Migration History: Asia & Oceania
A guide to starting research on the various forms of migration of the past and present.
Start Here
The Asia & Oceania tab includes locations to find resources on Asia (particularly South Asia and East Asia) and Oceania (particularly Australia and New Zealand). As coverage is uneven for these regions, I would recommend using general databases to find more specific sources.
Keywords:
For Asian migration due to indentured servitude, search "Coolie."
For migration to Australia and New Zealand, search "Ten Pound Poms Scheme" or "Assisted Migration."
Oceania
- The British Library Endangered Archives Programme"The Endangered Archives Programme seeks to preserve cultural heritage and make it available to as wide an audience as possible. To achieve this we provide grants to applicants to digitise and document archives. ‘Endangered’ means material that is at risk of loss or decay, and is located in countries where resources and opportunities to preserve such material are lacking or limited." Includes interesting documents related to migration and diaspora in remote areas
- Chinese-Australian Historical Images in Australia (CHIA)"The Chinese-Australian Historical Images in Australia (CHIA) database is a catalogue of historical images of Chinese, Chinese immigrants and their descendants held in Australia."
- New Zeland History ImmigrationStatistics and information on immigration to New Zealand
- Victorian immigration and emigration"Find passenger lists and other records of migrants arriving in and leaving Victoria, Australia"
- Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies"We are Australia's only national institution focused exclusively on the diverse history, cultures and heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia. We have a growing collection of over 1 million items encompassing films, photographs, audio recordings, art and artefacts, printed and other resource materials." Includes a digital collection of primary sources and resources for further research.
- Convict Queenslanders"Many convicts who came to Australia went on to become respectful members of society. Convict Queenslanders are people who arrived in Australia as convicts. They then made their way to Queensland where they became a part of the colony's history."
Asia
- Bibliography of Asian Studies This link opens in a new windowMore than one million bibliographic entries on all subjects (especially humanities and social sciences) pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia published worldwide.
South Asia
- South Asia Open Archives InitiativeSouth Asia Open Archives is a free open-access resource for research and teaching - a rich and growing curated collection of key historical and contemporary sources in arts, humanities and social sciences, from and about South Asia.
- Digital Colonial DocumentsA collection of rare seminal documents which were influential in the formation of the notions of nation, state and culture in India during the colonial period.
- India, Raj and Empire This link opens in a new window"Explore the history of South Asia between the foundation of the East India Company in 1615 and the granting of independence to India and Pakistan in 1947, through the wonderfully rich and diverse manuscript collections of the National Library of Scotland." (Adam Matthew) It includes original manuscript material, comprising diaries and journals, official and private papers, letters, sketches, paintings and original Indian documents.
East Asia
- China and the Modern World This link opens in a new windowManuscripts, correspondence, photographs, ephemera, and other historical documents on China in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
- China, America and the Pacific: Trade & Cultural Exchange This link opens in a new window"Explore an extensive range of archival material connected to the trading and cultural relationships that emerged between China, America and the Pacific region between the 18th and early 20th centuries. Manuscript sources, rare printed texts, visual images, objects and maps document this fascinating history." (Adam Matthew) It consists of Module I and Module II.
- CNKI Databases (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) This link opens in a new windowFull text articles from serials recently published in China.
Note: Full text access is available only for the following subject areas: Literature, History, Philosophy and Politics, Military Affairs, and Law in China Academic Journals Full-text (CAJ); the China Doctoral Dissertations Full-text database, and the China Masters' Theses Full-text database (CDMD). - Airiti Library / Huayi Collection This link opens in a new windowFull-text access to Humanities periodicals published in China (China Humanities Periodical Service - CHPS) and Taiwan (Taiwan Humanities Periodical Service - THPS).
- Tibetan and Himalayan LibraryThe Tibetan and Himalayan Library (THL) is a publisher of websites, information services, and networking facilities relating to the Tibetan plateau and southern Himalayan regions. THL promotes the integration of knowledge and community across the divides of academic disciplines, the historical and the contemporary, the religious and the secular, the global and the local.
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