Figure 1.--Here we see an Algerian refugee boy in 1962. At the time, The French had agreed to withdraw from Algeria, but large numbers of Algerians had fled to Tunisua and Morocco because of the fighting. The Swedish press caption read, "En algerisk flyktingpojke. Röda korset har startat en ny aktion för att intensifiera hjälpen till de algeriska flyktingarna. I Algeriet finns inte mindre ån militära skäl under de sju årens krig flyttats från sina hem, ryckts ur sin miljö och lever under ytterst svåra förållanden. I grannländerna Marocko och Tunisien lever 300.000 algeriska flyktingar. Nöden, är stor, dessa människor behövor vår hjälp. *maner Röda korset." That means something like. " An Algerian Refugee Boy: The Red Cross has started a new campaign to intensify assistance to the Algerian refugees. In Algeria, there are no less than military reasons during the Seven Years' War moved from their homes, uprooted from their environment and living under extremely difficult conditions. In neighboring Morocco and Tunisia live 300,000 Algerian refugees. Necessity, is great, these people require our help. Source: Red Cross." While the Algerians in Tunisia and Morocco received help, the Algerians who aided the French and the French who tried to stay in Algeria and had to leave Algeria received very little assistabce.

Here the refugee story varies on a geographical basis and is affected by geography. The Middle East and North Africa is the first region where we have found evidence of refugees. They would be the Jews Moses led out of Egypt. A few centuries later the Babylonian captivity and the return to Palestine were other refugees. We know the Assyrians and Babylonians took similar actions against other people who, however, did not leave a chronicle of their experinces. Another refugee group were the Muslims and Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal (1490s). Most were taken in by North Africans, especially Morocco, amd oher areas of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey during World War I launched its Armenia genocide. Some Armenians survived as refugees. In more recent times, the Arab-Israeli conflict created both Arab and Jewish refugees. And Islamic radicalism has created both Muslim and Christian refugees in both Iraq and Syria. We know most about refugees in Europe. We suspect that this may be because we are most familiar with European history. Whether Europe has more of a history of refugees at least until after World War II we are not sure. But we know more about them. The Germans as well as the Celts before them appear to have been driven west by war-like Steppe tribes. The Jews expelled by the Romans from Palestine were refugees settling mostly in the Roman Empire (1st century AD). Bzantines fleeing the Ottomans brought with them classical works and help park the Renaisance (14th century). The Jews and Muslims expelled by Spain and Portugal settled within the Ottoman Emppire, escpecially Morocco, loosely controlled by the Ottomans (1490s). The first great wave emigration in modern Europe occurred during the Religious wars (16th century). The French expelled the Hugnoughts. The Germans expelled the anabaptists. And the Pilgrims escaped from England and the grasp of the established church. The Scotts and Irish might be considered refugees from Britain. The Jews were driven by the Tsars from their empire, many seeking refuge in America. European emigrants to America were nostly economic refugees, but their were poolitical refugees, especially after the 1848 reviolutions. The real refugee wave came in the 20yth century with various groups fleeing genocide and totalurarian oppression. Some Russiana were able to flle the Soviet Union in the early years, but generally totalitarian powers created barriers to refugees, seeking to restrict details on their ipresive refimes from leaking out. Many Russians after the Bolshevik Revolution were unable to flee or Poles after the NAZIs and Soviets invaded and occupied their country. We know little about Latin America. The major refugees are Cubans and others fleeing Communism. The large numbers of Hispanics fleeing Mexico and other countries are economic immigrants. Ironically once in America, many Hispanics favor many of the same policies that created the conditions they fled from. We do not know much about African refugees until the post-World War II De-colonization process. The resulting wars, tribal conlicts, Islamic extreemism, and oppresive leaders have created large numbers of refugees, in some cases huge numbers. The Congo has been especially troubled. Tragic genocides have occurred in Rawanda and Darfur. Asia is the most populace continent. The largest refugee crisis resulted from the partition of the British Raj and the creation of India and Palistan (1947). Potentially the largest refugee crisis could have been China after the Communist seizure of power (1948), but China managed to prevent many from escaping as did North Korea. Some refugees managed to escape Cambodia and Vietnam.

Africa

Migrations and regugee flows occurred in Africa long before the arrival of the Europeans. The people involved were pre-literate and as a result there is no historical record. We know that the technologically advanced Bantu people migrated out of West Africa. The less advanced people like the pygmies in Central Africa and San people of South Africa were driven into marginal land. Anthropologists have devloped some information, but there us no historical record. The slave trade is not precisely a refugee flow, but the captured Africans share some of the chrcteristics of refugees. It was a massive flow of people, affecting both Africa and the areas to which the slaves were trasported. Most attention is given to the European Trans-Atlantic slave trade to the Americas. There was also an important Arab slave trade to the Mddle East and North Africa. During the colonial period, we note Africans appearing in Europe seeking both jobs and education, but in relatively small numbers. Many of early African nationalist leaders in both Africa and Asia during the de-Colonization era had European experiences and more limited merican experiences. We do not know much about African refugees until the post-World War II De-colonization process. The resulting wars, tribal conlicts, Islamic extreemism, and oppresive leaders have created large numbers of refugees, in some cases huge numbers. Congo has been especially troubled. The first major refugee crisis which actually continues to this day. A genocide in Rawanda and Darfur have been especially tragic. Africans fleeing the poverty and chaos in many countries have joined the Middle Eastern flow into Europe in recent years. This often is very dangerous given the geography and terraine as well as the fact that many are Christians traveling thoriugh Muslim countries.

