Migration Reshaping Human History

This book considers the history of the emergence of Homo sapiens who vanquished earlier groups and can be identified as our ancestors. Going back to the rift valleys of Africa, this study of migration covers historic swathes of human movement to more recent settlements in North and South America, the patterns of European settlement and colonisation across the globe. It takes into account slavery and indentured labour as responsible for the enforced movement of vast groups across continents and the continuing reality of mixed racial communities which have emerged from these shipped cargoes of people. It looks at the cataclysmic effect of the displacement of millions as a result of the Indian Partition and considers the movement and influx of refugees today escaping violence, exploitation or effects of the climate crisis, as they face hostility and/or indifference on shores they arrive at, are rendered stateless and face the reality of homelessness as the world’s flotsam who exist on the margins of society.