British Asian
Encyclopedia
- This article is about South Asians in the United Kingdom.
- For other UK ethnic groups from Asia, see East Asians in the United Kingdom, British Afghans, British Iranians, British ArabsBritish ArabsBritish Arabs are Arab people living or born in the United Kingdom. Unlike Black British or Asian British, the term is not one of those employed in government ethnicity categorisations used in the census and for national statistics. It is, however, the term used by the National Association of...
, and British Turks.
British Asian is a term used to describe British citizens
British nationality law
British nationality law is the law of the United Kingdom that concerns citizenship and other categories of British nationality. The law is complex because of the United Kingdom's former status as an imperial power.-History:...
who descended from mainly South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
, also known as South Asians in the United Kingdom. In British English, the term the 'Asian' usually excludes East Asians (see East Asians in the United Kingdom).
Prior to the formation of the United Kingdom, immigration of South Asian people to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
began with the arrival of the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
to the Indian subcontinent. This continued during the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
and increased in volume after the independence
Indian independence movement
The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
and Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
from British rule, chiefly for education and economic pursuits. A major influx of South Asian immigrants, mostly of Indian and Pakistani origin, also took place following the expulsion of Indian communities
Indian diaspora in East Africa
The Indian diaspora in Africa refers to people of Indian origin living in Africa. Most Indians in Africa arrived in the 19th century as British indentured labourers, many of them to work on the Kenya-Uganda railway, while others had arrived earlier by sea as traders....
(then holders of British passport
British passport
British passports may be issued to people holding any of the various forms of British nationality, and are used as evidence of the bearer's nationality and immigration status within the United Kingdom or the issuing state/territory.-Issuing:...
s) from Uganda
Indians in Uganda
There are currently over 12,000 people of Indian origin living in Uganda, but this is a far cry from their heyday. In the late 1890s, over 30,000 Indians, mostly Sikhs, were brought on 3 year contracts to build the Uganda Railway from Mombasa to Kisumu by 1901, and to Kampala by 1931. Some died,...
and other East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
n nations (see African migration to the United Kingdom).
Usage
In British EnglishBritish English
British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
, the word "Asian
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
" is often used to refer to those of South Asian origin, particularly Indians
British Indian
The term British Indian refers to citizens of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in India. This includes people born in the UK who are of Indian descent, and Indian-born people who have migrated to the UK...
, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis
British Bangladeshi
A British Bangladeshi is a person of Bangladeshi origin who resides in the United Kingdom having emigrated to the UK and attained citizenship through naturalisation or whose parents did so; they are also known as British Bengalis...
, as well as the less numerous Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
ns, Nepalese
Nepalis in the United Kingdom
Nepalese in the United Kingdom are British citizens or full time residents of the United Kingdom whose ethnic origins lie fully or partially in the South Asian nation of Nepal.-History:...
and Maldivians
Maldives
The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...
. Additionally, Britons who mark the "Other Asian" category on the UK census are normally of Afghan
Afghans in Britain
Afghans in the United Kingdom are citizens or residents of the UK whose ethnic origins are in Afghanistan.Most Afghans are in London, particulary in the West and North. Areas with very high number of Afghans include: Wembley, Hendon, Kingsbury, Edgware and Southall.-Historical migration:Afghans in...
, Iranian, Iraqi, and Yemeni
Yemeni British
Yemenis in the United Kingdom include citizens and non-citizen immigrants in the United Kingdom of Yemeni ancestry, as well as their descendants...
ancestries. Although there are exceptions, the term generally excludes people of East Asian (such as Chinese
British Chinese
British Chinese , including British-born Chinese are people of Chinese ancestry who were born in, or have migrated to, the United Kingdom. They are part of the Chinese diaspora, or overseas Chinese...
, Korean
Koreans in the United Kingdom
Koreans in the United Kingdom include Korean-born migrants to the United Kingdom and their British-born descendants.-Population size:The 2001 UK Census recorded 12,310 British residents born in South Korea...
or Japanese
Japanese British
Japanese in the United Kingdom are citizens or full time residents of the United Kingdom whose origins lie in Japan.-Background:-History and settlement:...
) or Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
n origin; they are more likely to be defined by their country of origin, or may instead be grouped under the umbrella term "oriental". This is reflected in the "ethnic group" section of UK census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
forms and other government paperwork, which treat "Asian" and "Chinese" as separate. This usage contrasts with American English
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
, Canadian English
Canadian English
Canadian English is the variety of English spoken in Canada. English is the first language, or "mother tongue", of approximately 24 million Canadians , and more than 28 million are fluent in the language...
, New Zealand English
New Zealand English
New Zealand English is the dialect of the English language used in New Zealand.The English language was established in New Zealand by colonists during the 19th century. It is one of "the newest native-speaker variet[ies] of the English language in existence, a variety which has developed and...
and Australian English
Australian English
Australian English is the name given to the group of dialects spoken in Australia that form a major variety of the English language....
, in which "Asian" refers mainly to people with East Asian ancestry.
The terms "Asian" or "British Asian" are contested. According to Qasim Mohammad, Britain's Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
community considers the term somewhat vague given the religious and national origin difference between Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. Some members of Britain's Hindu community are debating whether to adopt a specific label based on nationality (e.g. "British Indian") or religion (e.g. "British Hindu"). Others see a certain degree of unity in the South Asian diaspora
Diaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...
; the term desi
Desi
Desi or Deshi refers to the people, cultures, and products of the Indian subcontinent and, increasingly, to the people, cultures, and products of their diaspora. Desi countries include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh...
is also sometimes used to name a South Asian person, pointing to a common identity, but is more often a word used within the South Asian community. Although Pakistani and Bangladeshi consist of the main Muslim community in the UK there is no recorded debate as to how they wish to be identified.
Demographics
According to the 2001 UK Census, there were approximately 2,331,423 South Asians, constituting 4.0% of the population of the UK. Those who were of Indian origin was 1,053,411 people (1.8% of the population), 747,285 people of Pakistani origin (1.3%), 283,063 of Bangladeshi origin (0.5%), and 247,664 other Asian (0.4%). South Asians make up 50.3% of the UK's non-European population.British Indians tend to be religiously diverse, with 56% Hindu, 30% Sikh, and 13% Muslim, while their counterparts of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin are much more religiously homogeneous, with Muslims accounting for 92% of each group. South Asians who marked "Other Asian" as an ethnic group and then wrote in their specific ethnic group were mostly (23%) of Sri Lankan origin. This was followed by fill-ins of Middle Eastern (9%) origin. Due to a growing sense of affiliation with Britain, many third generation South Asians chose to not mark "Asian or British Asian" and instead marked "British Asian" in the "Other Asian" write in section.