America, Latin

Europeans encountered much more sopisticalted Native American peoples in Meso-America and South America than the English and French in North America. (Meso-America is gepgraphically part of North America, but for organizational purposes it makes more sense to treat the region under the cultural rubric of Latin America.) The indigenous population, however, was decimated by the same European diseases that killed so many North American Native Americans. The region was primarily settled by the Portuguese and Spanish with a more complicated settlemebt in the Caribbean. This mean that the felicitious mixture of democracy and capitalism that helped that helped turn North America into an economic powerhouse did not occur in Latin America. The history and economy in Latin America varies from contry, but nowhere in the region do we see the economic or cultural success generated in North America (both the United States and Canada). he result has been a massive immigrant flow (legal and illegal) from the region. At first it was primarily from neighboring Mexico, but has expanded to Central America, the Caribbean, and South America as well. These are mostly economic refugees. There are amaller number of political refugees. The major political refugees are Cubans and others fleeing Communism. Ironically once in America, many Hispanics favor many of the same policies that created the conditions they fled from.

America, North

North America is the only world region that has not generated any meaningful refugee flows. Rather it has been the most importnt region welcoming both political refugees and economic migrants which are often difficult to differentiate. France which sent few refugess to meica recognized this by donating thStatue of Linerty which stands in New York harbor. There are several reasons for this. There are several reasons for this one way flow. First North America was only very lightly settled. Actually the population was higher than the French and English settlers and explores encountered because European diseases decimated Natiove American populations before substantial settlement began. There is not precise accounting as to what the Native American population was before substantial settlement began (17th century). And Native Americans were essentially a stone-age people only minimally using the available resources and thus not able to effective resist European settlement. The Native Americans who migrated or were forcibly removed west might be considered rfugees. Of corse 21st century ethics puts this all in a negative light, but it should be remembered that there was extensive inra-tribal warfare with stronger tribes preying on weaker tribes. Another factor in the refugee flow into North America is that the continent even before the Revolution was dominated by the English. And the resulting political, economic, and cultral patterns essentially established a modern system (political democracy and economic capitalism) for harnassing the energies of the population and available untapped resources. The result was there has been no significant refugee flow out of North America. There have been a few isolated instances of small groups or individuals. The British resettle small numbers of French settlers (the Arcadians) during the French and Indian Wars. The American Revolutionary War was in many ways a civil war. Some Loyalists fled America durung and after the Revolution. The only important organized effort was the Ante-Bellum Abolitionist attempt to resettle freed slaves in Africa (Liberia). It proved unsuccesful because not that many freed blacks wanted to return to Africa. And the cost of buying freedom for sevral million slaves would have been enormous. A small nber of Condferates settled in Mexico and Brazil after the Civil War. And a small number of individual African Americans moved to Europe after World War I (Josephine Baker and Paul Robinson).

Asia

Asia is the most populace continent. We know very little about Asian political refugees and economic migrants until the 20th century. And their were huge dislocations such as the Taiping Rebellion (1850s-60s) in southerm China resulting in 20-30 million deaths. Famine has been another cause leading to refugee crises. Unlike Europeans, there was no where to go to in large numbers. We note some Chinese and Japanese migration in the 19th century. They were mostly economic migrants. The Chinese migrated to California beginning with the Gold Rush (1848). The Japanese migrated mostly to Hawaii before it was annxed by the United States. Smaller numbers migrated to California. Indians during the Raj migrated to various locations within the Britih Empire to work as indentured laborers. Millions of Chinese fled the Japanese invaders during World War II, but mostly to areas in China under Nationalist control. Than after the Communist victory, many Chinese fled to Taiwan (1949). Another large refugee crisis in Asia resulted from the partition of the British Raj and the creation of India and Pakistan (1947). Potentially the largest refugee crisis would have been China after the Communist seizure of power (1948), but China managed to prevent many people from escaping as did North Korea. And no one wanted to accept millions of Chinese refugees, not even Taiwan. India has accepted Tibetians fleeing Chinese oppression in their Homeland (1959). Since the 1962 Chinese-Indian border war (1962), however, India has been very careful to avoid offending China. Muslim Thais have fled south into Malaysia. The French in the First Viernam War enabled some North Vietnamese to escape Communist domintion, mostly Catholics (1953-54). The North Vietnamese victory in the Second Vietnam War created another refugee crisis (1975). A few peiole made it out with the Americans. Tragically there was no safe option for most leading to the tragedy of the Boat People. The Kymer Rouge genocid in Cambodia created yet another refugee crisis.

