Migration in the Swiss Alps and Swiss Jura from the Middle Ages to the mid-20th century: a brief review

Abstract

This paper aims at retracing the important phases of migrations in thealpine regions and the Jura from the Middle Ages up to the middle of the20th century. Migration has always functioned as a necessary complementto the resources of the inhabitants of the upland regions and itincreases when the economic disparity with the lowlands becomes moremarked. A striking characteristic of such migration is the greatdiversity that can be observed, since not only the destinations of themigrants varied from community to community, but also different forms ofmobility coexisted within the same territory. Migration might beseasonal, pluriannual, lifelong or even definitive. It is also notablethat the various types of migration can be observed to be part of aplurisecular tradition, apart from some significant exceptions, such asthe emigration of the Walser, enforced migrations and the new types ofmigration as from the second half of the nineteenth century. Themobility of part of the population was also a consequence ofmodifications deriving from changes in the prevalent type of production(animal husbandry instead of the cultivation of cereals), as well asfrom demographic factors. In addition to these factors one can observethe role played by political institutions throughout the period understudy: seigneurial power in the Middle Ages, the communal and cantonalinstances until the second half of the nineteenth century, andafterwards the federal authorities.