South Asian ethnic groups mostly originate from a few select places in South Asia, these are known as place of origins. British Indians tend to originate mainly from the two Indian States, Punjab
Punjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
and Gujarat. Evidence from Bradford and Birmingham have shown, Pakistanis originate largely from the Mirpur District
Mirpur District
Mirpur District is a district in the disputed and divided state of [Jammu and Kashmir]. The district is named after the main city, Mirpur. The District of Mirpur has a population of 371,000 and covers an area of . The district is mainly mountainous with some plains...
(in Disputed Area of Kashmir), other are chhachh
Chhachh
Chhachh is a region consisting of an alluvial plain extending from Attock District of Punjab, Pakistan, south-west to Topi - Swabi. The word Chhachh is derived from the Pashto word Chaj. It is bounded on the north and west by the river Indus, and is about long from east to west, and broad...
i pathan
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
s from Attock District
Attock District
Attock District is a district in the north-west Punjab Province of Pakistan.The district was created in April 1904 by the merger of Talagang Tehsil in the Jhelum District with the Pindigheb, Fatehjang and Attock tehsils from Rawalpindi District of the Punjab province of British India.Attock...
, and some from villages of Nowshera, Peshwar and Ghazi
Ghazi, NWFP
Ghazi is one of the 44 union councils, administrative subdivions, of Haripur District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Ghazi is located at and lies to the west of the district capital Haripur.-References:...
, in London Borough of Waltham Forest
London Borough of Waltham Forest
The London Borough of Waltham Forest is in northeast London, England. Officially, it forms part of Outer London as it borders Essex. However, it can be seen that the NE London boundary does not extend far compared to elsewhere in the city...
there are substantial numbers of people originating from Jhelum
Jhelum
Jhelum or Jehlum may refer to:* Jhelum, a city in Pakistan on the banks of the Jhelum River* Jhelum District, an administrative division in Punjab, Pakistan surrounding the city of Jhelum...
. Studies have shown 95 per cent of Bangladeshis originate from the Sylhet region
Sylhet Division
Sylhet Division , also known as Greater Sylhet or Sylhet region, is the northeastern division of Bangladesh, named after its main city, Sylhet...
in the north east of Bangladesh. In Tower Hamlets, people have origins in different thanas in the Sylhet region, mainly from Jagannathpur
Jagannathpur Upazila
Jagannathpur is an upazila located in the district of Sunamganj in the division of Sylhet, north east of Bangladesh. The upazila is boundaried by Chhatak in the north, to the east Bishwanath, to the south east is Balaganj, Nabiganj on the south, to the west Derai and Sunamganj Sadar in the north...
, Beanibazar
Beanibazar Upazila
Beanibazar is an Upazila of Sylhet District in the Division of Sylhet, Bangladesh.- History :The name "Beanibazar", correct spelling is 'Bihani Bazaar' which means "morning market". In the past, Beanibazar was surrounded mostly by jungles with many tigers that attacked people regularly at night...
and Bishwanath
Bishwanath Upazila
Bishwanath is an Upazila of Sylhet District in the Division of Sylhet, Bangladesh.-Geography:Bishwanath is located at . It has 26346 units of house hold and total area 214.5 km².-Demographics:...
. The language spoken by Indians are, Hindi, Punjabi
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
, Gujarati
Gujarati language
Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...
and Kutchi
Kutchi language
Kachhi Kachhi Kachhi (also spelt Cutchi, Kutchhi or Kachchhi, is an Indo-Aryan Language spoken in the Kutch region of the Indian state of Gujarat as well as in Sindh.- Closely related languages :...
. People from Pakistan speak Urdu, Punjabi
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
, Mirpuri (a dialect of Punjabi), Sindhi
Sindhi language
Sindhi is the language of the Sindh region of Pakistan that is spoken by the Sindhi people. In India, it is among 22 constitutionally recognized languages, where Sindhis are a sizeable minority. It is spoken by 53,410,910 people in Pakistan, according to the national government's Statistics Division...
, Kashmiri
Kashmiri language
Kashmiri is a language from the Dardic sub-group and it is spoken primarily in the Kashmir Valley, in Jammu and Kashmir. There are approximately 5,554,496 speakers in Jammu and Kashmir, according to the Census of 2001. Most of the 105,000 speakers or so in Pakistan are émigrés from the Kashmir...
, Pashto
Pashto language
Pashto , known as Afghani in Persian and Pathani in Punjabi , is the native language of the indigenous Pashtun people or Afghan people who are found primarily between an area south of the Amu Darya in Afghanistan and...
, Hindko
Hindko language
Hindko , also Hindku, or Hinko, is the sixth main regional language of Pakistan. It forms a subgroup of Indo-Aryan languages spoken by Hindkowans in Pakistan and northern India, some Pashtun tribes in Pakistan, as well as by the Hindki people of Afghanistan...
and Seraiki. Bangladeshis from Sylhet
Sylhet
Sylhet , is a major city in north-eastern Bangladesh. It is the main city of Sylhet Division and Sylhet District, and was granted metropolitan city status in March 2009. Sylhet is located on the banks of the Surma Valley and is surrounded by the Jaintia, Khasi and Tripura hills...
speak Sylheti, a dialect of Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
. People from Sri Lanka mainly speak Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
. Those who speak dialects mainly refer their language to the main language, for example Sylheti speakers say they speak Bengali or Mirpuri speakers say they speak Punjabi. The reason for this is because they do not expect outsiders to be well informed about dialects.
