Internal migration or domestic migration is human migration within one geopolitical entity, usually a nation-state. Internal migration tends to be travel for education and for economic improvement or because of a natural disaster or civil disturbance. Cross-border migration often occurs for political or economic reasons. A general trend of movement from rural to urban areas, in a process described as urbanization, has also produced a form of internal migration.
History
Many countries have experienced massive internal migration.
* A massive internal migration from the eastern states toward the west coast during the mid-19th century.
* Three waves of large-scale migration of African Americans: first from the agricultural south to the industrialized northeast and midwest in the early 20th century, a second movement in the same direction from roughly 1940 to 1970, and finally a reverse migration from other parts of the country to the urban south beginning in the late 20th century and continuing to the present.
* The depopulation of the rural Great Plains since the early 20th century, with many rural counties today having less than 40% of their 1900 population.
* A steady migration, starting during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s but accelerating after World War II, of all ethnicities toward the Sun Belt of the southern and western U.S.
* An ongoing migration of mostly working- and middle-class people of all ethnicities, but especially whites, from California to other states since 1990.
In Philippines, due to a centralized government and almost unequal distribution of government power and funds, people from the provinces head to Metro Manila to look for better jobs and opportunities. This has been continuing since then, although in much smaller numbers now, with Metro Cebu and Metro Davao now increasingly becoming more popular as alternative destination for internal migrants.
In Italy, during the country's economic miracle in the 1950s and 1960s, the so called "Industrial triangle" of Northwest Italy experienced waves of immigrants coming from Southern Italy, due to the southern portion of the country remaining underdeveloped and stricken with poverty. The peak was reached between 1955 and 1963, when as much as 1,300,000 southern workers moved to the northern industrial cities. After a pause in the 1980s the north-south migration has resumed, this time headed to other areas of the north and Central Italy.
Secondary migration
A subtype of internal migration is the migration of immigrant groups—often called secondary or onward migration. Secondary migration is also used to refer to the of immigrants within the European Union. In the United States, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services's Administration for Children and Families, is tasked with managing the secondary migration of resettled refugees. However, there is little information on secondary migration and associated programmatic structural changes. Secondary migration has been hypothesized as one of the driving forces behind the distribution of resettled refugees in the United States.
Somalis and secondary migration in the United States
Somalis, a refugee group that was initially widely dispersed in the United States, has formed significant communities in Minnesota, Ohio and Washington. Secondary migration to Minneapolis, Minnesota and Columbus, Ohio, has made those two areas first and second, respectively, in Somali American population. Geographer Tamara Mott states that being near family, friends, and other Somalis was the main reason Somalis migrated to Columbus, OH. Lewiston, Maine, became a secondary migration destination for Somalis after social service agencies relocated a few families there in February 2001. Between 1982 and 2000, resettlement agencies placed refugees, including 315 Somalis, in the Portland, Maine area. High rates of rental housing occupancy in Portland led to the first relocations to Lewiston. Somalis have a history of nomadism and maintain contact, often via cell phone, with a large network of extended family, clan members, and friends. More Somalis learned about Lewiston and were attracted by the quality of life there, the low housing costs, good schools, safety and greater social control of their children in the smaller town. Between February 2001 and August 2002 over 1,000 Somalis moved to Lewiston. Most of these early secondary migrants came from Clarkston, Georgia, a suburb just outside Atlanta. By 2007, Somalis were 6.5% of the population of Lewiston and had come to the city from all over the United States and at least three other countries.
