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An émigré is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French émigrer, "to emigrate".

French Huguenots

French Huguenots were forced to leave France following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.

The American Revolution

Many Loyalists that made up large portions of Colonial America, particularly in the South, fled America during and after the American revolution. Common destinations were other parts of the British Empire such as Upper Canada, Nova Scotia, Great Britain, Jamaica, and the British West Indies. The lands left by the fleeing Tories were often awarded by the new government to Patriot soldiers by way of land grants.^[1][2]

The French Revolution

Although the French Revolution began in 1789 as a peaceful, bourgeois-led drive for increased political equality for the Third Estate, it soon turned into a violent popular rebellion. To escape political tensions and sometimes in fear for their lives, some emigrated from France, settling in neighboring countries, chiefly Great Britain, Spain, Germany, Austria, and Prussia. A few also went to the United States.

The Russian Revolution

White Russian émigrés and other opponents of the regime fled the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and its aftermath.^[3]

Marx and Engels, drafting their strategy for future revolutions in The Communist Manifesto, suggested confiscating the property of émigrés to finance the revolution — a recommendation the Bolsheviks followed 70 years later.

After the October Revolution, more than 20,000 Russians went to Finland and Yugoslavia, notably Pyotr Wrangel. Many however moved on to France. Paris was the favourite destination for Russian émigrés. Many others traveled east to China, especially to Shanghai.

Twentieth century émigrés

Aristocrats of some European countries were forced to leave their native lands by political upheavals from the beginning of the 20th century to the end of World War II.

United States

In 2016, 5,411 US citizens living in other countries relinquished their US citizenship.^[4] This is often attributed to extraterritorial laws on US citizens, such as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2010.^{[5][need quotation to verify]}. (In comparison, there were only 235 expatriations in 2008).

South Africa

After the historical electoral victory in South Africa by the ANC (African National Congress) in 1994, a large number of Afrikaners emigrated from South Africa to other countries, citing discrimination in employment and social violence as reasons.^[6]

According to the 2011 Australian census there are 145,683 South African émigrés, born in South Africa, in Australia, of whom 30,291 reside in the city of Perth or greater Perth area.^[7]

Exiles

Unlike émigré, the term exile remains politically neutral and includes people from whatever side of the political spectrum who had to leave their homeland, often for political reasons.

References

External links

Look up émigré in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.