The unemployment rate among Indian men was only slightly higher than that for White British or White Irish men, 7 per cent compared with 5 per cent for the other two groups. On the other hand Pakistanis have higher unemployment rates of 13-14% with Bangladeshis having one of the highest rates, around 23%. Some surveys also revealed the Indian unemployment rate to be 6-7% Persons of Indian or mixed Indian origin are more likely than White British
White British
White British was an ethnicity classification used in the 2001 United Kingdom Census. As a result of the census, 50,366,497 people in the United Kingdom were classified as White British. In Scotland the classification was broken down into two different categories: White Scottish and Other White...
to have university degrees, whereas Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are less likely. With the exception of Bangladeshi women, every other group of South Asians, have higher attendance at university than the national average. GCSE pass rates have been rising for all South Asians.
According to the United Kingdom Census 2001
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, South Asian men from all South Asian ethnic groups intermarried
Interracial marriage
Interracial marriage occurs when two people of differing racial groups marry. This is a form of exogamy and can be seen in the broader context of miscegenation .-Legality of interracial marriage:In the Western world certain jurisdictions have had regulations...
with another ethnic group more than South Asian women. Among South Asians, British Indians intermarried with a different ethnic group the most both absolutely and proportionately, followed by British Pakistanis and British Bangladeshis.
History in Great Britain
No one knows the earliest origins of settlement of South Asians in Great BritainGreat Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
for certain; if the Romani (Gypsies) are included, then the earliest arrivals could have been in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
— although not normally included as South Asian, the Roma and Sinti
Sinti
Sinti or Sinta or Sinte is the name of a Romani or Gypsy population in Europe. Traditionally nomadic, today only a small percentage of the group remains unsettled...
(most in the UK have been Sinti) are both believed to have originated in parts of what is now North India
North India
North India, known natively as Uttar Bhārat or Shumālī Hindustān , is a loosely defined region in the northern part of India. The exact meaning of the term varies by usage...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and to have begun travelling westward around 1000, though they have mixed with Southwest Asia
Southwest Asia
Western Asia, West Asia, Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia are terms that describe the westernmost portion of Asia. The terms are partly coterminous with the Middle East, which describes a geographical position in relation to Western Europe rather than its location within Asia...
ns and Europeans over the centuries. Romani began arriving in sizeable numbers in parts of Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
in the 16th century.
People from South Asia have settled in Great Britain since the East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
(EIC) recruited lascars to replace vacancies in their crews on East Indiamen whilst on voyages in India. Many were then refused passage back, and were marooned in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. There were also some ayahs, domestic servants and nannies
Nanny
A nanny, childminder or child care provider, is an individual who provides care for one or more children in a family as a service...
of wealthy British families, who accompanied their employers back to "Blighty
Blighty
Blighty is a British English slang term for Britain, deriving from the Hindustani word vilāyatī , from Persian vilayet and ultimately from Arabic wilayah, originally meaning something like "province"...
" when their stay in Asia came to an end.
The Navigation Act of 1660 restricted the employment of non-English sailors to a quarter of the crew on returning East India Company ships. Baptism records in East Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
suggest that young Indians from the Malabar Coast
Malabar Coast
The Malabar Coast is a long and narrow coastline on the south-western shore line of the mainland Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing mountain...
were being recruited as servants at the end of the seventeenth century, and records of the EIC also suggest that Indo-Portuguese cooks from Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
were retained by captains from voyage to voyage. In 1797, 13 were buried in the parish of St Nicholas at Deptford
Deptford
Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...
.
Since the 17th century, the East India Company brought over thousands of South Asian lascars, scholars and workers (who were mostly Bengali
British Bangladeshi
A British Bangladeshi is a person of Bangladeshi origin who resides in the United Kingdom having emigrated to the UK and attained citizenship through naturalisation or whose parents did so; they are also known as British Bengalis...
and/or Muslim
Islam in the United Kingdom
Islam has been present in the United Kingdom since its formation in 1707, though it was not legally recognised until the Trinitarian Act in 1812. Today it is the second largest religion in the country with estimates suggesting that by 2010 the total Muslim population had reached 2.869 million.The...
) to Britain, most of whom settled down and took local white British
White British
White British was an ethnicity classification used in the 2001 United Kingdom Census. As a result of the census, 50,366,497 people in the United Kingdom were classified as White British. In Scotland the classification was broken down into two different categories: White Scottish and Other White...
wives, due to a lack of South Asian women in Britain at the time. Due to the majority of early South Asian immigrants being lascars, the earliest South Asian communities were found in port towns. Naval cooks also came, many of them from the Sylhet Division
Sylhet Division
Sylhet Division , also known as Greater Sylhet or Sylhet region, is the northeastern division of Bangladesh, named after its main city, Sylhet...
of what is now Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
. One of the most famous early Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
immigrants to Britain was Sake Dean Mahomet
Sake Dean Mahomet
Sake Dean Mahomed was a Bengali traveler, surgeon and entrepreneur who introduced the Indian curry house restaurant in Britain, and was the first Indian to have written a book in English. He also established "shampooing" baths in Great Britain, where he offered therapeutic massage,The word...
, a captain of the British East India Company. In 1810, he founded London's first Indian restaurant, the Hindoostane Coffee House. He is also reputed for introducing shampoo
Shampoo
Shampoo is a hair care product used for the removal of oils, dirt, skin particles, dandruff, environmental pollutants and other contaminant particles that gradually build up in hair...
and therapeutic massage to the United Kingdom. By the mid-19th century, there were more than 40,000 Indian seamen, diplomats, scholars, soldiers, officials, tourists, businessmen and students in Britain. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there were around 70,000 South Asians in Britain, 51,616 of whom were lascar seamen (when World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
began).
Following the Second World War and the breakup of the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, South Asian migration to the UK increased through the 1950s and 1960s from Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
(including present-day Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
) and Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
countries such as India, at the same time as immigrants from former Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
colonies were also moving to Britain.
Although this immigration was continuous, several distinct phases can be identified:
- Manual workers, mainly from Pakistan, were recruited to fulfill the labour shortage that resulted from World War II. These included Anglo-IndianAnglo-IndianAnglo-Indians are people who have mixed Indian and British ancestry, or people of British descent born or living in India, now mainly historical in the latter sense. British residents in India used the term "Eurasians" for people of mixed European and Indian descent...
s who were recruited to work on the railways as they had done in India. - Workers mainly from the Punjab regionPunjab regionThe Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
of India and some from Pakistan arrived in the late 1950s and 1960s. Many worked in the foundries of the English MidlandsEnglish MidlandsThe Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
and a large number worked at Heathrow Airport in west LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. This created an environment to where the next generation of families do not lose their identity as easily. A good example would be the area SouthallSouthallSouthall is a large suburban district of west London, England, and part of the London Borough of Ealing. It is situated west of Charing Cross. Neighbouring places include Yeading, Hayes, Hanwell, Heston, Hounslow, Greenford and Northolt...
to which is populated by many Sikhs. - During the same time, medical staff from the Indian subcontinentIndian subcontinentThe Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
were recruited for the newly formed National Health ServiceNational Health ServiceThe National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
. These people were targeted as the British had established medical schools in the Indian subcontinent which conformed to the British standards of medical training.
