A new study reconstructed the migration and mobility patterns of more than 150,000 prominent people for the past two centuries, in order to draw a bigger picture of European and North American cultural history.
Dr. Maximilian Schich, Associate professor of arts and technology from the University of Texas, created a visual presentation of the migration and mobility patterns of early European and North American people. These people transferred from one place to another for at least 2,000 years. The team linked the birth and death of each person to create an interactive map that shows the patterns of migration.
The birth and death data were collected from three databases within networks from North America and Europe. The data showed a pattern of geographical birth and death places. The team followed non-intuitive study patterns, such as the laws of migration, where they found evidence of fluctuations on single locations.
"The study draws a surprisingly comprehensive picture of European and North American cultural interaction that can't be otherwise achieved without consulting vast amounts of literature or combing discrete data sets," Schich said.
The research showed that most migrations depended on money, cultural centers, and economic opportunities. But, these three factors do not always overlap and the population does not automatically influence a location's cultural heritage.
"There is really no average or typical cultural center," Schich said. "As a consequence, cultural historians really need quantification to complement their intuition based on qualitative inquiry."
The researchers admitted that the results of their study might perplex other scientists, due to the massive fluctuations that they have documented. Further analysis is needed to fully understand the pattern of such migration.
Further details of this study were published in the August 4 issue of Science.
