Diaspora

For the science fiction novel by Greg Egan, see Diaspora (novel).

The term: diaspora (in Greek, διασπορά – "a scattering or sowing of seeds") is used (without capitalization) to refer to any people or ethnic population forced or induced to leave their traditional ethnic homelands; being dispersed throughout other parts of the world, and the ensuing developments in their dispersal and culture.

In the beginning, the term Diaspora (capitalized) was used by the Ancient Greeks to refer to citizens of a grand city who migrated to a conquered land with the purpose of colonization to assimilate the territory into the empire. The original meaning was cut off from the present meaning when the Old Testament was translated to Greek, the word diaspora was used to refer specifically to the populations of Jews exiled from Judea in 586 BC by the Babylonians, and Jerusalem in AD 136 by the Roman Empire. This term is used interchangeably to refer to the historical movements of the dispersed ethnic population of Israel, the cultural development of that population, or the population itself. The probable origin of the word is the Septuagint version of Deuteronomy 28:25, "thou shalt be a dispersion in all kingdoms of the earth". The term was assimilated from Greek into English in the late 20th century.

The academic field of diaspora studies was established in the late twentieth century, in regard to the expanded meaning of 'diaspora'.

History is replete with diaspora-like events. The Migration Period relocations, which included several phases is just one of many. The first phase Migration Period displacement from between AD 300 and 500 included relocation of the Goths, (Ostrogoths, Visigoths), Vandals, Franks, various Germanic tribes, (Burgundians, Langobards, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Suebi, Alamanni, Varangians), Alans and numerous Slavic tribes. The second phase, between AD 500 and 900, saw Slavic, Turkic, and other tribes on the move, re-settling in Eastern Europe and gradually making it predominantly Slavic, and affecting Anatolia and the Caucasus as the first Turkic peoples (Avars, Bulgars, Huns, Khazars, Pechenegs) arrived. The last phase of the migrations saw the coming of the Magyars and the Viking expansion out of Scandinavia.

The twentieth century continued to see massive ethnic refugee crises, due to war and the rise of nationalism, fascism, communism and racism, as well as from natural disasters and economic collapse. The first half of the twentieth century saw the creation of hundreds of millions of ethnic refugees across Europe, Asia, and northern Africa. Many of these refugees who did not die from starvation or war went to the Americas.

