in British History
whole British population could be described as being from Africa in the sense
that humankind is thought to have originated there and to have later migrated to
populate the world’s different continents.
recorded history it is known that at the time of the Roman Empire there were
many hundreds of North African troops among the Roman legions on the northern
frontier with what is now Scotland, and recent genetic research has led to
speculation that groups in today’s UK population are among their descendants.
The first ‘African’ Roman Emperor, Septimius Severus, who was born in
Libya and with part-Libyan ancestry, fought campaigns in Britain and died at
York in 211AD.
Following the development of contacts between Europe
and sub-Saharan Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries,
black Africans began to arrive in Britain.
An early instance was in 1544 when Captain John Lok brought
five Africans to London to learn English so they could act as interpreters for
English traders with Africa. The
number of Africans, some slaves and some free, living in Britain grew in
Elizabethan times to the point where in 1601 the Queen decided all Africans
should be expelled.
This was not successful and it is generally reckoned
that in the eighteenth century about 15,000 people of African descent were
living in Britain. This increase
was to a large extent the outcome of British imperial expansion and its leading
role in the notorious slave trade and the exploitation of Africa’s natural
resources. Many of these Africans
would have come via the West Indies where they and their families had been taken
as slaves, but the status of many of them in the UK was that of free men and
women. At the end of the 18th
century, the ‘Sons of Africa’ were leading campaigners
for the abolition of the slave trade: in the same way as the Africa Association
in the 19th Century campaigned for the advancement of Africans, and
events like the 5th pan-African Congress in Manchester after World
War II was a critical episode in the campaign for independence for African
countries from colonial rule. One
of the most influential Africans fighting for the abolition of the slave trade
was Olaudah Equiano, born in Nigeria, transported to Barbados as a slave, who
eventually bought his freedom and then came to England.
Ottobah Cugoano was another prominent campaigner.
In the nineteenth century with
the ending of slavery there were more opportunities for Africans to come to the
UK, many of them arriving as sailors or coming to study.
Several went on to practise a profession or engage in business and trade.
Samuel Coleridge Taylor (p )
and Arthur Wharton (p )
were members of this generation of Africans.
In the 20th century,
as globalisation proceeded, the flow of Africans to the UK increased.
Many came for training and study – including famous names like Jomo
Kenyatta, Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
- in some cases staying on to gain practical experience and sometimes
settling permanently. Others
arrived as members of the armed forces.
From the 1960s onwards Britain
imposed ever tighter restrictions on immigration from Commonwealth countries but
the effect of these restrictions was offset by a number of factors
Civil wars and political conflicts in independent African countries
resulted in an increase in the number of refugees.
Education institutions were required to charge differential fees for
students from abroad and found it profitable to attract students from Africa and
Independent African governments opened diplomatic missions in London, and
business organisations of various kinds needed Africans to represent them in the
Inter-marriage between Britons and Africans increased.
Skill shortages in some key occupations in Britain often resulted in
relaxation of the immigration rules in particular cases.
In the most recent period the
number of Africans in Britain has been increasing rapidly.
The 485,000 Black Africans in the 2001 census compares with 270,000 ten
years earlier. And since 2001 the
number has continued to increase – a study for the Office of National
Statistics suggested that in the single year 2003 to 2004 the numbers of Black
Africans in England rose by 6.8%.