ABSTRACT
The displacement of peoples and individuals is certainly not peculiar to modern West Africa alone. History and legends of creation also remind us that many of the peoples of contemporary West Africa came from regions sometimes far removed from those they are presently occupying. Hence, it is difficult to define migratory phenomena or delineate the precise frontiers. This chapter discusses modern migratory movements. Migratory populations have built up in newly colonized areas and organized societies which were both structured and complete. These societies are often similar to the original societies of the migrants, and in such cases assume much of their character. The conventional approach to migratory phenomena is carried out within a theoretical framework based on the hypothesis that the 'factors' of production are given a priori and geographically distributed unequally, the latter itself also being taken a priori.
