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The Importance Of British Imperialism In Britain

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The British empire, as well as many others, were diminishing, during the post-war era. The focus of this essay is to answer the question debating the relevance of British imperialism on immigrants who enter the United Kingdom during the post-war period. In summary, the answer that will be provided is that imperialism was the main contributor to pulling people towards Britain, yet it was not the only one. On the other hand, the imperial status had no relevance on all the immigrants, and this also will be discussed. Between the years of 1948 and 1962, it has been estimated that 500,000 immigrants from the British Commonwealth entered the United Kingdom. This essay will concentrate on these years and these immigrants, as 1948 saw the opening …show more content…

This was the ship that transported passengers from Commonwealth countries to Britain. The passengers on board the Empire Windrush were predominately Jamaicans; but there were other nationalities of Australians, Mexican, Polish, and other people from the Caribbean islands. The docking of the Empire Windrush was a watershed moment, as Kushner explains that, on one side was the empires’ end, while on the other was a revision of what British meant. The age of the empire was when those living in Britain embarked on gaining territories for economic and prestige reasons, spreading civilisation. However, since the end of the Second World War, colonies were demanding independence, yet, for some who gained this independence, they still wanted some sense of British influence. This was the beginning of the British Commonwealth. As the Phillips brothers point out, however, prior to the Windrush arriving in Britain in 1947, there was a black population able to trace their lineage back a few centuries. Additionally, during the Second World War, about ten thousand West Indian men arrived in Britain, which was more than the entire pre-war black population. Hence, Britain was not new to having a black population, the problem was the numbers of this population was increasing uncontrollably. Many of these passengers from the Commonwealth came to Britain because of its imperial importance on their countries.
After the war, Western European countries experienced a labour shortage,

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