ABSTRACT
Islands are invariably and increasingly characterised by migration. Their beaches are real and metaphorical borders, crossing points and new destinies. In many small island states and territories, migration became significant in the 1960s with the 'long boom', rising demand for labour in urban centres and metropolitan states, jet air travel and cheaper fares. In the present century, migration has taken new forms in the wake of global economic shifts. Early colonial times witnessed the forcible migration, initially as slaves, of plantation labourers from Africa and India to the Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius, the Seychelles and Réunion, unpopulated in the pre-colonial era. In the Caribbean, similar processes on most large islands resulted in African slaves, the cargo of the Middle Passage, replacing existing indigenous populations. In the Maldives and Kiribati, it is anticipated that migration may be necessary in the future so that environmental influences will complement and intensify economic and social factors.
