scholarly journals Bridges Across the Mediterranean Sea: An Introduction to the Maghreb-Southern Europe Migration System

Finisterra ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (77) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Abreu ◽  
João Diogo Mateus

The current geopolitical importance of the Mediterranean isheightened by the fact that it is both a dividing physical barrier between a developed Europe and a chronically peripheral Africa and one of the main structuring corridors for international migration. This note builds on the assumption that the Maghreb-Southern Europe migratory flows are best analysed in a “migration systems” approach and makes a contribution to the awareness of the history andpresent characteristics of the flows within this particular system. The note is divided into five sections: Section 1 further specifies the object of the note; Section 2 provides a brief historical account of the main periods and events of relevance to the dynamics of this migration system; Section 3 is a quantitative analysis of thestocks and flows of North African immigration to European countries in the recent past; Section 4 looks into these flows in further detail, seeking to identify some of their recent characteristics; finally, Section 5 identifies some foreseeable (economic, institutional, demographic,…) developments that are likely to affect the future dynamics of the system.

Author(s):  
Leos Müller

This paper analyses the rise of Swedish trade and shipping in the Mediterranean in the eighteenth century. It focuses on three factors that shaped Sweden’s role in the area: foreign policy interest, foreign trade policy (mercantilism), and commodity demand and supply. The foreign policy interest is represented by attempts to build an alliance with the Ottoman Empire against Russia. An outcome of this was the short-lived Swedish Levant Company. The second factor relates to Sweden’s mercantilist policy in the Mediterranean, embodied in the Swedish Navigation Act, trade and peace treaties with the North-African states, and the consular services in southern Europe. Sea salt was in the core of this policy—a strategic commodity in northern Europe. Southern Europe, too, was important market for Swedish exports goods: iron, tar and pitch, and planks.


Rough Waters ◽  
2010 ◽  
pp. 7-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J. McCusker

This chapter argues that the American presence in the Mediterranean that surged after the Peace of Paris in 1783 was not the beginning of American involvement in the region, but rather a revival of a pre-existing one. It accomplishes this by exploring the history of American maritime activity: analysing the commerce between the British Continental Colonies and Southern Europe from early colonial settlement up to the American War of Independence. It explores both the visible and invisible components of the colonial balance of payments system, and suggests a financial advantage to Americans far higher than previous estimates have offered. It also considers trade between American and Britain after the 1783 Treaty of Paris; the fluctuating rates of trade goods including tobacco, sugar, and fish; and the threat of North African pirates. It concludes that American willingness to go to war for independence was linked to the profitability of their existing trade links in the Mediterranean.


2000 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo J. Borges

This article applies a systems approach to the analysis of multiple circuits of labor migration that emerged in the Algarve, southern Portugal, from the late eighteenth century to the mid 1900s, and their connections. Over time Algarvian migrants participated in three main systems of migration: internal migration and migration to southern Spain and Gibraltar, transatlantic migration to the Americas and Africa – especially to Argentina – and migration to northern Europe. Rather than an abrupt break with a sedentary past, the article shows how the beginnings of transatlantic migration at the turn of the century were the result of modification and adaptation of existing strategies of labor migration.


2015 ◽  
Vol 63 ◽  
pp. 244-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Suckall ◽  
Evan Fraser ◽  
Piers Forster ◽  
David Mkwambisi

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 186-191
Author(s):  
Mohsen Kalboussi

Abstract During fieldworks in 2019, a pair of Red-rumped Swallows (Cecropis daurica) were seen building their nest (June) and one of them brooding (August). The pair was still present in the area by the end of September, while all other swallows left this breeding area. In June 2020, the nest entrance was destroyed and the nest was occupied by a pair of Passer sp. Another nest of C. daurica was found in an abandoned building but was completely destroyed. This observation is the first record concerning an attempt and failure of nesting of the species in Tunisia. The nesting area of the Red-rumped Swallow is extended to the Mediterranean in southern Europe and to northwest Africa. The nesting sites are described, and the extension of the nesting area is discussed in this work.


2016 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-49
Author(s):  
Daniel Göler

Europe is facing a new era of migration. During the last decades, the European migration system underwent several shifts due to different reasons. A basic observation is that general changes, on the political map for example, do not necessarily have the same consequences in European regions, even in seemingly similar contexts. The major changes started in 1990 accelerated with the enlargement of the European Union in 2004 and found its continuation by crisis-driven migration from south European countries into Western European labour markets after 2008. All of these "migration waves" have been topped by a massive inflow of refugees in 2015 creating new migratory map of Europe. Thus, important stages of contemporary and present European migration history are interpreted as indicators for a surplus in diversity, flexibility and spontaneity and will serve for formulating the hypothesis of Elusive Migration Systems as an analytical framework and a kind of hypothesis to study new features of migrants? trajectories, which became more and more variable. Being grounded may be the wish of the majority of Europeans and, in effect, the global population, but being on the move, voluntarily or forced, is reality for a certain number of migrants inside and heading towards Europe.


2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (10) ◽  
pp. 753-761 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khalifa Sifaw Ghenghesh ◽  
Ezzedin Franka ◽  
Khaled Tawil ◽  
Momtaz Wasfy ◽  
Salwa F. Ahmed ◽  
...  

Typhoid fever is endemic in the Mediterranean North African countries (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt) with an estimated incidence of 10-100 cases per 100,000 persons. Outbreaks caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi are common and mainly due to the consumption of untreated or sewage-contaminated water. Salmonella enterica Paratyphi B is more commonly involved in nosocomial cases of enteric fever in North Africa than expected and leads to high mortality rates among infants with congenital anomalies. Prevalence among travellers returning from this region is low, with an estimate of less than one per 100,000. Although multidrug resistant strains of Salmonella Typhi and Paratyphi are prevalent in this region, the re-emergence of chloramphenicol- and ampicillin-susceptible strains has been observed. In order to better understand the epidemiology of enteric fever in the Mediterranean North African region, population-based studies are needed. These will assist the health authorities in the region in preventing and controlling this important disease.


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 1977-1996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isla R. Simpson ◽  
Richard Seager ◽  
Tiffany A. Shaw ◽  
Mingfang Ting

Abstract In summer, the atmospheric circulation over the Mediterranean is characterized by localized intense subsidence and low-level northerlies over the central to eastern portion of the basin. Here, simulations with the Community Atmosphere Model, version 5 are used to investigate the influence of the elevated terrain of North Africa and the Middle East on this summertime circulation. This builds on previous work that recognized a role for North African topography in localizing the Mediterranean subsidence. By flattening the two regions of elevated terrain in the model, it is demonstrated that, while they both conspire to produce about 30% of the summertime subsidence, contrary to previous work, the mountains of the Middle East dominate in this topographic contribution by far. This topography, consisting primarily of the Zagros mountain range, alters the circulation throughout the depth of the troposphere over the Mediterranean and farther east. The model results suggest that about 20% of the Mediterranean summertime moisture deficit can be attributed to this mountain-induced circulation. This topography, therefore, plays an important role in the climate of the Mediterranean and the large-scale circulation over the rest of Eurasia during the summer. Further stationary wave modeling reveals that the mountain influence is produced via mechanical forcing of the flow. The greatest influence of the topography occurs when the low-level incident flow is easterly, as happens during the summer, primarily because of the presence of condensational heating over Asia. During other seasons, when the low-level incident flow is westerly, the influence of Middle East topography on the Mediterranean is negligible.


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