A Brief History of Migration in Greece

Abstract This chapter focuses on Greece’s twentieth and early twenty-first century’s migration history and its population mosaic, elucidating the varied meanings of the Greek identity and introducing key phases of migration and forced displacement towards Greece. It starts with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the Cold War period, and the collapse of the Soviet Union, and it ends with Europe’s ‘migration crisis’ and the failure of New Imperialism. It provides information on the historical background of these migratory movements, the first settlement of these out-groups, and the degree of their integration into the host society. Ultimately, this chapter stresses the circularity that migration history entails under different circumstances, scales, places, and historical periods.