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This article concerns the history of immigration and contemporary immigration to what is now known as the United Kingdom. You may also wish to see Immigration to Ireland.
The United Kingdom has had a long history of immigration, from the Beaker people of the 3rd millennium BC, to the waves of invasions by the Roman Empire, the Anglo-Saxons and Normans, to the settlement of people arriving from the Colonies in the 19th and 20th centuries and finally to modern immigration.
The history of immigration to the United Kingdom is, essentially, the history of the development of the United Kingdom itself, making it what it is today. It is fair to say that the ancestors of most people living in the United Kingdom today were immigrants at one time or another throughout history.
Historical immigration (prior to 1066)
Ice Age
Modern humans arrived in what would become the United Kingdom 35,000 years ago. During the following Ice Age they may have been forced out, returning 10,000 years ago as the Ice Age ended. As sea levels rose these first immigrants would have been isolated from mainland Europe.
The Beaker people
Defined by a style of pottery from the 3rd millennium BC found across most of Europe in archæological digs the Beaker people represent early immigration to the United Kingdom although not as a mass migrationary group.
It was originally thought that the settlers that came with these beakers also had other defining features that show they are distinctive from earlier dwellers of the British Isles, such as the development of metalworking and the mode of burial of the dead that came into use at about this time. However it is generally accepted by archeologists today that the beakers and other artefacts found across Europe that are attributed to the Beaker people are indicative of the development of particular manufacturing skills, possibly by the influence of neighbouring peoples, rather than as a result of mass migrations that spread independently of any population movement.
Therefore although this represents the earliest known migration of people to the United Kingdom this migration was on a much smaller scale than other migrationary groups that came later.
Celtic settlement
The Celts were a number of interrelated peoples in central Europe sharing a branch of Indo-European languages indicative of a common origin. The first literary reference to the Celtic people, as keltoi or hidden people, is by the Greek Hecataeus in 517 BC. It is estimated that the Celtic people arrived in Britain between 1500 BC and 400 BC.
The conventional historical view holds that the Celtic influence in the British Isles was the result of successive invasions from the European continent by diverse Celtic-speaking peoples over the course of several centuries.
The nature of their interactions with the indigenous populations of the isles is unknown. However, by the Roman period most of the inhabitants of the Isles were speaking Goidelic or Brythonic languages with close counterparts to Gaulish languages spoken on the European mainland. The degree to which the spread of Celtic languages was due to peaceful cultural interaction, or to military conquest, is a debated point among historians. The relative paucity of surviving information about the inhabitants of the British Isles prior to Celtic influence suggests conquest.
Roman Empire's invasion of Britain
The first Roman invasion of the British Isles was led by Julius Caeser in 55 BC; the second a year later in 54 BC. Although no territory was taken for the Roman Empire in either conquest, this was the start of Roman settlement of Britain. The Romans had many supporters among the Celtic tribal leaders, who agreed to pay tributes to Rome in return for Roman protection.
The invasion at which the Romans took control of the British Isles took place in 44, led by Claudius. Initially an oppresive rule, gradually the new leaders gained a firmer hold on their new territory which at one point stretched from the south coast of England to Wales and as far away as Scotland (though they didn't hold the latter for long).
Over the 400 years of Roman occupation of Britain the majority of settlers were soldiers garrisoned on the mainland. It was with constant contact with Rome and the rest of Romanised Europe through trade and industry that the native Britons themselves adopted Roman culture and customs.
Arrival of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes
Germanic (Frankish) mercenaries were employed in Gaul by the Roman empire and it is speculated in a similar manner, the first Germanic immigrants to Britain arrived at the invitation of the ruling classes. The traditional division into Angles, Saxons and Jutes is first seen in the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum by Bede, however historical and archæological research has shown that a wide range of Germanic peoples from the coast of Frisia, Lower Saxony, Jutland and Southern Sweden moved to Britain in this era.
After the withdrawal of the last legions from Britain by Honorius in the early 5th century, the number of newcomers increases, and it is speculated that relations with the ruling Romanised Britons became strained. By about 449 open conflict has broken out, and the immigrants began to establish their own kingdoms in what would eventually become the Heptarchy
Arrival of the Scots
During the 5th century, the Dalriadan Scots started raiding north-western Britain from their base in north-east Ireland. After the Roman withdrawal this developed from piracy to full-scale invasion and within a hundred years they had established a kingdom in Argyll.
Viking raids
The earliest date given for a Viking raid of Britain is 789, when according to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, Portland was attacked. A more reliable report dates from June 8, 793, when the monastery at Lindisfarne on the east coast of England was pillaged by foreign seafarers. These raids, that extended well into the 9th century, were gradually followed by a succession of settlers, bringing with them a culture and a tradition markedly different from that of the prevalent Anglo-Saxon society. These enclaves rapidly expanded, and soon the viking warriors were establishing areas of control to such an extent that they might reasonably be described as kingdoms.
The Danelaw, established through the viking conquest of large parts of England, was formally established as a result of the Treaty of Wedmore in the late 9th century, after Alfred the Great had defeated the Viking Guthrum at the Battle of Edington. The Danelaw represented a consolidation of power for Alfred; the subsequent conversion of Guthrum to Christianity underlines the ideological significance of this shift in the balance of power. The Danelaw was gradually eroded by Anglo-Saxon raids in later years.
In parts of England today the influence of the vikings can still be seen, particularly in place names in the east midlands and the north.
