{ "title": "A Moving History", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/06/a-moving-history-ian-goldin", "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/06/a-moving-history-ian-goldin", "overlayPath": "/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/06/a-moving-history-ian-goldin/index.md", "summary": "Migration has propelled human progress for hundreds of thousands of years", "sections": [ { "heading": "Overview", "content": "- Thesis: Migration has propelled human progress for hundreds of thousands of years, enabling exchange of goods, ideas, technologies, and skills, while also producing violence and coerced movement.\n- Author: IAN GOLDIN, Professor of Globalisation and Development at Oxford University.\n- Article context: Draws on the author’s latest book, The Shortest History of Migration." }, { "heading": "Deep-time and early human migrations", "content": "- Key points:\n - Migration activity dates back at least 300,000 years.\n - About 65,000–70,000 years ago early humans ventured into the Middle East and then into Asia and Europe.\n - Before the end of the last ice age, over 25,000 years ago, humans crossed from Siberia into the Americas.\n - About 6,000 years ago in Eurasia, horses were domesticated; the wheel and cart followed, facilitating longer-distance movement and the transport of plants and animals.\n- Consequences:\n - Increasing encounters among distinct groups led to exchange of knowledge and technologies, and also to unequal encounters, conflict, invasion, and subjugation." }, { "heading": "Marketplaces, trade networks, and the virtuous spiral", "content": "- Dynamics:\n - Marketplaces and ports along trade routes became centers for pooling information, produce, and resources.\n - Expanding trade networks increased wealth and dynamism of anchor communities.\n - Resulting virtuous spiral: growing wealth → increased trade → further migration, exchange, and innovation." }, { "heading": "Pre-colonial and colonial encounters in the Americas", "content": "- Indigenous exchange:\n - Mesoamerican cultures shared knowledge on crop development, astronomy, and religion before European arrival.\n- European arrival impacts:\n - European contact carried guns and deadly pathogens; Indigenous peoples had little immunity, causing catastrophic losses.\n - Example: In 1519, ships with little more than 600 Spaniards landed on the coast of Mexico; within a century the 20 million inhabitants of the Aztec empire were reduced to just over a million, many through violence, but the majority from disease.\n - Extracted resources and riches were sent back to Europe, incentivizing further migration to the Americas." }, { "heading": "Columbian Exchange", "content": "- Nature: Irreversible cross-pollination of crops, animals, commodities, diseases, technologies, and ideas between the Americas and other continents beginning after 1492.\n- Transfers from the Americas included: tobacco, cacao, maize, potatoes, rubber, tomatoes, and vanilla.\n- Transfers to the Americas included: sugar, rice, wheat, coffee, onions, mangoes, bananas, apples, and citrus (many originating from Asia or Africa via Europe).\n- Animal introductions: Domesticated animals introduced by the Spaniards brought new food and transportation sources, including horseback riding.\n- Cultural impacts: Examples of culinary integration—beef and pork central in the Americas; the white “Irish” potato from the Andes became a European staple; modern Italian cuisine heavily influenced by the tomato." }, { "heading": "Slavery and coerced migration", "content": "- Historical record: Some of the earliest records testify to forced migration as slaves, serfs, or other unfree servitude.\n- Drivers: Power, coercion, territorial subjugation, and demand for arduous labor enabled slavery.\n- Scale and legacy:\n - European voyages of expansion set the stage for centuries of brutal exploitation of Indigenous African and other populations.\n - Slavery described as the most extreme version of coerced labor; the distinction between free and unfree employment is often blurred, with subtle differences among indentured or bonded labor." }, { "heading": "Age of mass migration (mid-19th century to 1914)", "content": "- Characteristics:\n - Unprecedented number of migrants and distances covered.\n - Drivers included unrest, pogroms, famines, opportunities in colonies, and advent of steam and rail reducing travel costs.\n - Millions of European migrants crossed the Atlantic to the Americas; comparable numbers moved across southern and central Asia and the Pacific.\n - Host governments often encouraged migration; abolition of slavery in Britain and its colonies in 1836 and in the United States in 1865 led governments and employers to attract voluntary migrants and indentured laborers.\n- Internal movements:\n - Until the 1890s, intra-European migration mirrored emigration numbers.\n - Industrial revolution spurred movement to cities and rural areas for mining and agriculture to supply growing urban centers." }, { "heading": "Nationalism, protectionism, and World War I", "content": "- Shifts:\n - Late-19th to early-20th century saw rising nationalism and economic protectionism; new rules sought to control movement.\n - World War I increased antipathy toward foreigners and ended the age of mass migration; states assumed the role of gatekeepers.\n- Policy instruments:\n - Identity cards and passports enabled nation-states to regulate entry, migrants’ access to jobs, and government support." }, { "heading": "World War II, decolonization, and mid-20th-century displacements", "content": "- Human costs and displacements:\n - World War II: in addition to 40 million civilians killed, at least 11 million refugees were outside their country of origin.\n- Postwar territorial changes:\n - 1947 partition of India and Pakistan led to about 18 million people being forced to move between the new territories—the largest and fastest migration in history.\n - In 1947, UN partitioned Palestine; by May 1948 Israel declared independence and its Jewish population had grown to about 1.2 million after hundreds of thousands migrated from Europe and elsewhere; many Palestinian-Arab residents were expelled or fled, creating a persistent refugee crisis.\n- Cold War and Soviet collapse:\n - The Soviet Union comprised 15 states and spanned roughly two and a half times the size of the US.