Today, I will be observing the differences and similarities in human geography between two closely located countries, Denmark and Sweden (Figure 1). Then, I will introduce the issue of “semi-legal” families residing along the border of the two countries. Today, there are about 196 countries in the world and each country has its own unique characteristics; for example, language, folk and popular culture, ethnicity and development. Denmark is known as the happiest and least corrupt country in the world. It located southwest of Sweden and south of Norway; it is the southernmost of the Nordic countries. Sweden is known for its highly developed economy; it is the second most competitive country in the world (CIA The World Factbook, 2012). These two countries have been neighbor for hundreds of years. A 25,738-foot bridge connects them: the Øresund Bridge (Figure 2). Because of their geographic location and similarity in level of development, many of their human geographic characteristics are similar to each other, including population, migration, and industry.
POPULATION. According to The World Factbook, Denmark has a population of 5,543,453 that ranks it the 110th populated country in the world. The population density of Denmark is 334 people per square mile that ranks it the 88th densest country in the world. Its population growth rate is 0.239 percent. It has a birth rate of 10.22 births per 1,000 populations and death rate of 10.19 deaths/ 1,000 populations. On the other hand, Sweden has a population of 9,103,788 that ranks the 92nd populated county in the world. The population density of Sweden is 53.8 people per square mile that ranks the 192nd densest country in the world. Its population growth rate is 0.168%. It has a birth ...
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...ularly (Rytter, 2012). Should any of them stay in Sweden too little or in Denmark too long, they risk the possibility of becoming illegal immigrants. Violators try to divert attention by making their Swedish homes look inhabited, by using electricity and water and replying to mail punctually. Both Swedish and Danish officials have spoken out about this issue, disagreeing with either side (Rytter, 2012). Transnational couples are divided into two groups of solutions for the future. The couples with good social and economic resources find it to be easier to permanently stay in Sweden, where multiculturalism is tolerated. Another group of couples sees their life in Sweden completely temporary; an obstacle they must undergo before they can return to Denmark. They live through loopholes in the law and continue to commute back and forth from the countries (Rytter, 2012).
As nomadic societies evolved into cities, then city-states states, and eventually empires, established borders slowly began to take shape. From the Sumerians around 4000 BCE to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 what was first nothing more than a loosely guarded line of demarcation eventually became the firm geographic borders used around the world today. Diener and Hagen detail how these borders have been used as both unifying and dividing forces since the beginning, but as globalization continues to sweep the planet the idea of borders and how they are used must be reevaluated. In their final paragraph the writers summarize their argument by expressing as globalization continues to move forward it is important to reevaluate modern understanding of borders and the impacts they have on the world community (Diener & Hagen, 2012).
The United States is a country known for its variation of nationalities and ethnic races. After extensive research, and questioning I discovered that my ancestors originated from Norway and Switzerland. My family migrated to the United States in the late 1800’s from Norway due to social, economic, and religion reforms as well as, a surplus in the population. Learning of my ancestor’s migration to America has very much influenced my views on the existing immigration problems that the U.S. currently faces.
Ravenstein’s Laws are a set of laws proposed in the 1880’s that describe trends in human migration. The migrants experience related to many of Ravenstein’s laws, such as that most migrants relocate a short distance and remain within the same country. Almost all of the migrant’s immigrants were interregional (remained within the same country) and short distance. Another law that is shown by the migrant is that most long-distance migrants are adult individuals, rather than families with children. When the migrant internationally immigrated to America, she was an adult individual with her husband, instead of with her family.
Firstly to justify why countries limit their immigrations, there should be knowledge of the different types of immigrants as there are different reasons to leave from one country and move into another. In the last 30 years, the number of international immigrants has been estimated 191 million worldwide, two times as before. As ...
Migration has never been a one-way process of assimilation into a melting pot or a multicultural salad bowl, but one in which migrants, to varying degrees, are simultaneously embedded in the multiple sites and layers of the transnational social fields in which they live. This is also not a new phenomenon, but has shown signs of intensification in recent years due to globalization which allowed it to develop more easily than previously due to advancements in technology and
Immigrants leave their countries in search for a better life and improvement of their situation. There is no singular reason for immigration; motivations range from better economic prospects to political safety. As of late, the number of immigrants living in the United States is an estimated 11 million. Those who immigrate are expected to contribute to the United States culturally, politically, and economically. Yet, full assimilation becomes difficult to achieve when the immigrant is made into “the other” by the country of reception.
