Introdução ao estudo da migração internacional na Amazônia

Abstract

Despite the importance that international migration has attained in the media and academia worldwide, there are only a few scattered studies on international migration in the Amazon. How is the process of international migration presented in the Amazon and what is its importance in the destiny of the region? This article is an initial approach to that question. The text summarizes results of recent research conducted by the Research Group on Environment, Population and Development in the Amazon (MAPAZ) of the Center for Advanced Amazonian Studies (NAEA) of the Federal University of Pará. First, it discusses the difficulty of defining the Amazon, then some considerations are made about international migration in the Greater Amazon Region, aggregating the accumulated migrants of the national portions, according to the census of population of each country, and, finally, this issue is considered with regard to Brazilian Amazon highlighting countries of birth and the spatial distribution of migrants in the Amazon. In the Amazon the patterns and trends discussed here will become more dynamic and complex as development policies in pursuit of regional integration and economic development advance.