List of notable diasporas

• The Acadian Diaspora or Great Expulsion (Grand Dérangement) occurred when the British expelled ~10,000 Acadians (over three-fourths of the Acadian population in Nova Scotia) between 1755 and 1764. The British sent members of the same community to different colonies to impose assimilation.
• Afghan people who fled their country throughout the 20th century and the long civil wars, especially to nearby Pakistan, India and Iran.
• The African diaspora comprises the indigenous peoples of Africa and their descendants (informally known as "black people"), wherever they are in the world beyond the African continent. (see African Americans for blacks in the United States, Afro-Caribbeans and Afro-Latin Americans).
• Arabs who have migrated out from the Arab World, and now reside in Western Europe, the Americas, Australia and elsewhere. (see Arab diaspora, Lebanese and Syrians).
• Armenians living in their ancient homeland, which had been controlled by the Ottoman Empire for centuries, fled persecution and massacres during several periods of forced emigration, from the 1880s to the 1910s. Many Armenians settled in the US (the majority live in the state of California), France, Iran, Lebanon, Russia and Syria. (see Armenian Diaspora).
• Australian diaspora, 3 million Australian expatriates live outside of Australia, mostly consists of business executives, and retirees sought a new place to live. There are large Australian communities in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and North America (esp. the United States), and smaller groups in Europe, Africa (esp. South Africa), the Middle East (esp. United Arab Emirates), east and south Asia (esp. Thailand), and Latin America.
• Basque diaspora, Basques who left the Basque Country, usually to the Americas for economic or political reasons. There are also Basque Catholic missionaries.
• Bosnian diaspora as a phenomenon appeared after four years of planned ethnic cleansing in Bosnia (1991-96). It mainly consists of Bosnian Muslims but also out of Bosnian Croats, Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian-Jewish people, Bosnian-Albanian people and Bosnian-Roma people. People from Bosnia can be found almost anywhere in the world. Many Bosnians live in USA, mostly in large cities like New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Massachusetts, and Los Angeles, California; and many Bosnians live in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, and many other places. (see people of former Yugoslavia).
• Chechens who fled Chechnya during the late 20th century (1994-99)insurrection against Russia.
• Cherokees, a Native American tribe indigenous to the Southeastern United States, whose official tribal organization is Cherokee Nation based in the state of Oklahoma, US, which has 800,000 members as of 2005. However, anthropological and genetic experts in Native American studies has said there can be over one million more Cherokee descendants scattered across North America, and possibly the Cherokee in low numbers, might emigrated to Europe, Latin America and east Asia. The beginnings of the Cherokee diaspora was from their forced removal in the Trail of Tears, then thousands of "Americanized" Cherokee farmers invited to settle across the Americas in the late 19th century, and the era when Cherokees enlisted in the US army from world wars I and II, and the Korean and Vietnam wars in the mid 20th century, when thousands of American GIs married Asian and European war brides to have children/grandchildren.
• Chinese diaspora, over 50 million live worldwide. The largest overseas Chinese communities are in Asia. Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam and Myanmar (in descending order of ethnic Chinese population size) have at least 1 million ethnic Chinese each. Two countries outside Asia, namely the United States (esp. States of California, Hawaii, New York and Washington State) and Canada (Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver) have populations over 1 million in size. Other sizeable communities may be found in Japan, Cambodia, Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, each with over 100,000 ethnic Chinese.
• Circassians who fled Circissia - Kabardey, Cherkes, Adigey Republics and Shapsug Area]] 1864 The Darkest Day of Circassian nation .... Exiled 90% of Circassians are by Russian Colonialists to Ottoman Empire or imperial Turkey ... The Circassian Diaspora is over 4 million all over the world, with large Circassian communities in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Romania, Syria, Russia as well the former USSR, and 100,000 Circassians in North America (the US and Canada).
• Colombian diáspora, Over 5 million Colombians, either displaced by war, left for economic opportunity, and placed in exile to avoid political persecution. The Colombian diaspora lives across the Americas (i.e. the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, and South American nations), and across Europe (i.e. Spain, France, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom).
• Crimean Tatar diaspora, formed after the annexation of the Crimean Khanate by Russia, in 1783.
• Cuban diaspora The exodus of over two million Cubans (the largest community is in Miami, Florida, US) following the Cuban Revolution and the resulting Communist government in power of Cuba under general-president Fidel Castro since 1959. (See Cuban Americans).
• Dutch diaspora, the Dutch originally came from the Netherlands (also are called Nederlanders) and their related ethnolinguistic group, the Flemings of Belgium and smaller numbers in Northernmost parts of France. Millions of Dutch descendants live in the United States (Dutch American), Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, India (Sri Lanka), Africa (Zaire when it was the Belgian Congo until 1960), the Caribbean (Aruba and Netherlands Antilles which is officially Dutch territory), and South America (Suriname formerly was Dutch until independence in 1975, but Dutch descendants are found in Brazil and Argentina). The 4 million white (European) Afrikaaners of South Africa are descendants of Dutch, French Huegenot and German settlers brought over to the colonial Dutch East India company in the 16th century (see South African diaspora).
