2 The National Geographic Magazine 



either of these ; it is not a national, but 

 a private one. The citizens of other 

 states come here, not in conquering 

 hosts, but as individuals — to a nation 

 for the most part foreign to the one 

 they left, in customs, in manners, and 

 in government. In a word, the migra- 

 tions of the nineteenth century were not 

 conquest or colonization, but " emigra- 

 tion." 



Long before history began to be re- 

 corded, multitudes of people went out 

 from Central Asia. There the Aryan 

 race — the most important of the human 

 family — had its rise. But the popula- 

 tion soon outgrew the means of sub- 

 sistence. Migration became a necessity . 

 The Celts first spread over Europe ; then 

 came the Teutons. Of the Semitic 

 branch of the Aryan race the Jews par- 

 ticularly wandered far and wide. First, 

 to Egypt they went ; then, through the 

 wilderness to Canaan ; subsequently, in 

 the various captivities to Babylon. 



Greek colonists formed from thebegin- 

 ning an organized political body. Their 

 first care, upon settling in a strange land, 

 was to found a city, and to erect in it 

 those public buildings that were essen- 

 tial to the social and the religious life of 

 a Greek. The spot was usually seized 

 "by force and the inhabitants enslaved. 

 This sort of migration aided the father- 

 land and bettered the condition of the 

 people taking part in it, for the migrants 

 often made rapid progress in their new 

 abodes, and added more arms to the 

 strength of the mother country. 



No voluntary migrant ever left Rome ; 

 the colonies she sent forth were intended 

 to bridle subjugated provinces, and, as 

 a writer well said, ' ' should be regarded 

 rather as the outposts of an immense 

 army, the headquarters of which were 

 at Rome, than as an establishment of 

 individuals who had bidden ' adieu ' to 

 their mother-country and intended to 

 maintain themselves in their new coun- 

 try by their own industry." 



Yet they were of advantage to the 



empire, for they strengthened her power 

 abroad, and alleviated the distress at 

 home by removing from the city a large 

 number of the excessive population ; 

 but that policy did not result in as per- 

 manent improvement as was anticipated, 

 for the city population increased in num- 

 bers more rapidly than the surplus could 

 be absorbed by the foundation of new 

 colonies. 



A great wave in the migration of na- 

 tions was that which swept over Europe 

 and buried forever, under its onward 

 rush, the old Roman Empire with its 

 civilization. Out of this conquest grew 

 chaos at first, then slowly new states 

 began to rise upon its ruins, which were 

 finally united in the Holy Roman Em- 

 pire of the German nation. There were 

 attempts, first by the Turks and later 

 by the Arabs, to better their conditions 

 by an invasion of Europe ; but they 

 were driven back by the sturdy Cru- 

 saders, and with their driving back was 

 rung down the curtain on that gigantic 

 drama known as " Migration of Na- 

 tions " — closed perhaps forever. 



Modern migration dates from the dis- 

 covery of America, though it was not 

 for centuries later that it assumed any 

 great proportions. Europeans came in 

 large numbers ; they were merchants, 

 workers, and planters. The natives 

 furnished the labor. The value of the 

 colonies to the mother country was no 

 longer merely " military ; " it was 

 "commercial." The planters received 

 their capital from the home country and 

 disposed of their products and made 

 their purchases there. Their intention 

 was to build up a country that would be 

 self-supporting and enjoy the same civ- 

 ilization as the mother country. At the 

 same time they did not separate them- 

 selves from the parent, but continued 

 under her political control. The rela- 

 tions between the two countries were 

 for the most part friendly and loyal. 

 They were still ' ' Frenchmen ' ' or 

 "Englishmen" or "Dutch," as they 



