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Definition: boat people from Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

Refugees fleeing by boat. The term originally referred to the thousands of Vietnamese who fled their country by sea following the collapse of the South Vietnamese government in 1975. Crowded into small vessels, they were prey to pirates, and many suffered dehydration, starvation, and death by drowning. The term was later applied to waves of refugees who attempted to reach the U.S. by boat from Cuba and Haiti and also to Afghan and other refugees seeking asylum in Australia.

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boat people

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Illegal emigrants travelling by sea, especially those Vietnamese who left their country after the takeover of South Vietnam in 1975 by North Vietnam. In 1979, almost 69,000 boat people landed in Hong Kong in a single year. By 1988, it was decided to treat all boat people as illegal immigrants unless they could prove they qualified for refugee status. In all, some 160,000 Vietnamese fled to Hong Kong, many being attacked at sea by Thai pirates, and in 1989 50,000 remained there in cramped, squalid refugee camps. The UK government began forced repatriation in 1989, leaving only 18,000 in Hong Kong by 1996. Before taking over Hong Kong in 1997, the Chinese authorities made it clear that they wanted all the Vietnamese cleared out of the territory, although by the end of the year 3,364 refugees were still living there. In January 1998, the Hong Kong Executive Council ended the policy of granting asylum to the boat people. By 1998 some 110,000 boat people had returned to Vietnam, around 87% …
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Full text Article Boat People,

From The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea
refugees who escaped by sea from the Vietnamese communist regime after the fall of Saigon in 1975, a process that continued for about fifteen years. The exodus across the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea began slowly. About 5,240 escaped in 1976, but in 1977 there were 15,690, and in 1978, …
| 650 words
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Full text Article boat people

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Illegal emigrants travelling by sea, especially those Vietnamese who left their country after the takeover of South Vietnam in 1975 by North Vietnam. In 1979, almost 69,000 boat people landed in Hong Kong in a single year. By 1988, it was decided to treat all boat people as illegal immigrants unless…
| 375 words
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Full text Article boat people

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
term used to describe the Indochinese refugees who fled Communist rule after the Vietnam War (1975) in small boats and the many ethnic Chinese who left Vietnam similarly after China's invasion of Vietnam in 1979. More than one million people became refugees. Many perished, and others, upon reaching…
| 243 words
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Full text Article BOAT PEOPLE

From Dictionary of Race, Ethnicity & Culture
The term ‘Boat people’ is used to define migrants ( MIGRANT ) who leave their country of origin illegally by sea using makeshift vessels, often encountering great danger. Historically speaking, the term became widely used on an international basis when the Saigon regime crumbled during the second…
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Full text Article boat people

From Chambers Dictionary of World History
Vietnamese who fled Vietnam by boat after the communist victory in 1975, travelling to Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, and several other parts of South-East Asia. Many died on the long voyages, or were killed by pirates. Voluntary repatriation schemes gained momentum in 1989, and the first involuntary…
| 168 words
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From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
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From Philip's Encyclopedia
| 58 words
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From The Macquarie Dictionary
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From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary
| 9 words

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From The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language
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