"We celebrate the diversity in our country, get strength from the cultures and the races that go to make up Britain today." Prime Minister Tony Blair, 2 October 2001

People from all cultures and ethnicities can be found in every corner of Britain and each person in his or her own way has contributed to make Britain the place it is today.

If you walk down a street in Britain, especially in the bigger cities you will usually see people with different hair, skin and eye colours. They may have white, brown or black skin and blonde, brown, black, or red hair, with blue, black, brown or green eyes. Many of the people you will see will be British people but they all look different because the people of Britain are a mixed race.

Not all British people are Christian and/or White

How Britain became a mixed race society

Britain is and has always been a mixed race society. Early in our history we were invaded by Romans ( ) , Saxons ( ), Vikings ( ) and Normans () armies and later Africans were brought to Britain by force in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as slaves or servants. Over the years, thousands of people have arrived in Britain as refugees from France, Ireland, Russia, and other countries, escaping from persecution or famine in their own countries.

See immigrant timeline lower down the page.

There are British people whose parents first came to Britain in the 1950s and 1960s from the Caribbean, India, Pakistan, Hong Kong and other places. Their homes are mainly in the big English cities like London, Birmingham and Manchester.

About 8% of the population of Britain today are people from other cultures and ethnicities. That is 4.6 million people.

According to a BBC Report in September 2005, immigration made up more than half of Britain's population growth from 1991 to 2001.
Read more

The Guardian newspaper reported in 2007 that the latest government estimate for long-term net immigration to the UK is 145 000 a year.

New Cultures

People moving to Britain have brought their own cultures and try to keep two cultures alive. An excellent example of this is the Notting Hill Carnival which is celebrates the Caribbean Culture and is now a very big part of the British life today.

250 different languages are spoken in London every day.

Timeline: Immigration to Britain
1100s	Merchants from Netherlands and settle
1500s	Queen Mary marries Philip of Spain Dutch and French Protestants settle
1600s	Asians brought to England as Slaves
1700s	Refugees from the French revolution (1789) arrive First records of Chinese sailors in London
1800s	Jewish arrivals fleeing persecution in Poland, Ukraine and Belarus. Irish settlers escaping poverty during the famine in Ireland. Trade brings Indian and Chinese people to main ports Jews flee to UK from Russia and Poland
1900s	1914 - More than 250,000 Belgian refugees fled to the UK, escaping the fighting of the First World War. 1930s - Refugees from Nazi oppression arrive in the UK 1940 - 1960 - Polish people homeless because of the War, invited to come to UK 1948 - The boat Windrush brings 492 Jamaicans to the UK – thousands more follow Immigration from Caribbean encouraged to help rebuild post-war Britain 1950s and 60s - Settlers from other new Commonwealth nations arrive – India, Pakistan and Bangladesh 1970s - East African, Asians and Vietnamese arrive 1972 - Asians expelled from Uganda; 27000 admitted to UK 1980s - African community expands Refugees arrive from Eastern Europe – Romania and former Yugoslavia 1991 - Break up of the government of Somalia lead to 7,500 applications being made to the UK many of which are accepted. 1992 - 1997 - 2,500 Bosnians enter the UK as refugees following the break up of former Yugoslavia 1999 - Renewed heavy fighting in Sri Lanka leads to 5,130 applications for asylum being made to the UK.

Population by Ethnic Group, April 2001:

	Total Population		Minority ethnic population
	Thousands	per cent	per cent
White	54,154	92.1
Mixed	677	1.2	14.6
Asian or Asian British
Indian	1,053	1.8	22.7
Pakistani	747	1.3	16.1
Bangladeshi	283	0.5	6.1
Other Asian	248	0.4	5.3
Black or Black British
Black Caribbean	566	1.0	12.2
Black African	485	0.8	10.5
Black Other	98	0.2	2.1
Chinese	247	0.4	5.3
Other	231	0.4	5.0
All minority ethnic population	4,635	7.9	100
All population	58,789	100

People from minority ethnic groups were more likely to live in England than in the rest of the United Kingdom. They made up 9 per cent of the population of England in 2001 compared with 2 per cent of the population of both Wales and Scotland and 1 per cent of the population of Northern Ireland . Nearly half (45 per cent) of the total minority ethnic population live in London.

For more information visit:

The British Studies website

The Moving Here website
Moving Here gives free access to around 200,000 digitised items on the history of migration to England over the last 200 years. Items ranging from official documents, newspapers and maps to oral histories, film clips, photographs and objects.