Bumidom: The History of State-Organized Migration from the French Overseas Territories

Bumidom, short for the Office for the Development of Migration in the Overseas Departments, remains a major episode in the social history of France’s overseas territories. Created on June 7, 1963, this scheme facilitated the departure of people from Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion to mainland France, in a context of widespread poverty, unemployment and political tensions.

Officially, it had a twofold objective: to offer an opportunity to young people facing a lack of prospects on their islands and to meet mainland France’s labour needs during the Trente Glorieuses. But for many of those concerned, the experience took the form of lasting uprooting. Between promises of training, often arduous jobs, isolation and discrimination, Bumidom left a deep mark on the family memories of people from the overseas territories.

French departments facing a social crisis

Since 1946, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion have held the status of French departments. This departmentalization did not put an end to economic and social difficulties. During the 1950s and 1960s, local economies remained fragile, notably because of their dependence on certain agricultural products, such as sugar cane and bananas.

Competition from beet sugar then threatened the sugar-cane sector. Strikes multiplied across several sectors. Poverty increased, while a young population entered the labour market in large numbers. Unemployment could reach as high as 40% in the overseas departments mentioned.

This social crisis also unfolded in an international context of decolonization. Independence movements and anticolonial movements gaining ground in several parts of the world fuelled political debate. In Martinique, Guadeloupe and Réunion, social demands and demands for autonomy or independence became more prominent.

Current economic difficulties in the territories concerned are still often analysed in light of these legacies. Dependence on imports, the concentration of certain markets and gaps in living standards remain among the issues raised in debates on the high cost of living in the French Caribbean and French Guiana.

The creation of Bumidom in 1963

Michel Debré, elected in Réunion, created Bumidom on June 7, 1963. The scheme was presented as a way of tackling overseas unemployment through mobility to mainland France. At the same time, mainland France was experiencing a period of growth and was seeking workers.

Communication campaigns promoted departure. France was portrayed as a place of training, employment and social advancement. For many young people, leaving appeared to be a way to escape poverty or the lack of opportunities. Some left their island with a one-way ticket, not knowing when they would be able to see their relatives again.

In Martinique, the pace of departures is sometimes described as particularly sustained, with planes regularly taking young Martinicans to mainland France. Others made a long journey by boat, then continued to Paris by train after disembarking in the south of France.

In total, an estimated 160,000 people from Réunion, Martinique and Guadeloupe left their territory between 1963 and 1982 as part of this migratory movement. This scale explains why Bumidom is now studied not only as an employment policy, but also as a demographic and social transformation of the territories concerned.

Training, low-status jobs and broken promises

Upon arrival, young people from the overseas territories were separated and directed to training centres. Women were frequently trained for domestic work: cooking, serving, ironing, cleaning and household maintenance. Employers would then come to recruit workers for positions as cleaners or domestic servants.

Testimonies have drawn a painful parallel between these recruitment methods and the selection of people reduced to their labour power. This comparison conveys the feeling of dehumanization experienced by some of those concerned; it does not sum up every individual path, but it underscores the symbolic violence associated with certain experiences.

Men were often directed towards arduous jobs or low-status positions, far removed from the occupations that some believed they would be able to access. Expectations of work in administration, healthcare or education did not always match the jobs actually offered. The scheme thus reinforced the idea of a workforce assigned to jobs that mainland French workers did not want to do.

The shock of arrival and isolation

Moving to mainland France was also a cultural and material shock. The cold, separation from family, the discovery of an unfamiliar urban environment and a lack of support made settling in difficult. Some people found themselves alone, sometimes with only basic transport directions, without permanent housing or a support network.

Although they had learned at school that they were French, many encountered a different reality: they were sometimes treated as immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa and were not recognized as French by part of the population. Racism and discrimination in housing and employment intensified the feeling of exile.

In the face of these difficulties, Caribbean and Réunion communities organized themselves. Gatherings, evenings and local networks of mutual support became ways to rebuild connections and form a kind of substitute family. These spaces did not erase the pain, but they enabled many exiles to break out of isolation.

Protest and lasting consequences

In May 1968, Bumidom offices were ransacked amid a wider climate of protest. Criticism was explicit: opponents denounced a disguised colonial policy, the organized displacement of populations and a form of exploitation of overseas labour.

Bumidom subsequently encouraged family reunification, further increasing the number of people from the overseas territories settled in mainland France. Housing was built in working-class neighbourhoods, sometimes in precarious conditions. Meanwhile, the departments of origin lost part of their youth and working population.

The human consequences were severe for some of the people who moved. Testimonies report psychological suffering, extreme isolation, suicides and wages too low to fund regular trips back home. Paid overseas leave was introduced to allow overseas civil servants to return to their territory of origin for two months every three years. However, this measure was seen as insufficient by those who pointed to the absence of a distance allowance for people from the overseas territories living in mainland France, while mainland French civil servants working overseas could receive one.

In the early 1980s, rising unemployment in mainland France changed the context. François Mitterrand definitively ended Bumidom in 1983. A large proportion of those who had left did not return to settle permanently on their home island, or did so only upon retirement. Some returns were themselves difficult, with people feeling judged by relatives or residents who may have interpreted their departure as abandonment.

Why Bumidom remains an essential subject

Bumidom did not eliminate the structural difficulties of the overseas territories. Instead, it moved part of the population to mainland France while meeting metropolitan labour needs. Its history sheds light on contemporary debates about substantive equality, employment, constrained mobility and relations between the state and the overseas territories.

It is part of a longer history of relations of domination and colonial legacies. The mechanisms of economic dependence, social hierarchy and the constrained movement of populations are also central to reflections on colonial expansion, expropriation and racialization.

Understanding Bumidom also means recognizing that behind the figures are individual lives: rushed departures, separated families, disappointed expectations, but also solidarities built far from home. This memory remains inseparable from debates on the high cost of living, unemployment and the feeling of abandonment expressed in several overseas territories.

Bumidom FAQ

What was Bumidom?

Bumidom was the Office for the Development of Migration in the Overseas Departments. Created in 1963, it organized the relocation of many people from Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion to mainland France.

Why was Bumidom created?

Officially, the scheme aimed to reduce unemployment in the overseas departments and to meet mainland France’s labour needs during the Trente Glorieuses.

When did Bumidom end?

Bumidom was permanently abolished in 1983, in a context of rising unemployment in mainland France.