Europe

We know most about refugees in Europe. We suspect that this may be because we are most familiar with European history. Whether Europe has more of a history of refugees at least until after World War II we are not sure. But we know more about them. The Germans as well as the Celts before them appear to have been driven west by war-like Steppe tribes. The Jews expelled by the Romans from Palestine were refugees settling mostly in the Roman Empire (1st century AD). Bzantines fleeing the Ottomans brought with them classical works and help park the Renaisance (14th century). The Jews and Muslims expelled by Spain and Portugal settled within the Ottoman Emppire, escpecially Morocco, loosely controlled by the Ottomans (1490s). The first great wave emigration in modern Europe occurred during the Religious wars (16th century). The French expelled the Hugnoughts. The Germans expelled the anabaptists. And the Pilgrims escaped from England and the grasp of the established church. The Scotts and Irish might be considered refugees from Britain. The Jews were driven by the Tsars from their empire, many seeking refuge in America. European emigrants to America were nostly economic refugees, but their were poolitical refugees, especially after the 1848 reviolutions. The real refugee wave came in the 20th century with various groups fleeing genocide and totalurarian oppression. Some Russiana were able to flle the Soviet Union in the early years, but generally totalitarian powers created barriers to refugees, seeking to restrict details on their ipresive refimes from leaking out. Many Russians after the Bolshevik Revolution were unable to flee or Poles after the NAZIs and Soviets invaded and occupied their country. There were refugees as a result of World War II, but World War II created the greatest rfugee crisis in European history. In the Cold War there were only limited refugee crises. Not that people did not want to flee the Communists. The first Cold war refugeecrisis was the Greek Civil War. Only when the Soviet Iron Curtin was pierced suvh s the Hungarian Rvolution did refugees appear. Another was West Brlin until the Berlin Wall webt up. After the Cold War a major efugee crisis occured in the former Yugoslavia, but was in effect a Cold War artifact. Europe experienced a major refugee crisis as a result crisis as a result of theur failure to confront Islamic extremism and President Obama's ineffectul forign policy. Combined with the ongooing migration crisis fedby economis faolure in the Middle East and Africa. It is causing a major crisis in the Europan Union beginning with the 2016 Brexit vote.

Middle East and North Africa

The Middle East and North Africa is the first region where we have found evidence of refugees. They would be the Jews Moses led out of Egypt. A few centuries later the Babylonian captivity and the return to Palestine were other refugees. We know the Assyrians and Babylonians took similar actions against other people who, however, did not leave a chronicle of their experinces. Another refugee group were the Muslims and Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal (1490s). Most were taken in by North Africans, especially Morocco, amd oher areas of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey during World War I launched its Armenia genocide. Some Armenians survived as refugees. In more recent times, the Arab-Israeli conflict created both Arab and Jewish refugees. And Islamic radicalism has created both Muslim and Christian refugees in both Iraq and Syria as well as the wider region. Europe as a esult is experiencing a major refugee crisis. Part of the problem is Europe's failure to confront Islamic extremism and President Obama's ineffectul forign policy. Combined with the ongoing migration crisis fed by economis failure in the Middle East and Africa. It is causing a major crisis hich eventually may affect the very existence of the Europan Union beginning with the British Brexit vote (2016). The refugee flow has launched a major debate within Europe. Russia simply prohibits Middle Eastern migrants. Eastern Europeans tend to object to EU rules that allow the free movement of Middle Eastern migrants once they enter the EU. Western Europens have been much more welcoming. Any one with a heart can not help but be moved with he plight of these people. The problem is that the culture that the migrants bring with them is what has caused the violence that is tearing apart Middl Eastern countries. It is not that the refugees themselves are violent, although there are insrances of Muslim refugees attacking and killing Christian refugees. And terrorists such as ISIS veterans are slipping into Europe under the refugee guise. And the Eropean media tend to capture images of child and women refugees rather than the young men who make up most of the immigrant flow. %he vast percentages of the refuges are innocent victims. That said, many of the refuges do not share core Western values of democracy, free spech, tolration, women's rights, and diversity. We know this that in the few instances that free elections are held in Muslim countris, religious parties tend to win. Th qustion arises, does Europe have a right to engorce borders and to reject peoplw which do not share its central values. Somev beliece that it does. Other brand people who express these sentiments as xenephobic or Islamophobic.

Oceania

Oeaninia was populated by a combination of Meomesians migrating into the South Pacific (Australia and New Guinea at a time when sea levls were lower. Seafaring Polnesians populated islands farther out into the Pacific. There has been no major refugee flow even during the Pacific War. After the War, the Japananese in th Maraiabas were rpatrited to Japan. Sme Filipinos hace sought economic oportunity in other countries. Some Indoinesians fled to the Netherlnds after indepndence (1949). Samoans have migrated to New Zeland again for economic opportunity. They may be called economic migrants rather than refugees, but difference between the two is rather blurred.

Created: 8:43 PM 1/5/2017
Last updated: 2:17 PM 2/20/2018