In 1972 all South Asians were expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada was a military leader and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles in 1946. Eventually he held the rank of Major General in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its Commander before seizing power in the military...
, then president of Uganda. Those holding British passports came to Britain. Many such displaced people had businesses in Uganda, and built up their lives again in Britain. Some became retailers while others found suitable employment.
The Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962
Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962
The Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.Before the Act was passed, citizens of British commonwealth countries had extensive rights to migrate to the UK...
and Immigration Act 1971
Immigration Act 1971
The Immigration Act 1971 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning immigration.The Act, as with the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962, and that of 1968, restricted immigration, especially primary immigration into the UK....
largely restricted any further primary immigration
Primary immigration
Primary immigration is a term which describes the movement of the earner of a family, or a young unattached single man, from one country to another, usually to improve their economic condition...
, although family members of already-settled migrants were still allowed. In addition, much of the subsequent growth in the South Asian community has come from the births of second and third-generation South Asian Britons.
Influence
South Asians are said to contribute 6% to the UK GDPGross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
, whilst making up only 4% of the population. Although there are roughly double the number of South Asians in the UK today compared to people of African descent, South Asians are less represented in global and British media than any other major group; in the UK there is less than half the amount of South Asians represented in the media than those of African and Caribbean descent.
The biggest influence of South Asians on popular culture has probably been the development of Indian restaurant, though of the 9,000 in the UK, most are run by Bangladeshis; their ancestral home was part of British India's Bengal province until partition in 1947
Partition of Bengal (1947)
The Partition of Bengal in 1947, part of the Partition of India, was a religiously based partition that divided the British Indian province of Bengal between India and Pakistan...
. South Asian have also played a pivotal role in rejuvenating a number of UK street markets. According to the New Economics Foundation, Queen's Market in Upton Park, East London is officially the most ethnically diverse.
Just like Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Bhangra music has in addition become popular among many in the general British public (although only really popular amongst certain South Asian British, mainly of Punjabi origins) not only from the works of British South Asian musicians such as Panjabi MC
Panjabi MC
Rajinder Singh Rai , better known by his stage name Panjabi MC is a British Indian musician.-Career:...
, Swami
Swami (band)
Swami are a critically acclaimed British Indian pop/alt/bhangra band from Birmingham, England. It is also the pseudonym of the band's lead performer, producer, DJ and guitarist Diamond Duggal , who founded the band with his brother Simon Duggal...
and Rishi Rich
Rishi Rich
Rishpal Singh Rekhi better known by his stage name Rishi Rich is a British Indian music producer born in Croydon, England and based in London...
but also incorporated into the works of a number of non-South Asian musicians not only British but including North American artists such as Canadian Shania Twain
Shania Twain
Shania Twain, OC is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. Her album The Woman in Me , brought her fame and her 1997 album Come On Over, became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time. It has sold over 40 million...
, who created a whole alternate version of her multi-platinum album Up!
Up! (album)
-Critical reception:Upon its release, the album received very positive reviews from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 72/100 from Metacritic...
with full Indian instrumentation, produced by legendary South Asian producers Simon & Diamond. Diamond, better known as DJ Swami has also collaborated with superstar rapper Pras
Pras
Prakazrel Samuel Michel, known as Pras, is a Grammy Award-winning Haitian-American rapper, actor, film producer, and member of the hip hop trio The Fugees.-Early life:...
, of The Fugees
The Fugees
Fugees were a Haitian American hip hop group who rose to fame in the mid-1990s. Their repertoire included elements of Hip hop, soul and Caribbean music, particularly reggae. The members of the group were rapper/singer/producer Wyclef Jean, rapper/singer/producer Lauryn Hill, and rapper Pras Michel...
, and his band Swami
Swami (band)
Swami are a critically acclaimed British Indian pop/alt/bhangra band from Birmingham, England. It is also the pseudonym of the band's lead performer, producer, DJ and guitarist Diamond Duggal , who founded the band with his brother Simon Duggal...
have become one of the most renowned acts in South Asian music history, having had songs in major Hollywood movies and best-selling video games. One of the first artists of South Asian
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n origin to achieve mainstream success was Apache Indian who infused reggae and hip hop with Indian popular music to create a sound that transcended genre and found a multicultural audience. he is the only Indian artist to have achieved 7 top forty hits in the National UK charts. A subsequent wave of "Asian Underground
Asian Underground
Asian Underground is a term associated with various British Asian musicians who blend elements of western underground dance music and the traditional Asian music of their home countries in South Asia...
" artists went on to blend elements of western underground dance music and the traditional music of their home countries, such Nitin Sawhney
Nitin Sawhney
Nitin Sawhney is an Indian-British musician, producer and composer. His critically acclaimed work combines Asian and other worldwide influences with elements of jazz and electronica and often explores themes such as multiculturalism, politics and spirituality...
, Talvin Singh
Talvin Singh
Talvin Singh Matharoo , is a producer and composer and tabla player, known for creating an innovative fusion of Indian classical music and drum and bass...
, Asian Dub Foundation
Asian Dub Foundation
Asian Dub Foundation are a British electronica band that plays a mix of rapcore, dub, dancehall and ragga, also using rock instruments, acknowledging a punk influence...
, Panjabi MC
Panjabi MC
Rajinder Singh Rai , better known by his stage name Panjabi MC is a British Indian musician.-Career:...
, Raghav
Raghav
Raghav Mathur , known professionally as Raghav, is a Canadian singer currently signed to Cordova Bay Records. He is best known for his single "Angel Eyes" which peaked at number 7 in the UK in 2005...
, and the Rishi Rich Project (featuring Rishi Rich
Rishi Rich
Rishpal Singh Rekhi better known by his stage name Rishi Rich is a British Indian music producer born in Croydon, England and based in London...