• The French Canadian diaspora includes hundreds of thousands of people who left Quebec for "greener pastures" in the United States (most went to New England states of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont), Ontario and the Prairies, between 1840 and the 1930s. But since the 1970's Florida, and the Southeastern United States, had a large French Canadian community made up of retired senior citizens.
• The German diaspora. An estimated 100 million ethnic Germans originally from the historic German-speaking homeland of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and includes parts of Belgium, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. In World War II, the Soviets expelled over 10 million ethnic Germans from the Sudetenland,Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) and former German provinces which were annexed by Poland, Slovakia and the former USSR (Belarus). In the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, millions of Germans fled German lands specially to the Americas (i.e. the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Panama and Venezuela) in the 19th and 20th century. Other smaller German communities in Africa or the Middle East (Egypt, Israel, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania), east Asia or Oceania (China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia and New Zealand), and across the former Soviet Union (i.e. Kazakhstan).
  • The Heimatvertriebene, the ethnic German refugees and expellees from Eastern Europe and from provinces of the former German Reich during and following World War II, see Oder-Neisse line by a 1955 peace treaty, mostly settled in then Communist-ruled East Germany (1949-89) now Germany.
  • Mennonites, a Christian religious sect based on the 16th and 17th century Anabaptist movement in Germany and Switzerland in the Protestant Reformation, went extinct in Europe by the late 18th century. Various groups of Mennonites had to migrate to the Americas to find religious freedom. In North America, the old order Amish, Hutterites and Dunkerites in the Northern and midwestern United States like the State of Pennsylvania, and Western Canada live apart from the mainstream world out of voluntary choice. There is a Mennonite colony in Paraguay, South America and there are over a million Mennonite adherents worldwide.
• The Greek diaspora refers to any ethnic Greek populations living outside the borders of Greece and Cyprus as a result of modern or ancient migrations. There is a Department of Diaspora Affairs in the Greek government. Millions of Greeks live in North America (the US and Canada), Africa, Australia, the Asian continent, across Europe and the Middle East.
• The Hungarian diaspora, lives in numerous communities across Europe, former USSR, North America and Australia. Historic Hungary extended into parts of Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia and the Ukraine. For over 300 years, either they migrated west for economic opportunities or as political refugees, such as the failed Hungarian coup of 1956 against the Communist government, when over 500,000 Hungarians fled the country for asylum in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Brazil.
• The Irish diaspora consists of Irish emigrants and their descendants in countries such as the United States (see Irish Americans), the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, South Africa, and nations of the Caribbean and continental Europe, where small but vibrant Irish communities continue to exist. The diaspora contains over 80 million people and it is the result of mass migration from Ireland, due to past famines and political oppression. The term first came widely into use in Ireland in the 1990s when the then-President of Ireland, Mary Robinson began using it to describe all those of Irish descent. Notable people of the global Irish diaspora are United States president John F. Kennedy and Mexican president Vicente Fox are of part-Irish descent.
• The Italian diaspora occurred after the unification of Italy in 1861. Vast numbers of Italians (and Sicilians) emigrated to Brazil, the United States (see Italian Americans), Canada, Argentina, Australia, and elsewhere in the Americas (i.e. Chile, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela), Europe (i.e. The UK, Malta, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden), smaller numbers of Italians went to Israel and South Africa, and Italian communities once thrived until the mid 20th century (Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey). See also Sicily and Sicilian.
• The Japanese diaspora. Brazil (see Japanese Brazilian), the United States (see Japanese Americans), Peru, Australia and Canada are the countries with the largest numbers of Japanese people outside Japan. The Japanese population used to have nicknames to indicate generational levels "Issei"-foreign born parents, "Nisei"-1st generation born outside Japan or children, and "Sansei"-2nd generation born outside Japan or grandchildren.
• The Jewish diaspora in its historical use, refers to the period between the Roman invasion and subsequent occupation of Land of Israel beginning 70 CE, to the establishment of Israel in 1948. In modern use, the 'Diaspora' refers to Jews living outside of the Jewish state of Israel today. There is a 'Ministry of Diaspora Affairs' in the Israeli government, for example. Not all Jews, though, regard themselves as part of a diaspora community.