\n - In 1991 the USSR collapsed; the 15 former Soviet republics reasserted independence (including Ukraine, the Baltic states, and Central Asian republics). Many ethnic Russians returned to Russia; millions moved between the former republics." }, { "heading": "Migration today: scale, shares, and trends", "content": "- Aggregate figures:\n - Number of migrants worldwide nearly doubled from 153 million in 1990 to 281 million in 2020 (the most recent year for which the UN has published its global tally).\n - As a share of the total population: 3.6 percent of recorded citizens were born in a different country in 2020; 30 years earlier it was 2.9 percent.\n- Demographic context:\n - Global population increases: from 2.5 billion in 1950 to 5.3 billion in 1990, to today’s 8 billion.\n - Projection: The world’s population is expected to approach 9.5 billion in the middle of this century, then fall to below current levels by the end of it.\n- Political and territorial changes affecting counts:\n - More than 50 new countries have appeared since World War II, changing internal movers into international migrants.\n- Return migration and motives:\n - Anywhere from a fifth to half of migrants return home or move to a third country within five years.\n - Reasons for return include having saved money, gained a qualification, settling to raise a family, or retiring.\n- Socioeconomic role:\n - In many poor communities, eldest sons or daughters are encouraged to migrate to support their families.\n - Refugees and forcibly displaced people tend to stay as close to home as possible to enable return when safe." }, { "heading": "Economic and cultural impacts", "content": "- Intellectual and entrepreneurial contributions:\n - In the United States, immigrants account for a disproportionately large share of intellectual leadership, from Nobel laureates and Oscar-winning directors to founders of unicorn start-ups valued at more than $1 billion.\n - Immigrants to the United Kingdom make up a third of authors awarded the Booker Prize.\n- Remittances and development:\n - Migrants send home over $1 trillion a year in remittances, exceeding aid and investment flows combined for many developing economies.\n - Return migrants often bring new skills and investment; entrepreneurs with time abroad have created notable emerging market firms (examples cited include Blue Mahoe Capital and GoTo)." }, { "heading": "Synthesis and concluding insight", "content": "- Enduring role: Migration has been central to human survival, adaptation, and progress—enabling innovation and cultural exchange while also producing conflict, coercion, and lasting inequalities.\n- Human element: Migrants’ willingness to take risks and make sacrifices has been crucial to the species’ resilience across history.\n\nContent based on: A Moving History, IAN GOLDIN, F&D Magazine, June 2025.\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- A Moving History\n - A Moving History (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n - A Moving History (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/06/a-moving-history-ian-goldin" } ], "bullets": [ "[Markdown version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/06/a-moving-history-ian-goldin/index.md)", "[Structured JSON version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/06/a-moving-history-ian-goldin/index.json)", "[Bundle manifest](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/06/a-moving-history-ian-goldin/bundle-manifest.json)", "Authors: IAN GOLDIN", "Published: June 2, 2025", "Thesis: Migration has propelled human progress for hundreds of thousands of years, enabling exchange of goods, ideas, technologies, and skills, while also producing violence and coerced movement.", "Author: IAN GOLDIN, Professor of Globalisation and Development at Oxford University.", "Article context: Draws on the author’s latest book, The Shortest History of Migration.", "Key points:", "Consequences:", "Dynamics:", "Indigenous exchange:", "European arrival impacts:", "Nature: Irreversible cross-pollination of crops, animals, commodities, diseases, technologies, and ideas between the Americas and other continents beginning after 1492.", "Transfers from the Americas included: tobacco, cacao, maize, potatoes, rubber, tomatoes, and vanilla.", "Transfers to the Americas included: sugar, rice, wheat, coffee, onions, mangoes, bananas, apples, and citrus (many originating from Asia or Africa via Europe).", "Animal introductions: Domesticated animals introduced by the Spaniards brought new food and transportation sources, including horseback riding.", "Cultural impacts: Examples of culinary integration—beef and pork central in the Americas; the white “Irish” potato from the Andes became a European staple; modern Italian cuisine heavily influenced by the tomato.", "Historical record: Some of the earliest records testify to forced migration as slaves, serfs, or other unfree servitude.", "Drivers: Power, coercion, territorial subjugation, and demand for arduous labor enabled slavery.", "Scale and legacy:", "Characteristics:", "Internal movements:", "Shifts:", "Policy instruments:", "Human costs and displacements:", "Postwar territorial changes:", "Cold War and Soviet collapse:", "Aggregate figures:", "Demographic context:", "Political and territorial changes affecting counts:", "Return migration and motives:", "Socioeconomic role:", "Intellectual and entrepreneurial contributions:", "Remittances and development:", "Enduring role: Migration has been central to human survival, adaptation, and progress—enabling innovation and cultural exchange while also producing conflict, coercion, and lasting inequalities.", "Human element: Migrants’ willingness to take risks and make sacrifices has been crucial to the species’ resilience across history.", "**A Moving History**" ], "related": [ { "title": "A Moving History", "role": "document", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2025/06/goldin.pdf", "summary": { "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2025/06/goldin.pdf.md", "mime": "text/markdown" }, "binary": { "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2025/06/goldin.pdf", "mime": "application/pdf" } } ], "alternates": { "markdown": "/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/06/a-moving-history-ian-goldin/index.md", "json": "/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/06/a-moving-history-ian-goldin/index.json", "bundleManifest": "/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/06/a-moving-history-ian-goldin/bundle-manifest.json" }, "generatedAtUtc": "2026-09-15T19:48:38.269Z" }