, Jay Sean and Juggy D
Juggy D
Jagwinder Singh Dhaliwal, better known by his stage name, Juggy D, is a British Indian singer from Southall, London, England.-Music:...
).
The influence of South Asian music has not only been from South Asians living in the UK, but also from some UK artists that were starting using South Asian instruments creating a new and dynamic sound that was a mixture of sitars and tablas with a more rock traditional rock-based Western instruments like the drums and guitars. This created an inauthentic use of such cultural resources as all of the instruments were used to create an overall sound that treated all the instruments and influences equally.
Bhangra South Asian identity and the search for authenticity There is one important thing to notice is the relationship of Bhangra and other musical genres namely Reggae, Dub, and Soul
Not only has South Asian culture popularity in the UK has boomed, it also has influenced many local artists that created their own mixture of genres.
The film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s East is East
East is East (film)
East Is East is a 1999 British black comedy/drama film, written by Ayub Khan-Din and directed by Damien O'Donnell. It is set in a British household of mixed-ethnicity, with a British Pakistani father and an English mother in Salford, Lancashire, in 1971...
, Chicken Tikka Masala and Bend It Like Beckham
Bend It Like Beckham
Bend It Like Beckham is a 2002 comedy-drama film starring Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Myers, Anupam Kher, Shaznay Lewis, and Archie Panjabi first released in the United Kingdom. The film was directed by Gurinder Chadha...
and the TV shows
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
Goodness Gracious Me
Goodness Gracious Me (TV & radio)
Goodness Gracious Me is a BBC English language sketch comedy show originally on BBC Radio 4 and later televised on BBC Two based on four British Indian actors: Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia...
and The Kumars at No. 42 have managed to attract large, multi-ethnic audiences. The success and popularity of British Pakistani boxer Amir Khan
Amir Khan (boxer)
Amir Iqbal Khan , is a British Pakistani professional boxer who is currently the unified WBA & IBF light welterweight champion....
influenced the revival of boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
on ITV Sport
ITV Sport
ITV Sport is a sport producer and brand name owned by ITV plc. It was formed from the amalgamation of Granada Sport, Carlton's sports department and ISN, the sports division of London News Network. The company produces Champions League and FA Cup Football, along with coverage of England's national...
.
Lakshmi Mittal
Lakshmi Mittal
Lakshmi Narayan Mittal is an Indian steel magnate. He is the chairman and chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaking company....
is currently Britain's richest man and the fifth richest man in the world. The Mittal family owns 43% of Arcelor-Mittal
Arcelor-Mittal
ArcelorMittal S.A. is a global steel company headquartered in Avenue de la Liberté, Luxembourg, Luxembourg. It is the largest steel producing company in the world and is the market leader in steel for use in automotive, construction, household appliances and packaging. It holds sizeable captive...
, the world's largest steel manufacturer, which was known as Mittal Steel Company
Mittal Steel Company
Mittal Steel Company N.V. was one of the world's largest steel producers by volume, and also one of the largests in turnover. The company is now part of ArcelorMittal....
before the merger with Arcelor
Arcelor
Arcelor S.A. was the world's largest steel producer in terms of turnover and the second largest in terms of steel output, with a turnover of €30.2 billion and shipments of 45 million metric tons of steel in 2004...
. He was listed in the Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
List of Billionaires (2006) as the richest Indian and the fifth richest man in the world with an estimated fortune of $55.0 billion and, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2006, is the richest in the UK, with a net worth of £29 billion. The Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
named Mittal its 2006 Person of the Year. In 2005, he was the third richest man in the world according to Forbes List of billionaires (2005).
UK Sikhs have the highest percentage of home ownership, at 82%, out of all UK religious communities. UK Sikhs are the wealthiest south Asian immigrant group in the UK and the second wealthiest (after the Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
) religious community in the UK, with a median total household wealth of £229,000.
In the disability
Disability
A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...
arena, Ivan and Charika Corea founded the Autism Awareness Campaign UK
Autism Awareness Campaign UK
The Autism Awareness Campaign – United Kingdom was launched in 2000 by Ivan and Charika Corea in response to the autism diagnosis of their son, Charin.-Objectives:...
.
Literature
This refers to the growing body of literature that refers to and documents aspects of the South Asian experience.Well-known South Asian writers include: H.S. Bhabra, Salman Rushdie, Gurinder Chadha
Gurinder Chadha
Gurinder Chadha , OBE, is a British film director of Indian origin. Most of her films explore the lives of Indians living in the United Kingdom. She is best known for the hit films Bhaji on the Beach , Bend It Like Beckham , Bride and Prejudice and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging...
, Nazrin Choudhury
Nazrin Choudhury
Nazrin Choudhury is an award winning British screenwriter and actress. She is of Bangladeshi origin.-Education:Choudhury was born in South London to Bangladeshi immigrant parents. She is the youngest of five children and received a scholarship to attend Streatham and Clapham High School...
, Rekha Waheed
Rekha Waheed
Rekha Waheed is a British writer and novelist. She is best known as the author of "The A-Z Guide To Arranged Marriage."-Background and education:Waheed was born in West London, United Kingdom to parents of Bangladeshi origin...
, Hanif Kureshi, Monica Ali
Monica Ali
Monica Ali is a British writer of Bangladeshi origin. She is the author of Brick Lane, her debut novel, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2003...
, Meera Syal
Meera Syal
Meera Syal MBE is a British comedienne, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, producer and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created Goodness Gracious Me and became one of the UK's best-known Indian personalities portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in The Kumars at No...
, Gautam Malkani
Gautam Malkani
Gautam Malkani is a journalist for The Financial Times, and the author of the novel Londonstani. He has worked on the FT's UK news desk in London as well as in the Washington bureau. He is currently the head of the newspaper's Creative Business section....
, and Raman Mundair
Raman Mundair
Raman Mundair is a British poet, writer, artist and playwright. She was born in Ludhiana, India and came to live in the UK at the age of five. Her poetry has been featured in Acumen, Poetry Scotland, Kavya Bharati and widely anthologized...
.
Sports
Jawed Khaliq the first world champion boxer of PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i origin was born in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Amir Khan
Amir Khan (boxer)
Amir Iqbal Khan , is a British Pakistani professional boxer who is currently the unified WBA & IBF light welterweight champion....