• Koreans, a people from the Korean peninsula located between China and Japan. The first wave of Korean diaspora was during the intensely brutal Japanese colonial occupation (1910-1945), the peace treaty division of the Korean peninsula into two republics, the Korean War (1950-53) produced a wave of millions of war refugees, fled to the US, Canada, China, Japan, the Philippines, South Vietnam until 1975, and the USSR, now Russia. Today, Korea remains a politically divided geographic unit. South Korea was under military rule 1953-1987, now a civilian democracy, but economic problems and a sense for adventure made over 500,000 South Koreans emigrate to the US and Canada, and 100,000 more to Europe, Australia and South America (i.e. Chile and Argentina). North Korea remains under an isolationist military state under Communism since 1948, while millions of political refugees fled to nearby China for freedom in the late 20th century.
• The Lithuanian diaspora, the majority of them live in North America (Canada and the US) and Northwest Europe (France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands), but are scattered across Russia and the former USSR.
• Mexican Americans, over 20 million Mexicans from recent immigrants (many entered the US illegally for economic reasons) to a small percentage of third to fifth-generation Americans of Spanish or post-1900 Mexican descent in the United States. The majority of Mexican Americans live especially in the Western US that borders with Mexico, in which the area formerly belonged to Mexico from 1821-1850. Also known by other ethnic self-titles, like Chicanos, Hispanos, La Raza, Tejanos (Texas), Californios and NuevoMexicanos.
• Moravian Church, has a nickname "the Moravian Diaspora" named from a religious, not ethnic identity, named for its' foundation in the province of Moravia, now in the Czech Republic. After the 16th and 17th century religious persecution drove the majority base of church membership to other countries, and by the late 18th and 19th centuries, the Moravian church manage to grow, thrive and survive. There are tens of millions of Moravian church members in small communities of: Europe (i.e. the Netherlands), the Americas (i.e. the United States), Africa (i.e. South Africa), east Asia (i.e. South Korea), the Indian subcontinent (India), and Oceania (i.e. Australia).
• Palestinians who fled Palestine during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the 1967 Arab-Israeli War (see Palestinian exodus, Palestinian refugees and Israeli-occupied territories).
• "Polonia", the diaspora of the Poles, started with the emigrations after the partitions of Poland, January Uprising and the November Uprising, enlarged by the Nazi policies, and later by the establishment of the Curzon line. Historic Poland extended into nearby countries: Belarus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine. For over 600 years, large waves of Polish emigres, refugees and guest workers moved across Europe, established themselves in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. 19th and 20th century Polish immigration extended into the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Israel and Australia, as well across the former USSR. See also Polish Americans for the tens of millions of Polish descent in the USA.
• The Portuguese diaspora. Their main countries are in Europe: Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK. Former Portuguese African and Asian colonies (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, India, Macau, Mozambique, Sao Tome y Principe, Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste). Portuguese settled the country of Brazil in Latin America, but Portuguese colonies and communities in the western hemisphere: Argentina, Canada, the Caribbean islands, Chile, Guyana, Hawaii, Mexico, Panama, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela are well noted. See also Portuguese Americans for the diaspora in the United States.
• Puerto Rican diaspora started during the first half of Twentieth Century and has become a subject often studied in colleges, because of Puerto Ricans who achieved success in the United States.
• The Romanian diaspora represents the large communties of Romanians lving outside Romania, most of them in Western Europe, USA, Canada or South America, and left their country mostly after the Romanian Revolution of 1989 estimated to be around 8 million [1].
• The White Russian diaspora, named for the Russians and Belarussians who left Russia (the USSR 1918-91) in the wake of the 1917 October Revolution and Russian Civil War, seeking to preserve pre-Soviet Russian culture, the Orthodox Christian faith, and includes exiled former Communist party members, such as Leon Trotsky found exile in Mexico but was assassinated in 1940. The millions of Russian emigres and refugees found new lives in North America (the US and Canada), Latin America, even more went to Europe (The UK, Austria, Belgium, former Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Scandinavia, Switzerland and former Yugoslavia), some to east Asia (China and Japan), south Asia (India and Iran) and the Middle East (Egypt and Turkey).
• The South Asian diaspora includes millions of people from India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, whose descendants live in Suriname, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Mauritius, Fiji, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Tanzania, Uganda, and other countries who left British India in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and millions more who have moved to Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates in recent decades (see Desi, British Asian, South Asian American, Indo-Canadian).
  • Indian diaspora, estimated at over 30 million, refers to people originating from India living in other parts of the world.
  • Tamil diaspora is a term used to denote people of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankan Tamil origin who have settled in many parts of rest of India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Reunion, South Africa, Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, French Caribbean islands, Europe, Australia and North America (US and Canada).
