Migration

Abstract

The human population has always been mobile. During the hunting-and-gathering stage of societal evolution, frequent shifting of camp was necessary because within a few weeks of stay at a camp all fruits and roots nearby would have been gathered and the game would have been either hunted or frightened away to distant places. During the early stages of sedentary agriculture too, frequent moves were necessi­tated by the exhaustion of soil fertility resulting from repeated cultivation of the same area, requiring people to move in search of more fertile lands. Geographic mobility has of course accelerated with economic development and technological progress.