Syrian exodus nutshell

The ideas of push and pull factors are central to Migration Geography. Push factors are the reasons people leave a place, pull factors are the reasons people are attracted to a new place. There can be lots of each.

There are also intervening obstacles, everything from language learning to oceans to deserts to walls.

Syria is in the midst of a civil war that involves no less than five groups fighting each other, each with their own chunk of territory shown in the map below:

-The ruling Assad regime which the US would like to see gone
-Free Syrian Army (rebels)
-ISIS
-Al Nusra/Al Quaeda
-The Kurds - ancient ethnic group

In short, Syria is a total mess, like a streetfight between five gangs. Few people there find reasons to stay.



-Syria's total population is around 23 million
-Total number of Syrian refugees abroad today is over 4 million and rising
-So, pretty soon 1/5 of Syrian citizens will no longer live in Syria
-Add 6.5 million internally displaced within Syria, and half the country will be displaced either internally or externally

This weeks videos in Topic 2 show many intervening obstacles and the pull factors that are drawing migrants to Europe.  

Aid and Asylum Map
http://syrianrefugees.eu/?page_id=199
Migrant crisis: Merkel says EU must secure external borders

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34535933

Welcome to Sweden, you'll get a job in a decade
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-30/refugees-welcome-to-sweden-you-ll-get-a-job-in-a-decade