A study of the migration field of St. John's, 1921

Baqee, Abu Helal Md. Abdul (1987) A study of the migration field of St. John's, 1921. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF (Migrated (PDF/A Conversion) from original format: (application/pdf)) - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (26MB) [English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. (Original Version)

Abstract

Using St. John's as the study area, the research demonstrated the migration field of the largest settlement of the island. The pattern indicated that St. John's attracted most of its migrants from the North-East coast, the most populous region of the island. The migration field appeared to be more restricted to the areas of Conception Bay, when the field is mapped by certain categories. The concepts of the "migration field" and the "migration region", however, are interesting but their fullest application appeared to be relatively complicated, especially the "migration region". -- The growth of population of St. John's is traced from the early part of the 19th century to 1921. It appeared that during increasing development in the western part of the island, the proportion of the population on the eastern coast declined substantially, but St. John's did continue its growth throughout the study period. -- The present research examined the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the households with migrants, particular emphasis being given to the migrant members. This examination is followed by a micro-level study of some selected roads and streets. The investigation indicated that the females are more migratory, as usual, than the others - and the greatest propensity of migration is found within the age limit of 20-29 years. In other words, most of the parents in the households were migrant. By occupation the migrant held both higher order professions like business, governmental officials, and the most traditional occupation - fishing and related jobs. Non-migrants appeared to be more characterized by skilled manpower. -- The micro-level investigation of five roads and streets indicated that the Rennies Mill Road and King's Bridge Road were high class residential area with people engaged in the higher order occupations. Water Street appeared to be the locality of business and commerce with smaller households and the highest proportion of migrants. LeMarchant Road was underlined as the middle class residential area with both skilled manpower and professionals. Brazil Square demonstrated the qualities of low class residential areas with highest proportions of boarders. -- In order to understand the migration field some of the selected high-intensity migration field were chosen to demonstrate the socio-economic background of the origin points. The investigation indicated that the religious minorities had the greatest propensity to migrate. An indirect procedure of calculating the period of migration indicated that most of the migrants came to the city at the beginning of the present century. And there was a tendency for the migrants to settle close to the main commercial area. By occupation the skilled manpower were relatively more migratory.

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