Migration is a historical norm. Even the early settlements in Switzerland at the end of the last Ice Age were the result of migrations. The Swiss mercenaries of the early modern period turned migration into a mass phenomenon. People on the move have connected the country with the rest of the world for millennia. The first comprehensive overview of Swiss migration history focuses on the protagonists: the women and men who set out to seize opportunities through work, trade, or education, to leave behind hopelessness and persecution, and to start a better life. The author and contributors recount the search of the Swiss for work abroad, the rise of Switzerland as a center of the European labor market at the end of the 19th century, and the handling of refugees and labor migrants in the 20th and 21st centuries.