, the silver medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, has become a cultural icon in the UK with audiences of up to 8 million watching him live on national television whenever he fights. He represents Britain in boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
and he is the current WBA
World Boxing Association
The World Boxing Association is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title at the professional level. It was previously known as the National Boxing Association before changing its name in 1962...
world light welterweight
Light welterweight
-Professional boxing:The light welterweight class is a weight division in professional boxing that has a limit of 63.5 kg or 140 pounds...
champion. Another notable boxer is Haider Ali who won the first ever gold medal for Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
in boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
at the commonwealth games
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....
in Manchester in 2002 in the featherweight
Featherweight
Featherweight is a weight class division in the sport of boxing. There are similarly named divisions under several Mixed Martial Arts organizations and in Greco-Roman wrestling.-Professional boxing:...
division he now fights professionally out of Luton
Luton
Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Nasser Hussain
Nasser Hussain
Nasser Hussain OBE is a former Essex and England cricketer.Beginning his career in a strong Essex side in the late 1980s, he was an outstanding fielder and a stylish but inconsistent batsman. In first-class cricket from 1987 to 2004 Hussain scored 20,698 runs in 334 matches at an average of 42.06,...
was the captain of the England cricket team. Michael Chopra
Michael Chopra
Rocky Michael Chopra is an English footballer who plays for Football League Championship side Ipswich Town. He is of mixed Indian and British descent....
played for the England national under-21 football team
England national under-21 football team
England's national Under-21 football team, also known as England Under-21s or England U21, is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team....
and became the first footballer of Indian descent to play and score in the Premier League. In 2006, he made news for scoring the fastest goal in Premier League history, as Chopra had only been on the pitch for ten seconds after coming on as a substitute.
List of other British South Asian Sport personalities:
|
|
|
|
Celebrities in popular culture
Sabu Dastagir
Sabu Dastagir was a film actor of Indian origin—although he later took American citizenship. He was normally credited only by his first name, Sabu, and is primarily known for his work in film during the 1930s-40s in Britain and America.-Early life:Born in 1924 in Karapur, Mysore, Kingdom of...
, remembered for his lead roles in The Thief of Bagdad
The Thief of Bagdad (1940 film)
The Thief of Bagdad is a 1940 British fantasy film produced by Alexander Korda, and directed by Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger, and Tim Whelan, with contributions by Korda's brothers Vincent and Zoltán, and William Cameron Menzies...
(1940) and Black Narcissus
Black Narcissus
Black Narcissus is a 1947 film by the British director-writer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, based on the novel of the same name by Rumer Godden...
(1947).
Since the 1970s, South Asian performers and writers have achieved significant mainstream cultural success. The first South Asian musician to gain wide popularity in the UK and worldwide fame was Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
lead singer Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
, born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar
Zanzibar
Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...
, East Africa, to parents of Parsi descent from Bombay. In 2006, Time Asia
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine voted him as one of the most influential South Asians
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
in the past 60 years. At around the same time, music producer, composer and song-writer Biddu
Biddu
Biddu or Biddu Appaiah is an Indian-British music producer, composer, song-writer and singer who produced and composed many hit records worldwide during a career spanning five decades...
gained worldwide fame for a number of hit songs, including "Kung Fu Fighting
Kung Fu Fighting
"Kung Fu Fighting" is a disco song written by Jim Brusatto and Vivian Hawke performed by Carl Douglas, and composed and produced by Biddu. It was released as a single in 1974, at the cusp of a chopsocky film craze, and eventually rose to the top of the British and American charts, in addition to...
" by Carl Douglas
Carl Douglas
Carl Douglas is a former Jamaican-born, UK-based, singer, best known for his song "Kung Fu Fighting", which hit number one in both the UK Singles Chart and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1974. The R.I.A.A. awarded gold disc status on 27 November, and it won a Grammy Award for Best Selling Single...
and "I Love to Love (But My Baby Loves to Dance)
I Love to Love (But My Baby Loves to Dance)
"I Love to Love " was a popular single by Tina Charles, from her debut album, I Love to Love; the song was composed by Jack Robinson and James Bolden...
" for Tina Charles. In the 1990s the South Asian artists who gained mainstream success included Apache Indian, whose 1993 single "Boom Shack-A-Lak
Boom Shack-A-Lak
"Boom Shack-A-Lak" is a song by Apache Indian, released as a single in 1993. The song was included on Apache Indian's 'Nuff Vibes' EP. which is his biggest hit in the UK, reaching number 5 in the charts in 1993....
" was used in many Hollywood movies, and Jas Mann
Jas Mann
Jasbinder Singh "Jas" Mann is a British song-writer, musician, singer and record producer.-Early life:...
, who headed Babylon Zoo
Babylon Zoo
Babylon Zoo were a British rock band of the mid-1990s from Wolverhampton, England, fronted by Jas Mann. They were best known for the song "Spaceman", which on its release on 21 January 1996, went straight to #1 on the UK Singles Chart, selling 418,000 copies in the first week of...
and whose 1996 single "Spaceman
Spaceman (song)
"Spaceman" is a song by British singer-songwriter Jas Mann, of Babylon Zoo. Known for its heavily distorted guitars and metallic, robotic-sounding vocals, it went straight to Number 1 on the UK singles chart on 21 January 1996, selling 418,000 copies in the first week of release...
" set a UK chart record when it sold 418,000 copies in its first week of release.
Prominent South Asian actors in the 1980s included Art Malik
Art Malik
Art Malik is a Pakistani-born British actor who achieved international fame in the 1980s through his starring and subsidiary roles in assorted British and Merchant-Ivory television serials and films...
, for his roles in The Jewel in the Crown and The Living Daylights
The Living Daylights
The Living Daylights is the fifteenth entry in the James Bond series and the first to star Timothy Dalton as the fictional MI6 agent 007. The film's title is taken from Ian Fleming's short story, "The Living Daylights"...
, and Sir Ben Kingsley
Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE is a British actor. He has won an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards in his career. He is known for starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi in 1982, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
(born Krishna Pandit Bhanji), one of Britain's most acclaimed and well-known performers. Kingsley is one of few actors to have won all four major motion picture acting awards, receiving Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
and Screen Actors Guild awards throughout his career, including the Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for his performance in Gandhi
Gandhi (film)
Gandhi is a 1982 biographical film based on the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who led the nonviolent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th century. The film was directed by Richard Attenborough and stars Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. They both...
