Grade 9 · Social Studies · Unit 6 of 8
Migration & Population
Why people move and populations grow
What your child practises
Push and pull factors, famine, gold rushes and urbanization, why the world's population grew in the 1800s, and how migration to Canada and BC shaped communities.
BC Curriculum learning standard: Global demographic shifts, including patterns of migration and population growth
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Why did cities grow so fast during the Industrial Revolution?
- Railways were removed.
- Farms became larger.
- Cities lowered their taxes.
- People moved from the countryside to find factory work.
Show answer
People moved from the countryside to find factory work.
Hint: Urbanization is the growth of towns and cities.
Question 2
Push factor or pull factor? Sort each reason for migrating.
Sort into: 👋 Push factor · 🧲 Pull factor
- 🏚️no jobs in the village
- 🏭factories are hiring workers
- 👨👩👧relatives already live there
- 🪙gold is found in a river
- 🚪persecution for religious beliefs
- 🌾cheap farmland is offered
- 🥔a crop failure causes famine
- 💥war breaks out at home
Show answer
👋 Push factor: no jobs in the village, persecution for religious beliefs, a crop failure causes famine, war breaks out at home · 🧲 Pull factor: factories are hiring workers, relatives already live there, gold is found in a river, cheap farmland is offered
Hint: Push factors make people want to leave (famine, war, no work). Pull factors attract them to a new place (jobs, land, safety, freedom).
Question 3
Why does migration change the places people leave and the places they arrive?
- It stops trade.
- It changes populations, cultures, languages and economies in both places.
- It changes nothing.
- It only changes weather.
Show answer
It changes populations, cultures, languages and economies in both places.
Hint: Migration moves people, skills and traditions.
Question 4
Why did about a million people leave Ireland in the late 1840s?
- A potato blight caused a famine.
- They wanted to build railways.
- A gold rush began.
- Ireland had no schools.
Show answer
A potato blight caused a famine.
Hint: Many Irish people emigrated to Canada, the United States and elsewhere to survive.
Question 5
What drew thousands of people to the Fraser River and the Cariboo region in 1858?
- a new railway
- a shortage of workers in cities
- cheap farmland on the Prairies
- the gold rush
Show answer
the gold rush
Hint: Miners from California, China and elsewhere came to BC, which helped lead to the creation of the colony of British Columbia in 1858.
Question 6
How did many Chinese migrants contribute to BC's early economy?
- They worked in gold fields, mines and on the railway.
- They were never in BC.
- They built the legislature.
- They ruled the colony.
Show answer
They worked in gold fields, mines and on the railway.
Hint: They often faced discrimination, low pay and unfair laws such as the Head Tax.