British immigration and multi-culturalism

By juliegrave
  • 250

    The early story

    1. Celtic and pict tribes
    2. Romans
    3. Germanic tribes
      (Jutes, Angles, Saxons)
    4. Vikings
    5. The Norman Conquest
  • Period: 250 to

    British immigration and multi-culturalism

    Firstly, celtic and pict tribes arrived and formed the first communities in the British Isles. Then came the Romans. Four hundred years after the Jutes, Angles and Saxons colonised modern-day southern England, the Vikings arrived, bringing a distinctive new influence to the cultural pot. The Vikings' sphere of influence was northern Britain and modern-day East Anglia. The most dramatic of these immigrations was the Norman Conquest in 1066.
  • Middle Ages
    Jan 15, 1500

    Middle Ages

    1. Africian drummers Europeans established plantations in the America --> slaves.
    2. The Portuguese and Spanish began buying slaves
    3. Black slaves began appearing in wealthy households in England.
    4. Legal debate which amounted to nothing.

  • Early eighteenth century

    1. The United Kingdom won more access to the New World and its riches.
    2. Merchants from Liverpool, Bristol, Glasgow and London rapidly expanded the slave trade and increased the number of African men, women and children resident in Britain.
    3. The abolitionists won a minor point that a slave could not be forcibly transported from England. But in practice it made little difference to their lives.

  • Protest

    1. In 1807, Parliament banned the trade - but not slavery itself.
    2. In 1833, Parliament finally banned all slavery across the British Empire.
    3. Wealthy families brought Indian servants to Britain.
    4. Cama and Company became the first Indian merchant to open offices in London and Liverpool.
    5. lack and Chinese seamen began putting down the roots of small communities in British ports,
    6. Between 1830 and 1850, tens of thousands of Irish arrived in Britain, fleeing poverty at home.

  • Second World War

    1. he government began looking for immigrants, because of labour shortages.
    2. Some 157,000 Poles were the first groups to be allowed to settle in the UK.
    3. Many men from the West Indies had fought for the "mother country".
    4. Their sense of patriotism, coupled with the need to find work, steered them towards the UK.
    5. The government could not recruit enough people from Europe and turned to these men.
    6. june 1948, the Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury in London, delivering men from India.

  • Immigration continues

    1. Birmingham, Nottingham and west London experienced rioting as white people feared the arrival of a black community.
    2. Legislation had allowed people from the Empire and Commonwealth unhindered rights to enter Britain.
    3. Under political pressure, the government legislated to make immigration for non-white harder.
    4. children born to white families in the remnants of Empire or the former colonies could enter Britain. Their black counterparts could not.

  • Restricted immigraiton

    1. Some 83,000 immigrants from the Commonwealth settled in the UK between 1968 and 1975.
    2. The Ugandan dictator General Idi Amin expelled 80,000 African Asians from the country,
    3. In 1976 the government established the Commission for Racial Equality, the statutory body charged with tackling racial discrimination.
    4. In 1978 Viv Anderson became the first black footballer to be selected for the full England team and went on to win 30 caps.

  • 1980's

    1. Immigration policy had to prongs. First: there were strict controls on entry. Second: the state said it would protect the rights of ethnic minorities.
    2. the largest immigrant groups were Americans (to banking and industry), Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans making use of family-ties entry rules, and South Asian men and women entering the medical professions.
    3. The riots of 1981 were largely sparked by racial issues.

  • Non-white politicans

    1. On 11 June 1987, the face of British politics changed when four non-white politicians were elected at the same General Election.
    2. The inquiry into the police's handling of the 1993 murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence led directly to new anti-discrimination legislation passed in 2000.
    3. n the years following the fall of the Iron Curtain, a new movement of people began, some fleeing political persecution, others seeking a better life in western Europe.

  • Asylum seekers

    1. Between 1998 and 2000, some 45,000 people arrived from Africa, 22,700 from the Indian sub-continent, 25,000 from Asia and almost 12,000 from the Americas. Some 125,000 people were allowed to settle in the UK in 2000.
    2. But the rise in asylum seeker arrivals has seen a rise in racial tensions.

  • far-right British National Party

    1. In May 2002 the far-right British National Party won three local council seats, a year after racial tensions and were blamed for riots in northern towns.
    2. The government's plans for a new nationality and immigration legislation, including a possible citizenship test, sparked new controversy.
    3. Fifty years after the start of mass immigration to the UK, questions are still being asked about whether or not the UK can become a multi-ethnic society at ease with itself.