(1982). The actress Parminder Nagra
Parminder Nagra
Parminder Kaur Nagra is an English actress of Indian descent. She came to international prominence in 2002 after starring in Bend It Like Beckham. She starred as Dr. Neela Rasgotra in the Emmy Award-winning American medical drama series ER for six years until the series ended on 2 April 2009...
has a prominent role in the US TV series ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, and played the lead role in the successful British film Bend It Like Beckham
Bend It Like Beckham
Bend It Like Beckham is a 2002 comedy-drama film starring Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Myers, Anupam Kher, Shaznay Lewis, and Archie Panjabi first released in the United Kingdom. The film was directed by Gurinder Chadha...
(2002). The actor Naveen Andrews
Naveen Andrews
Naveen William Sidney Andrews is a British American actor. He is best known for portraying Kip in the movie The English Patient and Sayid Jarrah on the American television series Lost.-Early life:...
plays the role of Sayid Jarrah
Sayid Jarrah
Sayid Hassan Jarrah is a character from the ABC show Lost portrayed by Naveen Andrews.-Season 1:Sayid fixes the transceiver recovered from the cockpit, and leads a group into the jungle in order to send out a distress signal. Instead, he picks up a looping message . He tries to locate the...
in the popular US TV series Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
, and also had a prominent role in the award-winning film The English Patient
The English Patient (film)
The English Patient is a 1996 romantic drama film based on the novel of the same name by Sri Lankan-Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje. The film, written for the screen and directed by Anthony Minghella, won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture...
(1996). The actor Kunal Nayyar
Kunal Nayyar
Kunal Nayyar is an Indian actor born in London, England, and raised in New Delhi, India. He is known for his role as Rajesh Koothrappali on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory.-Education:...
plays the character of Rajesh Koothrappali
Rajesh Koothrappali
Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Kunal Nayyar....
in the popular US sitcom, The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show, along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head writers...
. Long-running British soap operas such as Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
, EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, Emmerdale
Emmerdale
Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
and Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...
have all had a number of South Asian characters.
The comedians Sanjeev Bhaskar
Sanjeev Bhaskar
Sanjeev Bhaskar, OBE is a British Indian comedian, actor and broadcaster, best known for his work in the BBC Two comedy series Goodness Gracious Me and as host of The Kumars at No. 42...
, Meera Syal
Meera Syal
Meera Syal MBE is a British comedienne, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, producer and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created Goodness Gracious Me and became one of the UK's best-known Indian personalities portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in The Kumars at No...
, Papa CJ
Papa CJ
Papa CJ is a stand-up comedian from India. With over 1000 shows under his belt, he is widely recognised as the global face of cutting-edge Indian stand-up comedy and one of Asia’s leading comedians. He has toured sell-out shows across four continents and in Oct 2011 he taped a Showtime USA Stand-up...
and Shazia Mirza
Shazia Mirza
Shazia Mirza is a British comedian and columnist from Birmingham, England.-Background:Shazia was born as the eldest daughter in Birmigham to Pakistani parents, Mohammed and Sarwat Mirza...
are all well-recognised figures in British popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
. The presenter and match maker of the BBC marriage arranging show Arrange Me a Marriage
Arrange Me a Marriage
Arrange Me a Marriage is a British Reality TV series, for which the pilot episode aired on BBC2 in March 2007; while the first of five series episodes aired on 22 November 2007.-Format:...
is a South Asian-Scot Aneela Rahman. Hardeep Singh Kohli
Hardeep Singh Kohli
Hardeep Singh Kohli is a British writer and radio and television presenter.-Background:Kohli was born in London and moved to Glasgow in Scotland when he was four. His parents came to the UK from India in the 1960s. The family's roots lie in the Punjab. His mother was a social worker, and his...
is a presenter, reporter and comedian on British television. British Bangladeshi
British Bangladeshi
A British Bangladeshi is a person of Bangladeshi origin who resides in the United Kingdom having emigrated to the UK and attained citizenship through naturalisation or whose parents did so; they are also known as British Bengalis...
, Pakistani and Indian contestants have appeared on The Apprentice
The Apprentice (UK)
The Apprentice is a British reality television series in which a group of aspiring young businessmen and women compete for the chance to win a £100,000-a-year job as an apprentice to the British business magnate Lord Sugar in series one to six...
including Syed Ahmed
Syed Ahmed
Syed Ahmed is a British-Bangladeshi entrepreneur, businessman and television personality. He is the founder and CEO of the hand and body drier company SA Vortex. He is best known for his 2006 appearance in the second UK series of the BBC reality television show The Apprentice, in which contestants...
, Tre Azam, Lohit Kalburgi, Ghazal Asif, Shazia Wahab, Sara Dhada, and most notably Saira Khan
Saira Khan
Saira Khan is a British television personality and was the runner-up on the first UK series of reality TV show The Apprentice in 2005.-Television career:...
, who is now a British TV presenter. The broadcasters Daljit Dhaliwal
Daljit Dhaliwal
Daljit Dhaliwal is a British newsreader and television presenter.Dhaliwal is currently one of the news presenters for the Al-Jazeera English news service and broadcasts from Washington DC. Previously, she was the anchor chair of Worldfocus on PBS, which aired its last broadcast on 2 April 2010...
, Krishnan Guru-Murthy
Krishnan Guru-Murthy
Krishnan Guru-Murthy , is a British television presenter and journalist employed by Channel 4. He presents the Channel 4 Evening News and the foreign affairs programme Unreported World.-Education:...
and Samira Ahmed
Samira Ahmed
Samira Ahmed is a British freelance journalist, writer and broadcaster at the BBC, where she has presented Radio 4's PM, The World Tonight and Sunday. She also presented two Proms for BBC Four in 2011. Ahmed's writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent and on The Spectator magazine Arts...
are known for working on Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News is the news division of British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since the broadcaster's launch in 1982.-Channel 4 News:...
.
