Refugees and history

As we all know refugees is a hot topic issue these days. But this made me wonder how countries, kingdoms and empires in the past dealt with refugees.

To my knowledge the earliest known example is Germans fleeing to Rome because of Atilla the hun, and after that records are mixed. Some claim that Roman mistreated the Germans which lead to revolts, other say the Germans where nothing but problem.

So how has people in the past handled the refugee question?

The UK sent lots of people affected by bombings in both world wars to places like Canada, Australia and even South Africa.

But what about people fleeing Germany and wanted to enter the UK?

Often during wars refugees have come into other empires or countries and historically there isn't much the recieving empire can do to stop them. They either set up camps and things (like they do today) and live, or start living in the empire the settled in as normal. Typically the second choice only occurs in larger empires where the government isnt centralized.

In the past you packed your shit up and left and ultimately settled somewhere else. Quite unlike today's scenario of being imported intentionally and not coming from a conflict zone.

there were large groups of migrants/refugees from armenia/georgia/scotland etc (also tatars) that settled in Poland and formed small communities, they were free to practice their beliefs but were often conscripted at time of war or simply fought as mercenaries, that seemed to be the best use of such minorities at the time (were talking mainly about 16/17 century here)

Usually you rejected them outright or plopped them some where out of the way, like a colony or unused land. It constantly resulted in problems unless hare assimilated though.

Imperial China historically accepted refugees and the state often found use for them. These are usually in the form of nomads, losers of tribal wars in Central Asia, which the Chinese subsequently put to use in their cavalry.

There was also the case of refugee nobility and royalty. Perhaps the most high ranking individual to be a refugee in China was the Sassanid Emperor, who brought with him and some of the Sassanid Nobility, all of whom found refuge in the Tang Dynasty court.

The last Sassanid King of Kings, Peroz III, ended his days as a Chinese general stationed in the western border, where he participated in the campaigns Emperor Gaozong waged vs. the Turkicshits. His son, Prince Narsieh, followed court tradition and was endorsed by his father to become a member of the Imperial Guards. Following his dad's death, Narsieh ended up marrying into the Li clan (the ruling clan of the Tang Dynasty) and adopted their surname, Li.

Generally, the Sassanid aristocracy that were in China were also aristocrats in China, absorbed into their host country as their descendants married into the Chinese elite.

The entire reason for the sack of Rome was because Honorius and his retarded replacement for Stilicho, Olympius, started slaughtering the families of the Gothic soldiers in the Roman army, which caused them to flee and seek refuge with Alaric.

The Romans typically treated barbarians coming into their empire, like the Goths in a more or less practical manner: They were disarmed, forced to swear fealty to the Emperor, and spread out over the frontier to take up empty land and help protect the borders of the Empire. This generally worked up until the late 4th century, when Rome could no longer exert their influence onto the migrating tribes. This is when you get wholly independent warbands wandering around and just kind of doing whatever they want, sometimes helping the Romans, then turning around and sacking a town.

This. There weren't bureaucracies purpose-built to intentionally taxi hostile foreigners into your country. You made temporary holding camps and sent them back when it became clear that either the conflict ended or they were never fleeing a conflict in the first place.