Historical immigration to Great Britain concerns the inward movement of people, cultural and ethnic groups into island Great Britain before 1922, Immigration during and after 1922 is dealt with at the article Immigration to the United Kingdom (1922-present day).
Modern humans first arrived in Great Britain during the Palaeolithic era, but until the arrival of the Romans (1st century BC) there was no historical record. With the fall of the Roman Empire, Anglo-Saxons (c. 5th century AD) and Vikings (8th century AD) migrated to Great Britain. In 1066, the Normans successfully took control of England and, in subsequent years, there was some migration from France. In the 19th century, immigration by people outside Europe began on a small scale as people arrived from the British colonies. This increased during the 20th century.
DNA provides a direct record of the effects of immigration on the population. Studies of DNA suggest that the biological influence on Britain of immigration from the Norman conquests up till the 20th century was rather small; marked more by stability than change.
Read more about Historical Immigration To Great Britain: Prehistoric Settlement
Famous quotes containing the words historical, immigration and/or britain:
“Historical! Must it be historical to catch your attention? Even though historicity, like notoriety, denotes nothing more than that something has occurred.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“The admission of Oriental immigrants who cannot be amalgamated with our people has been made the subject either of prohibitory clauses in our treaties and statutes or of strict administrative regulations secured by diplomatic negotiations. I sincerely hope that we may continue to minimize the evils likely to arise from such immigration without unnecessary friction and by mutual concessions between self-respecting governments.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“I’ th’ world’s volume
Our Britain seems as of it, but not in’ t;
In a great pool a swan’s nest.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)