Thinking Of Moving?

Ever since the hominids emerged from the dust they have been moving about.  We are now beginning to realise that these movements could be over long distances.  Also, at one time journeys over water were thought to be highly limited because of the technical and other problems posed.

It is now being argued that the scale of movement and ability to cross different forms of terrain and negotiate the use of both waterways and the sea were a lot greater than assumed.  Our distant ancestors were cleverer than we thought.  They were also very tough and enduring.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/348856/description/Ancient_people_and_Neandertals_were_extreme_travelers

The why’s and wherefore’s of all this are very complicated.  We can assume that the needs for foods and water were paramount but it may be that the need for certain plants and natural deposits could also play a part. 

What is still a matter of debate is how long it took a group to take and extract from its immediate environment most of its food sources etc. and therefore have to move on elsewhere.

There are the problems of contending with other forms of predatory and feeding life and when the human population is growing continually having to contest territory and claims to resources as they collided in their travels.

At some stage farming began and with it more settled locations and communities that developed different structures and thought systems.  Small communities became larger and more complex and greater structures emerged often with a warrior come priestly elite to defend and control their territory.

In our recent history; that is since the last major Ice Age, there has been a huge increase in human population, especially in the last brief period of a couple of hundred years. 

Civilisations and empires, not necessarily the same thing, have risen and fallen; there have been incessant wars, conflicts and troubles with associated human movement.

With modern transport and communications it is now possible to move people on a world scale that would have been impossible in the even near past.  To assume that this can be done without some problems does not fit either the history of movement or the immediate and long term effects. 

This given the pressure on existing resources, food supplies and financial structures will have implications far beyond those assumed in the mid 20^th Century or earlier.  You have only to look at the size, complexity and demands of the growing mega-urban areas to see this.

During our period of Empire it was a matter of pride that the Atlantic Isles, with a relatively small population could both assert global power and export so many of its people, remember the scale of emigration from England was just as much as from other parts.  Now this past has come back to haunt us.

The populations of the Atlantic Isles in the past were a group of minorities collected into one nation state.  As this dissolves, destroyed by the centralised political and financial powers that created it, we are only a collection of small minorities in world terms. 

The last UK government decided that inward migration of multi-million assorted peoples would suit its political interests.  Not only did this add many more minorities, divergent rather than diverse, into the mix, there are now some parts of the Atlantic Isles where those deriving from the 1700-1950 population period of occupation are in the minority.  These are mostly in highly urbanised areas.

Again, with the prospect of human movement increasing well beyond the existing millions the governments of very many countries as well as those of the Atlantic Isles are going to have to face up to the consequences, both human and political.  These are going to be challenging and difficult to control.

Currently, we have a breakdown of administration in London, problems in Dublin and Edinburgh at present is an unknown quantity.  Cardiff is another issue. 

Amongst all the other questions is what happens if one part of the Atlantic Isles attempts to run a population and migration policy different from any of the others.  This suggests strict border controls in one form or another.

For example, will Scotland fence off England or vice versa?