Concept and Classes

 Concept

Emigration is a social, economical and political phenomena at the same time, consistent in the voluntary abandonment of its country by the individual, the family, or a sum of them, to leave and settle in another established State or country, with or without intentions of returning.

As it is understood by this definition the concept of emigration and immigration are inseparable, since all departures of individuals or families from one country, produces the entrance of the same into another or other countries. Internal emigration is within the state from one region to another, from the countryside to the cities etc, from agriculture to industries. This has given place to a serious problem of absenteeism  resulting in: the lack of manpower, agricultural delay and agglomeration within the cities.

 Classes

Many are the classes of exterior emigration that can be distinguished. The most interesting are:

A) By the "social nature "of the entities that emigrate which can be of individuals,  families  or communities.  The emigration of families is far greater in social importance, than the individuals, because the live and reproductive cell of new individuals and families is uprooted from the country that endures it.

B) That the emigration be  of "definite or temporary" status

1. Nationals that  leave their country without abandoning their nationality during a certain time of the year, in which they cannot find employment there, or if they are employed, their wages are insufficient and are not able to support themselves.

2. To them that , without neither abandoning their nationality, or changing it for that of the country to which they transfer, return to their original country forced by certain unfortunate conditions or on the contrary, when they have gained a fortune that would permit them to live in comfort. The truth regarding  emigration is represented only by the excessive number of those that leave versus those who return.

C) By the "sex" of the emigrants...the men exceed the women.

D) By the "age" of the same emigrants, whether it be children, youths or adults. The elders do not emigrate, only on a seldom occasion when the whole family emigrates. The reason for this  is explained by their diminishing energy due to age, and  psychological attachment to their native country. Emigration can be fatal for the children on account of the change of climate, of nutrition, etc.

E) According to the "profession or position," is the emigration agricultural, or of farmers, laborers or of industry, professional or of
workers, individuals dedicated to liberal professions.

F) By the "country", to which the emigrants are directed to, there is emigration to countries of the same race, countries of distinct races, of the same language or distinct language, of the same or of distinct religion,
etc.

G) Finally, emigration of "unmarried and married," of natural and of naturalized, according to whether or not, the emigration accommodates the rules dictated by the Country, which undergoes it.

Causes of Emigration

They are not the same in each case. They are classified as: Economical, Political, Religious, Geographical and  Propaganda. Common to all of them, (save for exceptional cases) it is the desire for a better future, of an easy life, which constitutes the final pursuit by the emigrant upon expatriating. Desire on some occasions can also be the cause of emigration, above all dealing with enterprising individuals that seek for its activity a broader field, than what their native land can offer.

Economic Causes

The means of existence is insufficiently figured, that obligates a part of the population of a country to seek employment elsewhere. This insufficiency can proceed from:

1) Excess of population in relation with the possible wealth or the actual wealth of the country. This last one constitutes the economic common denominator of the causes of emigration in the different epochs of History, with the only difference that in the ancient times, emigration took place by masses, (Aryans, Semites, Barbarians), that abandoned by masses the lands in which they were settling to occupy others that were more fertile and rich.

2) Of the country's bad economic organization (excessive subdivision of the property, burdensome taxes, usury, lack of transportation, industrial protection defect.

3) Of certain calamities like floods, droughts, earthquakes, economic crisis, scarcity and all  causes that generate  poverty. Ireland exasperated by the exigencies of the Landlords and oppressed by hunger, resulted in masses of the Irish by the millions, emigrating to the United States as of 1847.

Political Causes

Agitations, revolutions and reactions, persecutions against the enemies of the newly installed regime, everything which makes intolerable for certain categories of people, their permanence in the native land. The English revolution produced the immigration to Spain and France of numerous Catholics and English monarchists, that definitively settled down in those countries .The French
Revolution produced a great emigration as well. For partly religious and political causes, the Russian Mennonites emigrated. The alternatives of liberalism and realism that covered Spain in blood and upheavals during the XIX century, caused emigrations of political Spaniards. Although this may not properly be of political character, it can be included in the group of causes of  emigration, the desire to keep away from the military service, which deprives France every year of many thousands of men that go to Uruguay and the Republic of Argentina. The emigrant movement by this cause, is greater when the country is engaged in a war. The true motive is not found in these cases in the military service, neither in the war, but in the loss of moral energies and the anti-militarists that have developed in these latest times, above all in the Latin American countries, in which the emigration by this cause is
incomparably greater than in the German countries.

Religious Causes

They are intimately bounded with the political, and are presently as important as in previous times. In France a large emigration was produced as a consequence of the revocation of the Nantes Edict, (some 70,000 industrialists emigrated). Protestantism also resulted in emigration from Europe. In our times, the secularized laws dictated by France have been the cause of numerous individuals abandoning the French soil.

Geographical 

The "Geographical Position" of the countries, also influenced the emigration movement. It is observed that the European countries that have many coast-lines and are joined with America by regular steamship lines are the ones that provide a greater quota  to emigration. The relationship established between the countries of emigration and of immigration, by public institutions or private businesses, that favor emigration and welcome immigration, are a powerful reason for the increase of the first one.

Propaganda

 The "propaganda", which  many times is deceitful by agents and businesses, that are not all scrupulous, the promises and offers "that create illusions," the example of a few that return wealthy, has misled  many emigrants to embrace the deception without reasoning, thus succumbing to the clutches of abandonment and poverty. These agents provoke the desire to wealth improvement, causing the emigrant to decide and leave it's native land.  Many of these emigrants  lack the necessary funds to support themselves and are totally unprepared for the life of difficulty to which they will partake of.


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