  • Chitpavan Diaspora : Hindu converts of mixed Indian and East European descent who migrated to India centuries ago.
  • The Roma (English terms: Gypsy, Gypsies), a traditionally 'dispersed' people in Europe, with origins in South Asia (or perhaps, northern India) for 800-some years, are even more 'dispersed' today, following the Holocaust of Nazi Germany. (See Some names for the Roma) Over 10 million Roma live across Europe, the majority in Eastern countries (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Albania, Greece, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia), and estimates of 250,000 Roma are known to live in North America (the US and Canada).
• The Southeast Asian diaspora includes the refugees from the numerous wars that took place in Southeast Asia, such as World War II and the Vietnam War.
  • The Filipino diaspora from the Philippines is seen throughout Japan, Hong Kong (China), Southeast Asia, Australia, Guam and Northern Marianas, the United States (esp. Hawaii and in states of California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska - see Filipino Americans), Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, and the Middle East (the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar). Overseas workers have their own political party in the Philippine Congress.
  • The Vietnamese disapora who fled communist rule in Vietnam following their victory in the Vietnam War (see South Vietnam) went to the United States (see Vietnamese Americans), as well to Canada, France (and overseas territories), Germany (also the Vietnamese guest workers in the former Communist East Germany), Italy, the Middle East, Australia, and other Asian countries (most went to Hong Kong, when it was a British colony before Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997, and Macau under Portuguese rule until the handover to China in 1999).
  • The wave of Hmong tribes from Laos, Laotians, Cambodians and Thai refugees and economic immigrants (Vietnamese who arrived since 1990) arrived in North America (i.e. the US and Canada), Europe (esp. France), across Asia (most went to Thailand), Oceania (Australia) and South America (concentrated in French Guiana).
• The Romanians, who emigrated for the first time in larger figures between 1910 and 1925, and left in mass after the fall of communist regime in Romania in 1989, and comprise the Romanian diaspora, are found today in large numbers in USA, Italy, Spain, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Russia, Turkey, the Netherlands, the UK, Australia, Brazil and Argentina.
• Serbian diaspora, from Serbia, former Yugoslavia.
• The Scottish diaspora includes the Highland clearances which depopulated large parts of the Scottish Highlands and had lasting negative effects on Scottish Gaelic culture; the Lowland Clearances which resulted in significant migration of Lowland Scots to Canada and the United States after 1776; the Ulster-Scots, descended primarily from Lowland Scots who settled Ulster during the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century and subsequently fled to the Americas in mass numbers throughout the 18th century due to religious and cultural persecution as well as other socio-economic factors. Other Scots and Ulster Scots went to Australia, South Africa and Argentina.
• The Somali diaspora that includes ethnic Somalis who live in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti, as well other parts of Africa. It also includes one million people of Somali origin who live in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, North America, and the Middle East as refugees from the civil war. It altogether numbers between five and seven million. This is almost the same as the population of Somalia itself.
• The South African diaspora mainly consists of white South African emigrants, especially to white Afrikaans speakers who have fled the country for a number of reasons. There is also a growing black middle class in South Africa, many of whom are starting to emigrate as well, furthering the demographic weight of South Africans abroad. South Africans have largely settled in the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, New Zealand, Canada, France, Germany and Argentina.
• The diaspora of the Tibetan people began in 1959 when the People's Republic of China invaded Tibet. Most Tibetan refugees live in the US, India (home to the exiled Dalai Lama, still the official leader of a nation no longer in existence), and Europe (over 30,000 went to Switzerland).
• Spanish diaspora linked to the political and economic emigrants who left Spain during the Francoist dictatorship. Notable communities were established in France, Mexico, the United Kingdom and others.
• Assyrians, a pre-Arab Semitic Christian population of the Middle East (originally they lived in Syria, as well in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey). In the 20th century, millions of Assyrians left the Middle East from ongoing ethnic, political and religious persecution. Assyrian communities flourish in the US, Canada, throughout Europe, Brazil, Africa, India, China and Australia.
• The Macedonian diaspora was created by Macedonian refugees from the Republic of Macedonia, to the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, Italy, Greece, and many other states. There are approximately 2,000,000 Macedonians worldwide, and Macedonians are multi-ethnic people, who can be of Albanian, Greek, Jewish, Latin, Roma, Slavic and Turkish origins.
• The Jaffnese/Ceylonese Diaspora refers to the diaspora of Sri Lankan Tamils, especially those post-1983 due to the civil conflict in Sri Lanka. This has created huge Tamil communities in countries such as Canada, the US, Australia, the UK, Germany and other European countries. In many ways, the Jaffnese Diaspora is compared to the Jewish Diaspora, both historically, socially and economically. It is a subset of the greater Tamil Diaspora.

