The movement of Caribbean people between the islands and into other countries has resulted to greater integration of the subcontinent into the international economy. This is a good thing for the areas because it emigrants make people more aware of the area and thus choose to visit during holidays. This is a positive scene considering that most inhabitants of the area were taken from their ancestral African homes. The increasing ties between the sub-continent and other areas of the world is also encouraging given that it is all voluntary as compared to the interaction that had existed in just a century ago.
Ancestors of the current population went to the Caribbean unwillingly and were still restricted to move from the area. Even after the end of slavery and Caribbean islands gained independence from their colonial masters, it was hard for people to move between the islands because of the strong ties they had developed with their respective localities. In addition, there developed classes among the Caribbean populations after the end of slavery; class society continued through independence period and still has some presence today.
The first emigration between islands and in other continents, especially North America and Europe, was facilitated by the emergence of industrial revolution. Moving from one island to the other depended on the sugar plantations that were more less the main economic activity in the region until early 20th century. However, industrial revolution opened some extractive industries in the area and ended the dominance of agriculture as the primary economic activity. The subsequent adoption of capitalist economic systems is credited with the introduction of several other economic activities that diversified the subcontinent’s productivity, as well as increasing emigration of the populations within the islands and into other continents. This further resulted to the de3creasing ties between the classes in the region because people were integrating with each other more often. Immigration of other people from rest of the world into the region also helped in reducing the extensity of class society in the region. In recent time, especially since mid 20th century, education has played the biggest role in ensuring that class society was decreasing in the region. This is because children from across all classes accessed education, which usually determines the class one has to fit in, considering the benefits is equal across all peoples. The only downside of education in equalizing the society has been the fact that children from families considers to constitute higher places in society receive better education that comes with better jobs and opportunities; their counterparts in lower classes could continue to reel in poverty that had characterized their ancestors lives.
The migration patter in the Caribbean has always followed the pattern of economic activities in the region as well as in other continents. First, the emigration followed the demand of sugar plantation workers during the 18th and 19thy centuries. Secondly, the migration of labour followed the construction works of railway lines, Panama Canal and military bases between late 19th and early 20th centuries. Third, the emigration followed the demand of labour in the reconstruction of Europe after the Second World War. This pattern was enhanced by the increased nationalization of industry in the Caribbean from early 1960s. The current emigration pattern is however due to opportunities in different parts of the sub-continent; the area is also attracting immigrants from rest of the world.
References
Chamberlin, M. (1998). Caribbean Migration: Globalized Identities. New York: Routledge.