A (SHORT) History of...

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A (SHORT) History of...
Diversity in Britain
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• Today we are going to be looking at why Britain
  is such a diverse society by looking at the
  history of migration to the British Isles
• People moving to Britain is not a new thing, it
  has been going on for thousands of years

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3rd Century A.D.
(When the Romans lived here...)
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• One of the first recorded instances of migration
  is an African division of the Roman army who were
  stationed at Hadrians Wall - the 3rd Century.
• The Romans themselves were from Rome in what
  later became Italy rather than Britain, so they
  were emigrants

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4th and 5th Century A.D.
(When the Romans were still here...)
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• During the Roman occupation of Britain it was not
  just people from far away countries that came to
  England.
• This period saw movement within the British Isles
  with people from what became Scotland, Ireland
  and Wales opposing Roman rule

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991 A.D.
(This one's quite local...)
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• In the 10th century we saw a classic example of
  migration right here in Essex.
• The Vikings, from Scandinavia, conquered large
  parts of Britain and one of the key battles was
  in nearby Maldon

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1066
(Quite a famous date...)
Norman
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• Does anyone know what happened in 1066? Show
  picture of Norman The Norman conquest!
• When Harold lost the battle of Hastings, the
  Normans took over large parts of Britain bringing
  with them their language and traditions.
• Lots of people still have French sounding
  surnames these often date back to the Norman
  conquest!

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1656
(Not a lot of people know this...)
Portrait of Oliver Cromwell
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• It wasnt just countries invading that made
  Britain a more diverse place.
• People often came here to avoid religious
  persecution in their own countries.
• A lot of Jewish people moved to Britain in the
  early middle ages because Britain was more
  accepting of their beliefs. They were, however,
  kicked out in 1290, but in 1656 Oliver Cromwell,
  decided they should be allowed to stay.

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18th Century
(So, not a NEW thing...)
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• Religious groups did not just move to Britain to
  escape persecution.
• Some of them chose to move here because they
  hoped for a generally higher quality of life.
• The Muslim population in Britain dates back at
  least to the 18th Century when Muslim sailors
  serving on British merchant ships began settling
  in the port cities of Cardiff, Liverpool, Glasgow
  and London.  
• As of 2001 there were approximately 1.6 million
  Muslims in Britain, making it the largest
  religious minority in Britain.
• So when we see newspaper reports about Muslims
  moving to Britain, it is not a new thing!

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1960s
(After the British Empire kinda shrunk...)
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• From the 15th to the 19th centuries Britain did a
  bit of invading and empire building for itself,
  taking over countries which later became Canada,
  India, Australia and New Zealand, South Africa,
  parts of North Africa and Hong Kong.
• In the late nineteenth and early twentieth
  centuries other countries started to jump on this
  empire-building bandwagon which was one of the
  eventual causes of World War One. After this,
  empires declined with more countries that had
  been ruled by European nations in the past ruling
  themselves independently.
• In the 1960s Britain attracted immigrants from
  former colonies, especially India, Pakistan and
  Bangladesh, who now make up the largest immigrant
  communities. Many came because of the prospects
  of work in industry especially in textiles.

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Diversity in Britain NOT NEW!!
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• So, when you hear about Migrants, Immigrants
  and foreigners coming to this country to live
  just remember that this is not a new idea, it has
  been going on for thousands of years!