Population transfer

Population transfer or resettlement is a type of <a href="/facts/Mass_migration/T91hTzUH">mass migration</a> that is often imposed by a state policy or international authority. Such mass migrations are most frequently spurred on the basis of <a href="/facts/Ethnicity/XSp5l24t">ethnicity</a> or religion, but they also occur due to <a href="/facts/Development-induced_displacement/oRdmBsCl">economic development</a>. Banishment or <a href="/facts/Exile/ktcKzckQ">exile</a> is a similar process, but is forcibly applied to individuals and groups. Population transfer differs more than simply technically from individually motivated <a href="/facts/Human_migration/r2oTzF6F">migration</a>, but at times of <a href="/facts/List_of_wars/B1zFCsnB">war</a>, the act of fleeing from danger or <a href="/facts/Famine/EUEEuh4h">famine</a> often blurs the differences.
Often the affected population is <a href="/facts/Forced_displacement/lKjCS4R2">transferred by force</a> to a distant region, perhaps not suited to their way of life, causing them substantial harm. In addition, the process implies the loss of <a href="/facts/Real_property/Ce5vubgz">immovable property</a> and substantial amounts of movable property when rushed. This transfer may be motivated by the more powerful party's desire to make other uses of the land in question or, less often, by security or disastrous environmental or economic conditions that require relocation.
The first known population transfers date back to the <a href="/facts/Middle_Assyrian_Empire/LmFx7j63">Middle Assyrian Empire</a> in the <a href="/facts/13th_century_BC/rWnNDtVT">13th century BCE</a>, with forced resettlement being <a href="/facts/Resettlement_policy_of_the_Neo-Assyrian_Empire/epTwmbb6">particularly prevalent during the Neo-Assyrian Empire</a>. The single largest population transfer in history was the <a href="/facts/Partition_of_India/c8xmUWfG">Partition of India</a> in 1947 that involved up to 12 million people in <a href="/facts/Punjab_Province_(British_India)/wWz41Ad1">Punjab Province</a> with a total of up to 20 million people across <a href="/facts/British_Raj/hBe6wvPS">British India</a>, with the second largest being the <a href="/facts/Flight_and_expulsion_of_Germans_(1944%25E2%2580%25931950)/sf61nrlX">flight and expulsion of Germans after World War II</a>, which involved more than 12 million people.
Before the forcible deportation of Ukrainians (including <a href="/facts/Child_abductions_in_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War/EMxKl655">thousands of children</a>) to Russia during the <a href="/facts/Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine/kE7cHvoQ">Russian invasion of Ukraine</a>, the last major population transfer in Europe was the deportation of 800,000 ethnic <a href="/facts/Albanians/wc6Mj4KA">Albanians</a> during the <a href="/facts/Kosovo_War/54xPuVXC">Kosovo War</a> in 1999. Moreover, some of the largest population transfers in Europe have been attributed to the <a href="/facts/Special_settlements_in_the_Soviet_Union/com2u8My">ethnic policies of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin</a>.
Population transfers can also be imposed to further <a href="/facts/Development-induced_displacement/oRdmBsCl">economic development</a>, for instance China relocated 1.3 million residents in order to construct the <a href="/facts/Three_Gorges_Dam/LMs99ndW">Three Gorges Dam</a>.

Population transfer open-in-new

Population transfer