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The "black" presence in this country can be traced back to Septimius Severus, a North African Libyan, who ruled England as the Roman Emperor between 193 - 211 AD. There is enough strong historical evidence to indicate that in the third century AD, a considerable number of African soldiers were based near Carlisle, defending Hadrian's wall as part of the Roman imperial army. Historical chronicles have continued to record the black presence in various parts of the British Isles; for instance Moroccans were taken by the Vikings to Ireland in the ninth century. There exists a gap in the recording of the black presence in Britain for nearly 400 years until the early sixteenth century. During this period a definite change occurred in the relationship between Britain and those countries and communities whose nationals form the bulk of the migrant communities in Leeds and the rest of the country. The commercial and economic interests of Britain changed its relationships with black people from "different but equal" to "different and unequal". This change had roots in the development of African slavery and the early colonisation of America, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. This period signifies the European quest for fabled wealth in "pearls and peppers" of the "Indies". The "discovery" of the "Indies" or of the "New World" by Christopher Columbus in 1492 and the subsequent enslavement of indigenous people and the expropriation of their natural and physical resources opened the first chapter in the long saga of uneven relationships between Europe, particularly Britain , and the rest of the world. Black people and their lands were already an integral part of British history, its economy and the arts; its consciousness, myths and legends; long before they physically reappeared on the British scene generally. The dating of the earliest black presence in the second period is debatable. There has been a suggestion that black slaves were brought into England in 1440. But it has been agreed that this phase of continual settlement of black people began at the dawn of the sixteenth century. The first recorded presence of black people is that of the "black trumpet" who was living in London in 1507. He was employed in the courts of Henry VII and later Henry VIII, and was twice portrayed on the painted parchment rolls of the 1511 Westminster Tournament. The significant event was the visit by five West Africans from the Gold Coast in 1555. They were brought into the country by Captain Lok and were sold as domestic servants. One of the consequences of the increasingly active role England played in the slave trade, was the growth of African slaves in major cities of England. Cities such as London, Bristol and Liverpool - the main shipping centres - had a significant number of black settlers mainly as slaves and servants. By the end of the sixteenth century, the African communities had increased to such a level that it prompted Queen Elizabeth I to issue the following Royal proclamation of 1601.
Despite such resistance, the employment of African slaves as servants became an established feature in Stuart England and once again after the Restoration in the 1660s the Africans were being reinstated "in the ranks from which Elizabeth had tried to dislodge them". English commercial activities and involvement in the African slave trade increased dramatically in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. For instance in 1709 Liverpool's first slave ship sailed for Africa. The trade in slaves was accelerated by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 after the defeat of Spain. This allowed England to take over the Spanish monopoly of slave trade for 30 years at an annual rate of 4,800 slaves. By 1771, one third of all ships were slave traders. By 1792, Liverpool had forty-two per cent of the total European slave trade. This naval supremacy allowed Britain to enjoy a virtual monopoly of slave trade as well as unhindered access to the enormous wealth of some of the world's most dazzling empires, e.g., India and China. During this period the number of blacks began to swell in some English cities. For instance, by 1772 some 15,000 black people lived in London alone. They were not all slaves, but included runaway slaves as well as free Africans. This group of Africans coming from almost all of the "dark" continent began to develop as a cohesive community in a hostile and alien society. The development of this cohesion and collective notion of identity on the basis of "colour" remained one of the most significant factors for successive generations and new comers in their struggle against innumerable odds. Another group of settlers were the Indians. India enjoyed a privileged place in the myths and folklore of this country as a land of immense riches and wealth. The European ruling elite were well familiar with Indian spices, textile and other exotic luxuries like carpets, artifacts and precious stones. Most of the Eastern trade was mediated by Indian and Arab traders who had used traditional overland routes for centuries. Europe immensely benefited from this trade; profits from this trade provided sufficient capital and wealth for the "grandeur" development of a number of cities like Venice. The eventual control of land routes and the regulation of Eastern trade by the Turks prevented Europeans from benefiting as before. The desire to secure a greater share in the Indian trade fuelled European attempts to seek new routes to the East in general and India in particular. In the quest for India, European countries launched "a thousand ships". The "discoveries" of the New World and the Caribbean Islands