Historical immigration (1066–1875)
Norman invasion
The Norman invasion of Britain is normally considered the last successful attempt in history by a foreign army to take control of the Kingdom of England by means of military occupation. From the Norman point of view, William the Conqueror was considered the legitimate heir to the realm (as explained in the Bayeux Tapestry), and the invasion was required to secure this against the usurpation of Harold Godwinson.
In the years following the invasion to 1204, Normandy and England kept their close connection. This was in part secured by granting aristocrats lands in both domains, giving an incentive on all levels to maintain the union. The influx of Norman military and ecclesiastical aristocracy changed the demographic nature of England, leading to the creation of an Anglo-Norman population.
There was further immigration and emmigration during the time of the Angevin Empire from much of the west coast of France. After the loss of much of the Angevin lands in 1202 the strong trade links between Gascony and England led to a flow of people between the lands.
Huguenots
The Huguenots, French protestants facing a new wave of persecution, began arriving in England in numbers around 1670. King Charles II offered them sanctuary, and in all some 40–50,000 arrived. Many settled in the Spitalfields area of London, and, being former silk-weavers, brought new energy to this industry in the area and raised silk to an important fashion item in Britain. It has been estimated that as many as a quarter of London's population today have a Huguenot ancestor.
Historical immigration (1875 to the modern day)
Russian Jews
England has had small Jewish communities for many centuries, subject to occasional explusions, but British Jews numbered fewer than 10,000 at the start of the 19th century. After 1881 Russian Jews suffered bitter persecutions, and British Jews led fund-raising to enable their Russian co-religionists to emigrate to the USA. However, out of some 2,000,000 who left Russia by 1914, around 120,000 settled permanently in Britain. One of the main concentrations was the same Spitalfields area where Huguenots had earlier congregated. Immigration was reduced by the 1905 Aliens Act and virtually curtailed by the 1914 Aliens Restriction Act.
Empire & Commonwealth
During this period the British Empire covered most of the globe, at its peak over a third of the world's people lived under British rule. Both during this time, and following the granting of independence to most colonies after World War II, the vast majority of immigrants to the UK were from either current or former colonies, most notably those in the Caribbean and Indian Sub-Continent. These people filled a gap in the UK labour market for unskilled jobs and many people were specifically brought to the UK on ships such as the Windrush.
In 1962 legislation was passed by the UK government restricting the freedom of passage into the UK from other parts of the Commonwealth. By 1972 only holders of work permits, or people with parents or grandparents born in the UK could gain entry - effectively stemming primary immigration from Commonwealth countries.
Second World War
Following the end of the Second World War, substantial groups of people from Soviet controlled territories settled in Britain, particularly Poles and Ukrainians. Numbers of former German prisoners of war also decided to remain in Britain after marrying local girls. There was an influx of refugees from Hungary following the crushing of the 1956 Hungarian revolution.
Western Europeans
In the latter part of the century the number of immigrants from Europe increased, particularly as the expansion of the European Union meant that citizens of EU member states were now free to live and work without restriction in other member states.
Contemporary immigration
Refugees ('Asylum seekers')
Whilst the UK is a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, the intake of refugees and asylum seekers is currently a very controversial political issue; most of the mainstream political parties have espoused various policies in the hope of being perceived as being "tough on asylum" and the tabloid media frequently print headlines about an "immigration crisis". This is denounced by those opposed to tighter controls on immigration as disproportionate, often with the implicit or explicit allegation that all opposition to high levels of immigration is based on racism, and that other arguments used by their opponents, such as housing shortages and the general overcrowding of the United Kingdom, are no more than a screen for this underlying motivation. This assumption is strongly denied by many.
In 2003 Prime Minister Tony Blair dramatically promised on television to reduce the number of asylum seekers by half, apparently catching unawares the members of his own government with responsibility for immigration policy. This objective was met according to official figures, but the non-liberal media in the United Kingdom is extremely cynical about the way official figures are calculated, alleging that large numbers of asylum seekers "slip through the net". Also, the press frequently denounces the low proportion of failed asylum seekers who are actually expelled from the United Kingdom.
Economic migrants
Britain has a system in place whereby economically active migrants can secure visas to work in the country. A major political scandal occurred in early 2004 when a civil servant leaked official documents revealing that ministers had condoned abuses of the procedures for Romanian immigrants so that official figures would misrepresent the scale of the issue, and a minister was forced to resign.
Expansion of the EU, 2004
With the expansion of the EU on May 1 2004, it was a worry (especially by the right-wing newspapers) that there would be a "flood of immigrants" from the poorer Eastern EU nations who would now have a right to live and work in the United Kingdom. In response to this concern the Labour government brought in legislation requiring that workers register upon entry to the country.
In the five months from May to October 2004, 90,950 people registered under this scheme, a majority Polish (56%) with smaller numbers of Lithuanians (17%), Slovaks (10%), Latvians, Czechs, Hungarians and Estonians (all under 10%). However around 45% of those registering were already resident in the UK, possibly having been working illegally prior to May 1.
Laws concerning immigration and naturalisation
- Aliens Act 1905
- Aliens Restriction Act 1914
- Aliens Act 1919
- Polish resettlement Act 1947
- Commonwealth Immigration Act 1962
- Immigration Act 1971
- Carriers' Liability Act 1987
- Dublin Convention 1990
- Immigration and Asylum Appeals Act 1993
- Asylum and Immigration Act 1996
- Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- Nationality, Asylum and Immigration Act 2002
Effect of immigration on society and culture
See also
External links
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