Immigrants must overcome many barriers to succeed in America. First, migrants frequently must learn a new language. Inability to communicate is a critical barrier for accessing the health care system (Urrutia-Rojas, Marshall, Trevino, Lurie, & Minguia-Bayona, 2006). Second, the processes of work and schooling for themselves and their families can be daunting. Lastly, immigrants use the established social network of longer duration residents for reference and knowledge (Nandi, Galea, Lopez, Nandi, Strongarone, & Ompad, 2008). For purposes of this report, there are three different types of immigrant: legal, undocumented, and refugees or persons seeking asylum. All three types of residents want to succeed and achieve their personal dream.
The current migrant crisis is nothing more than a deliberate misuse of words. In fact, the Migrant Crisis should be renamed the European crisis because media and propaganda are so intent on transferring the center of crisis from the impoverished and war stricken populace of the Middle East to Europe. Various journalists have intentionally manipulated the meaning of the term “migrant” in order to obscure the humanity of countless men, women, and children. In addition, sources define migrants as “invaders coming to strip the European state of its economy and culture”(Geller). They argue that migrants have come to steal the jobs of the natives before them, feed off of the developed country’s insurance, and ultimately, as Viktor Orban, prime minister
Immigration in the United States can be referred to demographic changes resulted to the influx of foreigners to the local community. Immigration to the U.S is primarily responsible for the development of controversial social, economic, and political aspect. These developments are liable for altering settlement patterns, significant social mobility, voting patterns, and increased crime levels. Previously, immigration in the U.S was largely a white-man affair seconded by people from South East Asia; however, recently, leading immigrations are from South American, South Asia, Middle East, and Africa. Quite a significant number of immigrants are illegal; nonetheless, the illegal immigrants can through the immigration policy be naturalized into the nation. More than half of immigrants are in America through family reunification, seconded by employment factors and thirdly, humanitarian reaso...
The principal groups of immigrants into Washington State during the time period of 1895 to 1910 were Scandinavian immigrants, which includes Swedish, Danish and Norwegian people. Washington State by 1910 had greater numbers of immigrants than any other state of the union during 1910. At this time Washington had more immigrants than any other state; fifty percent of the state at that time was Scandinavian immigrants. The Scandinavians that came to Washington wanted to become Americanized. They worked hard at combining the best of their culture with the new culture. This also made the transition and culture shock that many emigrants experience was very minimal. (Dahlie, 1980)
United States usually known as the “melting pot” and it is a typical immigrant country. In the past 400 years, United States has become a mixture of more than 100 ethnic groups. Immigrants bring they own dream and come to this land, some of them looking for better life for themselves and some want to make some money to send back home or they want their children to grow up in better condition. Throughout the history there’s few times of large wave of immigration and it is no exaggeration to say that immigrants created United States. For this paper I interview my neighbor and his immigration story is pretty interesting.
...in European countries and countries. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 52, 115-131. http://cos.sagepub.com/libaccess.lib.mcmaster.ca/content/52/1-2/114. Desmond, S. A., & Kubrin, C. E. (2009). THE POWER OF PLACE: Immigrants.
In efforts to make themselves appear more cosmopolitan and avoid being labeled xenophobic, many Swedes don’t publicly display their national pride, but on certain occasions it comes through, for example on National Day, previously Flag Day, and in international competitions to support athletes, performers, and scholars from Sweden. Despite only displaying it periodically, they always have pride for what their country stands for, especially its humanitarianism (Duxbury, Tidholm and Lilja). None of this conflicts with Swedish cosmopolitan efforts. Citizens are able to celebrate their national identity, promote the national identities of others, and at the same time support human rights in all communities, whatever those locally accepted rights may be. Nussbaum argues that patriotism is “an idealized image of a nation [as] a surrogate parent who will do one’s thinking for one,” (Nussbaum 15). She believes a culture of patriotism allows citizens to reject their moral duties to uphold human rights and instead merely follow whatever their country does. This view is simplistic, patronizing, and pessimistic. Human beings are for the most part too complex to be satisfied with such a one-way relationship. Being proud of one’s country doesn’t blind one to the humanity of those in other
Domosh, Mona, Roderick Neumann, Patricia Price, and Terry Jordan-Bychkov. The Human Mosaic: A Cultural Approach to Human Geography. 11thth ed. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company, 2010. N. pag. Print.
A great event back in the 19th century, were the speech from Abraham Lincoln to declare the slaves free. But still, he didn't want them to have the same social and political rights. The situation got better for the colored people in some parts of the world, but not the same as the white people. This case repeats itself after Luther Martin King had made his famous speech “I have a dream”. The situation got better for colored people, but there was still hatred against colored people, including Sweden.