Ravensteins Laws of Migration By Carson Burick Who

Ravenstein’s “Laws” of Migration By: Carson Burick

Who is Ravenstein? • Ernst Georg Ravenstein was a German-English geographer cartographer. • Lived from 30 December 1834 – 13 March 1913 • Established a theory of human migration in the 1880’s • He called the list of these 11 rules the “Laws of Migration”

“Laws of Migration” • List of 11 “laws” for why people migrate • Were published between 1876 -1889 • Considered the implications of distance and different types of migrant • The laws can be organized into three groups: the reasons why migrants move, the distance they typically move, and their characteristics

Law #1 • The majority of migrants move only a short distance in any one migration. • In his time period, technology did not allow for migrants to travel far.

Law #2 • Migration proceeds step-by-step. • Migrants had to take multiply steps to migrate to the area they desired.

Law #3 • Each current of migration produces a counter current. • For every wave of migration, another wave is produced from the first wave.

Law #4 • Females are more migratory than males within the country of their birth, but males more frequently venture beyond that country boundary. • Women are more likely to migrate in the same country there already live in, but men are more likely to migrate outside of the country.

Law #5 • Most migrants are adults; families rarely migrate out of their country of birth. • It is hard for families with small children to migrate far outside of their country.

Law #6 • Migrants moving long distances generally go by preference to the great centers of commerce or industry. • Migrants that travel far want to make most of their trip by going to well developed industrial areas.

Law #7 • The natives of towns are less migratory than those of rural areas. • People living in towns/communities are less migratory because they already live in a community with a market and jobs and services.

Law #8 • Large towns grow more by migration than birth rate. • Large communities grow more because of migration and not because of natural rate of increase.

Law #9 • Migration increases as industries and commerce develop and transport improves. • It is easier for people to migrant with better transportation and better commerce is a pull factor for migrants.

Law #10 • The major direction of migration is from agricultural to industrial or commercial centers. • Most migrants are moving from farm areas to more developed cities and communities with industry and a bigger market.

Law #11 • The major cause of migration is economic reasons. • The biggest reason people migrate is because of economic instability or wanting to get to a more economic community with more opportunities in industry or the market place.