homeland and immigration is the entry of people into their new homeland.

There are"push" factors (political, religious persecution, economics like a crop failure, natural disasters) and "pull" factors (seeking land that they could own {cheap and fertile land}, jobs, relatives, easy access by way of ocean or overland transportation) that make people move.

Some groups face many obstacles before reaching their destination. They may go to different temporary places before settling down. Many immigrants move with relatives or friends and settle together in groups. They send letters to their home land encouraging friends and relatives to move to their new settlement. Many immigrants do not disperse or mix with other ethnic groups and cluster in communitites or neighborhoods of their own kind. When people reach their destination they often try to reproduce parts of their culture. They bring with them their cultural "baggage"- language, religion, traditions, food, land-use ideas, professional skills, etc. But many times they need to adapt to their new environment.

Immigrants have to learn English to work in the industry or start a business of their own. Some can accept acculturation (process of learning the host culture) easily, but others retain most of their cultural identity by speaking their first language at home, insisting that their children learn both English as well as their own language. When immigrants retain some of their Old World habits and ethnic identity, cultural markers can be used to identify the places or regions where they have settled.

Since 1970, the year of the first United States census, the population of people who trace their roots to Europe, Africa, and Asia grew to four million. People came as farmers, indentures servants, investors and business people. Some were forced here as slaves. America's population has multiplied about 60 times, part of this due to continued migration.

The Spaniards were the first group to explore and establish permanent settlements on lands which eventually became part of the U.S. They settled in Florida, in the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico, and along the Pacific coast.

English Puritans arrived in the early 1600s and began forming towns in the areas of Boston, Massachusetts. They settled in New England streams and stayed near the coastline. The Dutch settled on Manhattan Island, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The English settled in the Tidewater areas of Virginia and Carolina. They brought slaves from Africa to work on their plantations. The Russians built towns in Alaska and along the Pacific Coast. The French traders, trappers, and explorers claimed land west of the Appalachians.

Up through 1870, these migrations were known as the "Old Migration." The annual migrant flow was not very large until 1840. Most of these migrants moved because of the push factors.

Another wave of immigrants came from eastern and southern Europe who were recruited to work in mines and industrial plants. It drastically subsided in 1921 when new quota laws regulated the total number of migrants and the countries from which they could be admitted. During the Depression of the 1930s and WWI, migration sharply declined.

In the 1960s, an increasing numbers of Latin Americans and Asians began to arrive. Many migrants sought refuge from the wars in Southeast Asia. Others wanted to get away from repressive governments in the Caribbean Islands and Central and South America.

In Hawaii, during the Great Mahele (1840's), the idea of land being sold as fee simple was introduced. In 1850 a new law permitted foreigners to buy and sell land. This was the beginning of an era of large estates in Western hands. Hawaii was exporting about 25 million pounds of sugar and by 1990, 250 million pounds. By 1900, Hawaii was supplying 10% of the U.S. sugar market. The culture of sugar demanded a large labor force. The Hawaiians could not supply it. Diseases had decreased the Hawaiian population from 200-300,000 during Cook's time to less than 60,000 in the 1880s. {The early navigators introduced gonorrhea and syphilis which resulted in stillbirths. Many died in epidemics from cholera in 1804, influenza in the 1820's, mumps in 1839, measles, whooping cough, and influenza in 1848-'49, and smallpox in 1853. Kamehameha's wars late in the 18th century resulted in battlefield deaths and famine. Fertility was low and infant mortality was high. In 1850, a Board of Health was created and the first modern hospital was built in 1859.}

During this time, the government and private enterprises looked into replenishing the labor force and at the same time replenish its population. Pacific islanders were tried briefly but it was unsuccessful. Inquiries were made about India and Malaysia. Bringing more white men were talked about but it was felt that plantation labor was not suitable work for imported whites, except for the Mediterranean types such as the Portuguese, which they did recruit thousands. In the end, China and then Japan were contracted as laborers. The first Chinese males arrived in 1852 and the first Japanese arrived in 1868. The planters became dissatisfied with the Chinese and in turn, many of them chose not to renew their work agreement. From 1887, a large number of laborers from the southern provinces of Japan began to arrive in Hawaii.

Several events followed: The Hawaiians felt that they were being pushed out of their land by the whites; the whites felt that their productivity kept the kingdom going; the orientals were negligible; the annexation in which Hawaii became a territory occurred in 1900; and,U.S. moved toward ending the admission of Oriental immigrants. Thus, Chinese were already barred from immigrating and more than likely, the Japanese would also be excluded. Thus, the planters responded by bringing in as many Japanese workers as they could before any ban might take effect. Between 1896-1907, more than 70,000 Japanese were imported. More laborers were needed in the sugar plantations and the newly established pineapple industries. In 1898, since the Philippines had fallen under the American flag in the war with Spain and there were no problems about bringing in Filipinos, another source of cheap labor was seen. Between 1907 and 1946, 120,000 Filipino workers were recruited.

Other groups that came in as laborers were: Portuguese starting in 1878; Puerto Ricans in 1901; Koreans in 1904; as well as a number of smaller groups from other countries.

Since 1989, two out of every three immigrants to the U.S. came from Mexico, the Philippines, Haiti, Korea, China, the Dominican Republic, India, Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Iran, Britain, ESalvador, Canada, and Laos. Immigrants from Haiti and Laos are fleeing violent political upheavals. People from Iran are leaving behind government repression. People from Mexico and the Philippines come to seek jobs and prosperous lives. Many Vietnamese refugees have settled in California and Arabs from the Middle East have settled in Michigan.

It has been estimated that by the end of this century, based on current immigration trends, the number of Americans who trace their ancestry to a white European will be in the minority for the first time in U.S. history. And by 2056, the "average"citizen will be a descendent of someone from Africa, Asia, Central and South America, the Pacific Islands, or the Middle East. In 1990, 23,000 immigrants a year were admitted to U.S. because of their job skills. Among those being favored are scientists, engineers, and medical technicians.

We continue to have people migrating to Hawaii. While walking through Chinatown one can see the "cultural markers" and the changes that have taken place over the years.