Immigration from Africa to Europe - Research Paper Example

Immigration from Africa to Europe Introduction Colonialism was a significant contribution to the migration of Europeans to overseas countries. This also brought millions of Asians, Africans, and Amerindians to Europe. Initially, these immigrants came to Europe as slaves. However, this changed in the 20th century as immigrants served as soldiers and contract laborers in the European armies during the two World Wars. Moreover, the wave of decolonization after the World War II led to millions of former European colonists to migrate to Europe. In the recent time, labor migrants and asylum seekers have shaped migration to these countries. For many centuries, Europe was a leading contributor of migration to other places. This was the case from 1500 to 1800. In contrast, migration from other places to Europe was limited. This was the case until the First World War as only few of Amerindians, Africans, and Asians moved to Europe due to lack of money (Emmer and Lucassen 1). Others were restricted by immigration restrictions, especially those restricting migrants from the colonies. In Europe, there were fewer barriers to immigrants. This moved to other areas to check for business and investments opportunities. This gave them opportunity to increase their income and their life expectancy, at least in non-tropical countries (Emmer and Lucassen 1). In some European countries, they developed legal instruments that enabled citizens without savings to migrate to other continents. These forms of assistance were not available to non-Europeans. For this reasons, most of the non-Europeans only came to Europe as slaves. In the southern part of Europe, slaves were available due to the Arab congest. On the other hand, slaves in North-Western Europe were the one who accompanied their masters when visiting Europe. This paper seeks to explore on immigration from Africa to Europe. The History of the Immigrants In the beginning, Europeans traded and employed their compatriots as slaves. The European slave trade north of the Alps declined when the Roman Catholic Church insisted on the sanctimony of marriage, as they were proving expensive to maintain (Emmer and Lucassen 1). This was worsened by the end of the trade in 1200. On the southern parts of the Alps, the trade on slaves remained intact. In addition, the Italian cities employed slaves from the eastern part of Europe in their countries and colonies (Emmer and Lucassen 1). The demand of slaves continued to increase than before, as more sugarcane was grown. As a result, African salves began to replace slaves from the east due to growth of Turkey blocked the regular slave trade routes. The other factor that contributed their attention to Africa was because the Muslims and Christians prisoners of war were no longer available. This prompted thousands of African slaves brought to Portugal, Spain, and Sicily, where they worked as domestic slaves or artisans and in agriculture (Emmer and Lucassen 1). Hundreds of thousand Africans moved to Europe in the 16th century. Other Africans were forced to grow sugar canes in Southern Spain and Portugal (Emmer and Lucassen 1). Moreover, a few Africans were brought to Europe through the new world; some of them had been born in the America. These immigrants were accompanying their master while they retained their slave place in Europe. In the middle of the 18th century, London had about 15,000 Africans (Emmer and Lucassen 1). However, at this time the numbers of Africans in Europe were small. Some of the abandoned slaves fought successful legal battles not to be taken back to West Indies. These legal cases established that forced migration had no legal basis in British law. On the other hand, Dutch and French laws did not recognize slavery, and this made it difficult for slave masters to move to these countries accompanied by their slaves (Emmer and Lucassen 1). The end of the 18th century saw few non-Europeans relocate to Europe due to the end of slavery. The migration to Europe rose significantly in the 20th century. The first reason for rising migration was the world wars. The allied forces recruited fighters from their colonial empires to participate in their war. For example, France recruited North African troops during the Crimean war and Franco-Prussian War (Emmer and Lucassen 11). This habit continued during the two world wars and at the military occupation of the Rhineland. Others of the fighters volunteered as they had served the colonial masters to the end of the colonial rule and felt unsecure in the newly created independent states. After decolonization, there was also migration of Africans to Europe. The largest of the groups came from French North Africa while small numbers came from the former British and Belgian colonies in Africa (Emmer and Lucassen 1). Recently, a large-scale migration had been observed in Western Europe. This was the case from 1960 to 1973 as the number of foreign workers in Western Europe rose significantly (Hall 1). This was highest in places like UK and France as there was open access for citizens of their former colonies. Immigration into Europe has been prompted by labor needs, but this ended in 1973 due to the oil crisis. The Reasons Why they Travel from Their Home There are various reasons for the migration of Africans to Europe. Firstly, there are increased incidences of war that force some of the people to look for safer areas in Europe. For example, the increased incidences of war in Libya and other North African countries have prompted an increasing number of labor migrants and refugees to relocate to Europe (Martin 20). This forces most of the African to move to Europe in fear of despotism and their lives. In addition, the increased war incidences in Africa have led to the rise of many people requiring humanitarian assistance. This has led to the increase of refugees who are assisted by international bodies such as UNHCR. Most of these refugees are taken to safe places in Europe. Some of People are incorporated in these countries and, therefore, increasing number of African migrants in