So far and yet so near : Ionian and Maltese migrant networks of support in the southern and eastern countries of the Mediterranean, 1800-1870

Abstract

Island and coastal peoples in the Mediterranean were usually accustomed to migration through having one or more of their household members, relatives, neighbours or friends abroad. And so were the Ionian and Maltese families who by and large engaged in chain-migration networks with specific North African and Levantine ports. Right away it becomes evident that these migrant flows were attracted to customarily receiving territories in geographical proximity to their islands of origin, and this itself substantiates the thesis that in general migrants tended to move "from the known to the known". Finding the underlying connections between this short-distance chain migration, from islands to various hinterland areas, and the migrants' support networks at play, constitutes the chief purpose of this work. Already from this point one can configure the fundamental approach taken by the present study which develops on research and theoretical debates which stress the continuity and the connections involved in migration while, of course, corroborating the criticism posed against D. Handlin and followers who present migrants as undergoing complete detachment from their homeland.