Juan Alvarado
War, poverty, repression: Why so many Africans risk their lives to migrate
By Carol J. Williams
Geography 155
Winter 2014

In this article we are able to distinguish for what reasons many people risk their lives to migrate somewhere else in search for a better future. There are many reasons why many people migrate from their home country. It can be due to the economic, cultural, or environmental issues that one encounters, which are called push and pull factors. In this case many Africans are migrating from their homelands because of economic issues and forced migration. There’s not enough jobs and food to survive and some simply cant live in a certain place due to the violence and are forced to leave as refugees. This article explains why many people have to take their chances to seek a better life despite the circumstances that await them. Recently, many Africans have died in the Mediterranean Sea trying to get to Europe. In the year of 2013 the biggest and most tragic Mediterranean accident occurred. Several African lives were perished and those who did survive knew how to swim or Italy’s rescue crew were able to help them. There was an estimate of about five hundred people in the boat that wasn’t well prepared to travel across the sea. As mentioned in the book The Cultural Landscape, people leave for many reasons and these African people who chose migrate were living a life full of poverty and violence. The violence that they were encountering was because of the Islamic militants that had been tormenting them. Many of the Africans who have been migrating to Europe, do so for this specific reason. People are willing to take their chances by traveling across the dangerous Mediterranean Sea in order to start a new life. This seems like the only option they have, either they stay in their home country and die through violence, or they at least give it a try to look for a brighter future. There has been far more migrants in Europe than the last couple of years. Africans aren’t the only ones who migrate to Europe. According to this article by the Los Angeles Times, a large number of Syrians have also been migrating to Europe. These Syrians are mainly from Damascus who fled from their country as refugees because of the civil war occurring in their country. They don’t want to be exposed to the dangerous acts of the government. Now that Syrians are also migrating to Europe, the number of migrants of 2012 has increased dramatically in the year of 2013, with Somalis and Eritreans