Europe. Secondly, most of the African migrants move to Europe to look for more opportunities. This has acted as a key element of African residents moving to Europe. These opportunities are education, business and Europe as a hub for established successful African Diaspora communities. In Europe, most of the immigrants find business opportunities and are most of the time successful as compared to other areas of the world. In turn, the communities attract potential African immigrants who want to be well connected to emerging markets across the continent (Einashe 1). They are also able to access community and easy loans systems away from the harsh mainstream banks (Einashe 1). Moreover, African views Europe as a place of good education and employment opportunities. In fact, most of the scholars have moved from Africa to Europe to further their education. Most of these never return to their mother countries and are incorporated in to provide skilled labor in the countries. On the other hand, some of the African countries are underdeveloped or developing. This means even after acquiring skills, most of these people are unable to get opportunities or good paying jobs. These people go to Europe to look for job opportunities and well paying jobs. This has led to massive exportation of cheap labor from Africa to Europe. Others move from their countries as asylum seekers. The Advantages and Disadvantages for the Immigrants There are many disadvantages for immigrants in Europe. Firstly, the immigrants face stigma and negative stereotype. This is due to the skin color, and this is promoted by the unbalanced reporting from media. This is usually evident in the students, in Europe. The migrants are always forced to prove themselves and are sometimes considered primitive. This means that their performance in the region may be compromised due to the issue of the negative stereotype (Asana 6). The other factor is racism. Most of the African migrants are faced by this challenge abroad. This sometimes has resulted to death of Africans. Additionally, some of the immigrants are affected by the weather. This is due to poor preparation, homelessness, and lack of money to obtain the necessary clothes or heating (Asana 7). Homelessness is mostly common to the asylum seekers. However, these problems are aggravated by lack of resources and illegal entry by the immigrants. Some time to overcome the challenges, they are forced to share living in squats, abandoned houses and cars amongst other demeaning places (Asana 7). In addition, most of the immigrants move to Europe expecting that they would bring plum jobs. However, they have to struggle with their limited skill, bias and other issues related to their origin. They are faced with the agony of waiting to get a job. The problem is aggravated as most of them are waited to remit money back to their homes (Nzouankeu 1). As they manage to secure for a job, most get jobs that are demeaning, and dangerous to their lives. These jobs are of low value and irregular. These types of jobs also affect their health. African migrants are also faced by challenges once they lose their relatives. Most of them lack the resources to relocate to country of origin to pay their last respects. This is due to lack of fiances, job issue amongst other challenges. This may result to curses in some of the African societies, as this is a critical issue in their culture (Seljuq 1). The other disadvantage is the possibility of deportation. This is usually the case to illegal immigrants and asylum seekers that fail to establish residency (Asana 9). In fact, there are cases of death reported during deportation. In fact, this is the worst form of dehumanization. Although African immigrants face challenges in Europe, there are still some advantages. The first advantage is availability of jobs opportunities especially to the unskilled labor force structure Africa. This is because most of the unskilled jobs in Europe are given to unskilled labor force. This means majority of these immigrants are able to get a source of income and even send some income to the families back at home. On the other hand, the skilled labor force from Africa gets some of the plum jobs in Europe. This means they are able to earn more than in their mother countries. This is the case for professionals such as doctors, engineers and nurses. Secondly, some of the immigrants are able to get the country of residence nationality. This means that they can be treated equally with the descendants of the country. This means they are able to access various programs such as social security. Additionally, they are also subjected to similar employment rates as the citizens of such countries. In some countries, once individual gains citizenship, they are given permission to bring their family from their motherland. For example, in France, many migrants were incorporated into the nation nationality. In fact, many of the immigrant’s children are involved in the army or the police (Vassout 1). The other advantage is that immigrants are able to provide cheap labor force. Moreover, majority of the emigrants are able to access quality education in Europe (Nicodemo 17-20). Once they are through with their studies, they relocate to their mother countries. This means that their newly acquired skill is used to develop countries to achieve further economic growth. Conclusion It is clear there is an increase of the number of African immigrants in Europe. This was mainly contributed by the slavery and the rise of industrial activities in Europe due to the industrial revolution. Moreover, the 20th century saw many factors results to the increase of African immigrants in Europe. This was significantly due to war, and financial prosperity. On the other hand, the African immigrants have faced challenges and opportunities in Europe. They managed to get jobs, employment opportunities. On the other hand, they were subjected to poor working condition, discrimination and racial prejudice. Lastly, regulations need to be instituted to cater for immigrants in both mother and receiving countries. 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