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Unit 2: The people

Origins of the British people. Marriages among members of the four founding
populations. Other people so, back to the same question: What is being
British?

Early settlement to AD 1066 (see table 3.1)

From the Paleolithic (700,000 BC people travelled there by land when the
country was joined to the European continent) to the Mesolithic (8300BC) to
the Neolithic (4300 BC: settled agricultural communities, wild animals tamed)
600 BC Celtic tribes Belgic tribes
The Romans (43-409) and their influence on British life
> 409 Germanic tribes: Anglos, Saxons and Jutes
The Vikings
1066: a crucial turning point: The Norman invasion. The Battle of Hastings
Settlement in the British Isles was always hindered by climatic and geographical
obstacles, particularly in the north and west.
What did the invaders change?
The Domesday Book

Growth and immigration up to the 20th century

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Different battles, treats, agreements between and within the nations until the
British state was created.
1169 The British invade Ireland
1801: Ireland part of the UK
1921: Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
Wales: a Celtic country after Roman control, although influenced by AngloNorman and Angevin-Plantagenet England. Legally integrated with England
between 1536-1542.
Scotland: English repulsed from Scotland in the Battle of Bannockgurn in 1314.
The Battle of Bannockburn (Blr Allt a' Bhonnaich in Scottish Gaelic) (24
June 1314) was a significant Scottish victory in the Wars of Scottish
Independence. It was one of the decisive battles of the First War of Scottish
Independence.Scotland independent till 1707 although Scotland and England
shared a common monarch since 1603 when James VI of Scotland became
James I of England.
England, Wales and Scotland: Protestant vs. Ireland: Catholic
Contemporary Britain as the union of four old nations.
Migration within Great Britain (despite the tension of its four nations) and
immigration from abroad (why? Religious and political persecution, trade,
business and employment).

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(i)
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(ii)
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Factors conditioning British growth:

Agriculture
Jewish money lenders
Lombard bankers
The German Hansa League
Dutch and Flemish weavers
Foreign workers had no legal rights
From Saxon times to 1800 Britain had an agriculturally-based economy (80% of
the population lived in the countryside)
The Industrial revolution: 18th and 19th century.
Agricultural and commercial developments were reflected in changing
population concentrations. The agricultural populations changed in the 19th
century into an industrialized workforce. The first measurement of population
took place in 1801.
The industrial revolution reached its height during the early 19th century. By the
end of the 19th century Britain was the worlds leading industrial nation and
among the richest.

Immigration from 1900

Immigrants had relatively free access to Britain but they could also be easily
expelled.
Early 20th century: Jews and Poles escaped persecution in Eastern Europe.
Demands for immigration control.
As a result of the world recession in 1930 and the Second World War: refugees
from Nazi Europe and later from Soviet bloc countries (p. 65).
Immigration debate: race and color.
From the late 1940s: increasing numbers of people from non-white new
Commonwealth nations of India, Pakistan and the West Indies. Ghettoization.
Two views on the issue.
Race Relations Act (1976): unlawful to discriminate against individual on
grounds such as race, ethnicity and national origin in areas like education,
housing, employment, services and advertisement.
Two views on the issue of racism (p. 67). Immigration and race remain
problematic. They are complex matters, are exploited for political purposes by
both the right and the left and overdramatized.
Categories of people entering Britain (workers and their dependents, students,
people from EU states).
The British and their opinions about immigrants (Ipsos MORI poll 2010).

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Ethnic minorities
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2001 census: 92.1% whites, 7.9% minority ethnic groups (table 3.2) white
minorities excluded.
White ethnic minorities: Irish, old Commowealth countire (Australia, Canada &
South Africa), newcomers from Germany, Spain, Italy and France.

Population movements from 1900

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20th century: internal populations shifts due to economic and employment

changes. Decline in traditional industrial areas and rising unemployment.
Population movements to London and the south-east of England with
employment opportunities.
Asylum seekers
Middle of 20th century: reverse of people away from the centres of big cities
such as London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Leeds. Why?
Green Belts
Mid-2008: 61,383,000 inhabitants in the UK. Population density (242 per sq
km) well above the European Union average.

Attitudes to national, ethnic and local identities

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Immigration to Britain often seen as a threat to a presumed British national

identity and common social values. But, as we have seen, the peoples of the
British Isles have always been culturally and ethnically diverse.
What is Britishness associated with since 1707?
British AND English/Scotish/Welsh
English nationalism was the most potent of the four nationalisms. The Scots and
Welsh have tended to be more aware of the differences and resent the English
dominance.
Differences at regional and community levels within the four nations (see
different paragraphs devoted to each nation on pages 75-76). To complicate the
picture, there are ethnic minorities (white and non-white) who may use dual or
multiple identities.
Disagreements about whether multiple identities among ethnic minorities are
achievable or desirable. Can an individual belonging to an ethnic minority ever
feel British? See Sunday Times survey.
MORI poll September 1999: the Welsh, English and Scots seemed increasingly
to be defined themselves more in terms of their individual nationalities, rather
than as British BUT there was little desire to break up of the UK.
Other poll findings contradict this idea: 98% of white British people feel British
vs. 2007 only 44%
The success of any country depends on full integration, not multiculturalism.
DISCUSS.

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