• Various ethnic minorities from areas under Russian and Soviet control following the Russian Revolution, continuing through the mass forced-resettlements under Stalin.
• Various groups fled in large numbers from areas under Axis control during World War II, or after the border changes following the war, and formed their own diasporas.

• Futuristic science fiction sometimes refers to a "Diaspora," taking place when much of humanity leaves Earth to settle on far-flung "colony worlds."

The above list is not comprehensive or definitive. Only a few have been given much historical attention. There is much talk currently (after Hurricane Katrina in 2005) of a New Orleans or U.S. Gulf Coast "diaspora", but only time will tell how significant a number of those evacuees will indeed not return. The last major disaster refugee crisis in the United States was the "dust bowl" of farmers from the South-Central USA who migrated westward to the State of California, as well to the Midwest and Northeast states in the 1930's.

During the Cold War era, huge populations of refugees continued to form from areas of war, especially from Third World nations; all over Africa (i.e. over 50,000 East Indians and South Asians expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin in 1975), South (i.e. thousands of Chileand refugees fled to Europe after the 1973 coup) and Central America (i.e. Guatemalans, Hondurans, El Salvadorans, Nicaraguans and Panamanians), the Middle East (esp. the Iranians whom left the country to flee the 1978 Islamic revolution), the India (Thousands of former British colonial residents went to the UK after India and Pakistan became independent in 1947) ,and east Asia (i.e. The displaced 30,000 French "colons" from Cambodia expelled by the Khmer Rouge regime under Pol Pot). The issue of untold millions of "third world" refugees created more diasporas than ever in human history.

Notable Population Dispersements

There are many examples around the world of population dispersements where, for reasons other than those related to the conditions required to be considered a diaspora, people have left their homelands or countries.

• Australian migration is a somewhat contentious term, probably coined by the Southern Cross Group, to refer to the 860,000 Australians living overseas. The migrations have a variety of causes ranging from war brides and their children to the more recent exodus of young Australians to Europe under working holiday visa programmes.
• Cornish migration refers to Cornish emigrants and their descendants in other parts of England and in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Mexico. The diaspora was caused by a number of factors, but due mainly to economic reasons and the lack of jobs in the 18th and 19th centuries when many Cornish people or “Cousin Jacks” as they were known migrated to various parts of the world in search of a better life.
• Galician migration, Galicians who left their country for mainly economic reasons to richer areas of Spain and the America (esp. Argentina, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the US and Venezuela) and later, Western Europe (Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) in the 1950's and 1960's.
• Jewish migration to Israel in the late 1940's, when over 600,000 Jewish European refugees, mostly survivors of the Holocaust and Nazism fled to Palestine, then a territorial mandate from the end of World War I. The Arabs of Jordan requested the British to slow down and prevent further Jewish refugee immigration, but worldwide pressure overturned the British-Arabian agreement. By 1947, Israel became an independent nation under the approval of Great Britain, the United States and nearly all member states of the United Nations, a pinnacle in the 2,000 year-old global "Jewish diaspora".
• Palestinian migration refers to the dispersion of Palestinians, or native Arabs (the majority are Muslim, but contains small Christian minorities) from the land which now comprises the State of Israel, following the 1948 invasion by troops from Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Transjordan (Jordan), Lebanon, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Anticipating victory by the Arab forces, the Palestinian people were largely unable to return home when Israel defeated the invading armies. Other wars in 1956, 1867, 1973 and 1982 increased the Palestinian refugee population to over 6 million in nearby Arab countries of the Middle East, and millions more Palestinians emigrated to Europe, the Americas, Australia and elsewhere. The Palestinian population of the Israeli-occupied territories (West Bank and Gaza) are from 3-4 million, while only a million Palestinians live in Israel proper with Israeli citizenship since they were born in Israel.
• The Ukrainian migration, represented by Ukrainians who left their homeland in several waves of emigration, settling mainly in the Americas (United States and Canada), but also Australia, east Asia and Europe. Also includes the tens and millions of Ukrainians who migrated from Ukraine to other parts of the former Soviet Union (mainly Russian Federation) during Soviet time.

See also

• Diaspora studies
• Diaspora politics
• Exodus is another Biblical term related to migration, but with a connotation of grouping rather than the scattering of a diaspora.
• Displaced person

External links

• Diasporas of Highly Skilled and Migration of Talent
• Telugu Diaspora
• Global Diasporas
• Global Culture: essays on migration, globalization and their impact on global culture
• The Indian DiasporaT.L.S.Bhaskar
• The Tamil Diaspora - a Trans State Nation Nadesan Satyendra
• Katrina scatters a grim diaspora BBC
• In Throes of a Diaspora, Two Families Bind New York Times
• Diplomacy Monitor - Migration
• BBC The Cornish Diaspora - I’m alright Jack
• The Cornish Transnational Communities Project
• Overseas Cornish Associations