The term South Asian then was given the popular tag "Br-Asian", this was carried forward by two South Asian well known media business owners by the names of Moiz Vas and Nav Sagoo who together helped to define the term in the late ninety's and through to the millennium. They were responsible for various huge achievements for the community such as the South Asian Music awards which aired on ITV1 in the UK and Nav Sagoo then went on to conceive the first ever Br-Asian stage at Glastonbury in 2004 and 2005, taking every household name from the South Asian music scene out to the fields in the west country. Urban went Rural for the first time but with headline acts such as Rishi Rich
Rishi Rich
Rishpal Singh Rekhi better known by his stage name Rishi Rich is a British Indian music producer born in Croydon, England and based in London...
, Jay Sean, Swami
Swami (band)
Swami are a critically acclaimed British Indian pop/alt/bhangra band from Birmingham, England. It is also the pseudonym of the band's lead performer, producer, DJ and guitarist Diamond Duggal , who founded the band with his brother Simon Duggal...
, Raghav
Raghav
Raghav Mathur , known professionally as Raghav, is a Canadian singer currently signed to Cordova Bay Records. He is best known for his single "Angel Eyes" which peaked at number 7 in the UK in 2005...
to name a few even flying in were Indian supergroup Pentagram.
In 2008, in the second season
Britain's Got Talent (Series 2)
The 2008 series of Britain's Got Talent was the second series of the show. Notable differences from the 2007 series the included the fact that the auditions visited Scotland and that there were 40 in the live semi-finals...
of Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent is a British television talent show competition which started in June 2007 and originated from the Got Talent series. The show is produced by FremantleMedia's TalkbackThames and Simon Cowell's production company SYCOtv. The show is broadcast on ITV in Britain and TV3 in Ireland...
, one of the country's most successful reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
shows, the South Asian dance duo Signature
Signature (dance group)
Signature are an English dance group which consists of British Pakistani Suleman Mirza and British Indian Madhu Singh. Their notable style of dance is British Bhangra and they frequently base their performances around Michael Jackson songs, such as "Billie Jean" and "Thriller"...
, consisting of Suleman Mirza (a British Pakistani) and Madhu Singh (a British Indian
British Indian
The term British Indian refers to citizens of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in India. This includes people born in the UK who are of Indian descent, and Indian-born people who have migrated to the UK...
) performing a fusion of Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
and Bhangra music and dance styles, ended up as the runner-up on the talent show
Talent show
A talent show is an event where participants perform their talent or talents of acting, singing, dancing, acrobatics, drumming, martial arts, playing an instrument, and other activities to showcase a unique form of talent, sometimes for a reward, trophy or prize...
, second only to George Sampson
George Sampson
George Jennifer Sampson is a street dancer and actor from Warrington, England. He won the second series of Britain's Got Talent on 31 May 2008 at the age of 14.-2007 series:...
. The most successful South Asian musician in 2008 was the British Tamil artist M.I.A.
M.I.A. (artist)
Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam , better known by her stage name M.I.A. , is an English singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, painter and director of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. Her compositions combine elements of hip hop, electronica, dance, alternative and world music. M.I.A...
, who was nominated for two Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s for her single "Paper Planes
Paper Planes
"Paper Planes" is a song recorded by musician M.I.A. for her second studio album Kala released in 2007. The song was written by Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam, Topper Headon, Mick Jones, Wesley "Diplo" Pentz, Paul Simonon, Joe Strummer and produced by Diplo with additional production by Switch...
", and has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score
Academy Award for Best Original Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
for "O... Saya
O... Saya
"O…Saya" is a song from the soundtrack of the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire. The song was composed by Indian musician A. R. Rahman and British vocalist M.I.A., both of whom performed on the recording. It charted in the Billboard Hot 100 at 93, the Hot Digital Songs at 63, and the Canadian Hot 100...
", from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack
Slumdog Millionaire (soundtrack)
Slumdog Millionaire: Music from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack album of the British drama film Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle. The original score and songs were composed by A. R. Rahman, who planned the score in two months and completed it in two weeks, a far shorter time period...
. The actor Dev Patel
Dev Patel
Dev Patel is a British actor. He is best known for playing Jamal Malik in Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire , for which Patel won a number of awards, including a Critics' Choice Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award...
, who played the role of Anwar Kharral
Anwar Kharral
Anwar Kharral is a fictional character in the television series Skins portrayed by Dev Patel.-Characterization:Anwar is portrayed as a young pick and choose Muslim, Pakistani boy, meaning he chooses which parts of his religion he will practice when convenient and which parts he will not when it is...
in the teen drama
Teen drama
A teen drama is a dramatic television series with a major focus on teenage characters. The genre was relatively non-existent for the first 45 years of television; it came into prominence in the early 1990s...
series Skins
Skins (TV series)
Skins is a BAFTA award-winning British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of college. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness , adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death...
, also played the leading role in Danny Boyle
Danny Boyle
Daniel "Danny" Boyle is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Trainspotting. For Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle won numerous awards in 2008, including the Academy Award for Best Director...
's Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British epic romantic drama adventure film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup...
, for which he received several awards and was nominated for the 2009 BAFTA Award
62nd British Academy Film Awards
The 62nd British Academy Film Awards, hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, took place on 8 February 2009, and honoured the best films of 2008.-Best Actor:Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler*Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon...
for Best Leading Actor
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Best Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.-Superlatives:...
.
In 2009, Mumzy Stranger
Mumzy Stranger
Muhammad Mumith Ahmed , better known by his stage name Mumzy Stranger, is a British MC, singer-songwriter and record producer. He made his mainstream recording debut in the summer of 2009 with his debut single "One More Dance," which topped the UK Asian Charts, as did the follow-up singles,...
, an R&B and hip-hop music artist, became the first British Bangladeshi to be releasing a music single, called "One More Dance". In October 2009, Jay Sean's single "Down
Down (Jay Sean song)
"Down" is an R&B-electropop song by British artist Jay Sean. The song was released in North America as his debut single from his first album there, All or Nothing. In other markets, including the UK, the song serves as Jay Sean's lead single from his third studio album. The single features American...
" reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and sold two million copies in the United States, making him the first South Asian-origin
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
solo artist and "the first UK Urban
Urban contemporary
Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of hip hop/rap, contemporary R&B, pop, electronica such as dubstep and drum and bass and Caribbean music...
act ever to top Billboard
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
in 1997. