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Greater London covers square miles, however up until the 17th century the capital was largely crammed into a single square mile, marked by the skyscrapers of the financial City today. The visualisation, originally created for the Almost Lost exhibition by the Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis Casa , explores the development of the city through the evolution of the road network and preserved buildings.

Unlike other historical cities such as Athens or Rome, where there is an obvious patchwork of areas from different periods, London's scheduled sites and listed buildings are individual structures, in many cases assembled gradually by parts from many different periods. Those who try to locate different historic structures will know that these features appear as pieces of different jigsaw puzzles, scattered across the contemporary city.

The animation took nine months to make, using a variety of methods and data from several sources. The Museum of London Archaeology provided datasets for the Roman and Medieval periods as well as the 17th and early 18th centuries. In the visualisation, new road segments appear gradually over an image of faded contemporary London. For each period, gradually enlarging yellow points highlight statutorily protected buildings and structures. We are currently working on a 3D version. The greatest preserved feature of the city is its own urban fabric.

Such claims were later proven false, but this was just one more obstacle for the blacks in London to hurdle over. The late 19th century effectively ended the first period of black immigration to London in notable numbers to Britain.

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This decline in immigration gave way to the gradual incorporation of blacks and their descendants into this overwhelmingly white society. During the midth century there were restrictions on African immigration. In the later part of the 19th century there was a buildup of small groups of black dockside communities in towns such as Canning Town , [9] Liverpool , and Cardiff.

This was a direct effect of new shipping links that were established with the Caribbean and West Africa.

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Despite social prejudice and racist discrimination in Victorian England, some nineteenth-century black people living in England achieved exceptional success. Pablo Fanque , born poor as William Darby in Norwich, rose to become the proprietor of one of Britain's most successful Victorian circuses. After his father's death he was freed and inherited a fortune. One of the leaders in 19th century chartism was William Cuffay , who was born on a merchant ship in the West Indies in , and whose father, had been a slave in St Kitts.

World War I was another small growth period for blacks in London. Their communities grew with the arrival of merchant seaman and soldiers. At the same time there is also a continuous presence of small groups of students from Africa and the Caribbean slowly immigrating into London.

Ethnic groups in London - Wikipedia

Many black people from the Caribbean and West Africa arrived in small groups of troops as wartime workers, merchant seamen, and servicemen from the army, navy, and air forces. It is estimated that approximately 10, black people mostly from around the British Empire lived in communities concentrated in the dock areas of the cities of London, Liverpool and Cardiff in total.

He stood up for his rights and later was awarded compensation. That particular example is used by some to illustrate the slow change from racism towards acceptance and equality of all citizens in London. In , it was estimated there were no more than 20, non-White residents in the United Kingdom, mainly in England; almost all born overseas. These passengers settled in the area of Brixton which is now a prominently Black district in Britain.

From the s into the s, there was a mass migration of workers from all over the English-speaking Caribbean, particularly Jamaica ; who settled in the UK. There was a continuous influx of African students, sportsmen, and businessmen mixed within British society. In , the Commonwealth Immigrants Act was passed in the UK along with a succession of other laws in , , and that severely restricted the entry of Black Caribbean immigrants into the United Kingdom. During this period, it is widely argued that emergent Blacks and Asians struggled in Britain against racism and prejudice.

In , a new voice emerged for the Black population of London; his name was David Pitt and he brought a new voice to the House of Lords. He spoke against racism and for equality in regards to all residents of Britain. All were candidates from the Labour Party , and out of these three people; Abbott holds the distinction of being the first Black British woman to be elected to the House of Commons and is also the only one to still be an MP to the present day, as Grant died in and Boateng stood down in By the end of the twentieth century, the number of Black Londoners numbered half a million, according to the UK Census.


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An increasing number of these Black Londoners were London, or British-born. Even with this growing population and the first Blacks elected to the UK Parliament, many argue that there was still discrimination and a socio-economic imbalance in London among the Black community. Fostering the Next Generation of National Cosmopolitans? Moore wrote that the borough "does not immediately show signs of hosting a German community" due to a lack of obvious German businesses and storefronts, [8] but that most residents know of the location of the DSL and that there are "more subtle signs of German presence.

German expatriates are located throughout London.

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Some of them do not go to the Borough of Richmond upon Thames even though the centre of the German community is located there. According to a City of London Corporation sponsored report, [17] there are between , and , Greek speakers in Greater London.

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British Indians have long been one of London's largest ethnic minority groups and in over , Indians were residing in London this excludes people of half or less Indian origin. Indians have been in the British capital for generations and come from all walks of life. Irish migration to Great Britain has a lengthy history due to the close proximity of, and complex relationship between, the islands of Ireland and Great Britain and the various political entities that have ruled them.

Today, millions of residents of Great Britain are either from the island of Ireland or have Irish ancestry. This has since become an important landmark in the history of modern multicultural Britain. During the post World War II era, the presence of these immigrants was requested to help reconstruct the British economy. Some , Londoners are of Jamaican origin. Language, Culture and Identity in the Japanese Diaspora , stated that there is no particular location for the Japanese community in London, but that the families of Japanese "company men" have a tendency of living in North London and West London.

Japanese restaurants and shops are located around these groups of Japanese people. As of there were about 10, ethnic Koreans in New Malden proper, [23] and as of the same year the Korean population in the area around New Malden is around 20,, including about originating from North Korea , giving it the largest group of North Koreans in Europe.

The New Malden area has Korean-language churches and nursery schools as well as restaurants and shops with Korean clientele. Many Koreans settled the New Malden in the s due to the ambassador's location. London houses the largest ethnic Lithuanian population outside Lithuania , numbering 40, — 80, The Lithuanian community in London, however, goes back to at least the early 20th century. Most of the community came in a wave of Eastern European immigration in the s, after Lithuania joined the European Union.


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London in particular the southern boroughs is home to the largest Nigerian community in the UK, and possibly the largest overseas Nigerian community in the world. The first Nigerians in London were those caught up in the slave trade over years ago. In the midth century a wave of Nigerian immigrants came to London after hearing of the need for more skilled workers.

Civil and political unrest in the country contributed to numerous refugees arriving in England. Peckham also known as Little Lagos and Yorubatown is home to one of the largest overseas Nigerian communities in the world; many of the local establishments are Yoruba-owned.

Nigerian churches and mosques can be found in the area. As immigrants become assimilated, English is becoming the predominant language of the local Nigerian British population. The Yoruba language is declining in use in the Peckham area despite the increasing Nigerian population.

Pakistanis in London form the largest concentrated community of British Pakistanis ; immigration from regions which now form Pakistan predate Pakistan's independence.


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London has had a notable Polish community since the Second World War. Many of the migrants from Poland in the s were soldiers and their families. The Polish Government in Exile was based in London until it was dissolved in following the restoration of democracy in Poland. As of , Poles now account for about 4. Polish-style shops, with their distinctive red and white signs accompanied by words in the Polish language , can be found in many parts of London.

London's Irish community celebrating Saint Patrick's Day.