were accidental and incidental to that search for alternative routes to India and the Far East. India was eventually "discovered" by the Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, who landed in Calicut in 1498 having been guided on his way, off the coast of India by an Arab sea captain. The Portuguese like Spaniards were fired by twin ambitions, "spreading Christianity" and more to the point, a common European desire to capture lucrative trade in Indian goods. Vasco da Gama appropriately mistook the friendly Indians as Christians and enjoyed their hospitality. This was in contrast to the experience that the friendly and hospitable American Indians had, some of whom were duly rounded up by Columbus and presented to the King of Spain as slaves. The discovery of sea routes encouraged all major European powers to make inroads in Eastern trade. Queen Elizabeth, who at this point was issuing decrees and proclamations to exclude people of African descent from England, gave a charter to the East India Company in 1600 thus enabling a monopoly of trade with India in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries provided the impetus for the Indians to visit England and in some cases to become settlers. The eighteenth century saw the growth of the Indian community in England. The early Indian migrants and settlers were mostly domestic servants, peppered with members of the aristocracy, tourists and students. As early as 1709, there were newspaper advertisements advertising the services of Indians. Young Indian, Chinese and African servants were employed by the English elite as status symbols, as depicted by the inclusion of Indian servants and African slaves in contemporary paintings. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the presence of the black communities was a common feature of the British landscape. There were established communities in London, Liverpool, Manchester and Bristol and the Tiger Bay area in Cardiff. Pockets of black people were scattered in all parts of Britain as far as Fifeshire in Scotland. By the end of the nineteenth century existing communities were supplemented by colonial seamen, the Lascars, both from British Asian and African colonies as well as some from West Indian islands. By defeating the Chinese Imperial Army in the Opium Wars in the first half of the nineteenth century, various European countries were able to make major territorial gains into China. This supremacy enabled Britain to recruit a large number of Chinese as seamen and subsequently as indentured labourers. By the latter half of the nineteenth century a considerable number of these Chinese also found their way to England. The next major phase which brought colonial people to Britain was the First World War. The large scale use of colonial troops mainly in the European war theatre brought hundreds and thousands of them to Europe. For instance more than 573,000 troops participated in the War from India alone. The Indian horsed Cavalry units fought in the quagmires and unending obstacle system of the "Western Front". Serving as Infantry, they took appalling casualties. Many of the soldiers found themselves in Britain at the end of hostilities and decided to seek employment and consequently became part of the growing black communities. In addition to "demobbed" soldiers, increasing numbers of middle class professionals made homes in this country. The pre- and the post-war period witnessed the ever growing involvement of black and colonial people in the political scene. Relative freedom of expression in England was utilised skillfully by many in this period. Dadabhai Noaoroji (Liberal MP for Central Finsbury, 1892 - 95), Shapurji Saklatvala (Labour and Communist MP for Battersea North, 1922 - 23), Vengalil Krishnan Krihna Menon, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Mohandas K. Gandhi and V. V. Giri were some of these early political activists who based themselves for a time in England. The formation of overtly open nationalist organisations, espousing the independence of colonies found fertile ground. Many of these organisations and individuals enjoyed tacit support from radicals and liberals as well as newly established Labour and Communist parties. Britain also provided a "natural" ground for these activists to forge international solidarity of all colonial peoples. The development of the Pan African Congress and its subsequent growth was typical of such phenomena. This feature of maintaining political, social and cultural links with the "home" countries remains a very important and significant part of the present - day communities from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. The inter-war period provided a stability to the settlers within Britain, but the heightening of anti - colonial struggles and colonial repression in the homelands brought immeasurable anguish and anxiety. Paradoxically Britain, the colonial country, became a refuge for a number of political activists fleeing from authorities in the Asian, African and Caribbean colonies. Among them were Jomo Kenyatta from Kenya, Kwame Nkrumah from Ghana, George Padmore and Ras Makonnen from Trinidad and many others who participated in the independence movement of many countries, especially in Africa. The Second World War is an interesting period in the history of black communities in Britain. First of all there was massive recruitment of West Indians to maintain the infrastructures in Britain, e.g., Health, Transport, etc., and to work in the armaments industry and as mechanics and aircrew in the air force. Similarly, the West African and Indian workforce was deployed in various parts of the country. In addition, in line with earlier colonial policies, troops from all parts of the Empire played a crucial role in defeating the German and Japanese war machinery especially in the European, African and Asian battlefields. It is estimated that over eight thousand African and Caribbean people had been recruited into the British forces during the war. The number of troops from India exceeded 2.6 millions at peak strength in 1945. Again a significant number of "demobbed" soldiers, aircrew and seamen, especially those from the merchant navies, decided to "stay over" in Britain swelling the ranks of existing black communities, who by now had developed a support "network" in almost all the major cities in Britain. The post - war economic and political development had major and profound effects on the future makeup of the British workforce. Firstly, the division of the Indian Sub - Continent took place in 1947 amid immense anarchy and with the loss of nearly 600,000 lives. Indiscriminate massacres were followed by one of the greatest movements of people in history. It is estimated that up to 15 million people left their ancestral homes to find refuge across the borders in the newly created states of India and Pakistan respectively. The main areas of displacement were the United Province and Bihar in the north and the Punjab in the west. The prevailing anarchy and an almost non - existent economic infrastructure forced people to opt for internal or external migration. Incidentally, Punjabis, from both sides of the divide, were considered by the British as one of the main "marital" races of India and were traditionally recruited to serve in the British Indian Army. The Punjabi troops had an overwhelming presence in all branches of the armed forces. After the partition, many of the dispossessed Punjabis chose Britain to settle in, a country they knew well during the war years and had integral links with - through their village - kin who were already living in cities of Britain. The over exploitation of colonial economies left many countries economically exhausted. The introduction of single cash crop economies as in the Caribbean and West Africa and the non maintenance of economic infrastructures resulted in the virtual collapse of these countries. This massive economic depression in the newly independent countries and the colonies coincided with the postwar construction and economic boom which sucked in thousands more migrant labourers firstly from Europe and then from ex - colonies. Natural calamities or the consequence of man made "disasters" also contributed to the mass migration of certain communities. For instance the construction of Mangla Dam in the Mirpur area of Pakistan in the early 1960s resulted in 100,000 Mirpuris settling in this country. Today, the settlers from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean represent approximately 3.5% of the total population of Britain. According to the 1984 - 1986 Labour Force Surveys, the largest non - white group consists of Indians estimated to be around 760,000. Sikh and Hindu Punjabis and Hindu Gujuratis constitute the bulk of Indian migrants. The next largest group is of 534,000 strong West Indians from most of the Caribbean Islands, Jamaicans being the largest grouping. Pakistanis mostly from the Punjab and the Mirpur part of "Azad" Kashmir, are estimated to be 300,000. Pakistanis are closely followed by the Bangladeshis many from the Sylhet District numbering approximately 200,000. The 115,000 strong Chinese community is the fifth largest non - white group, followed by African mostly from West African countries numbering 103,000. There are some 190,000 other non - whites, many of whom are refugees who have arrived recently from countries like Vietnam, Iran and Iraq. Postwar migration which lasted until the late 1970s represents the third phase of the exploitation of black labour by Britain. Slave Labour in the New World and the Caribbean helped to establish the colonial edifice of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries which was followed by the use of indentured labour, mostly from India and China to reinforce the imperial foundations in distant and remote parts of the world in the nineteenth century. In the first two phases most of the workforce was used in British colonies. It is only in the third phase that the black people were encouraged to come to the metropolis itself. The history of black people in Britain is the history of a succession of generations in the service of the British economy, sometimes hidden and some times not. This is the history of a number of resilient communities who are continuously subjected to all forms of racism in every aspect of their lives, but still able to maintain and protect their cultures, religions and languages. These communities have not just enriched this country culturally but have also contributed economically at every level. It is only as recently as the last two decades that there have been a few genuine attempts to discover and notice the early presence of African's and Asian's and their descendants in Britain. Black communities, and black people generally, have been ignored in British history at the national as well as the local level. A construction of the local history of black people in every British city and town is a necessary prerequisite in the reconstruction of their experience over many generations. Most of the major studies have relied heavily on the experiences of black communities in a few cities, such as London, Liverpool and Bristol. More recently other cities like Bradford and Nottingham have been the subject of investigations. The unearthing of relevant historical facts is time consuming, as British historians have seldom thought it worth documenting the lives of black people. |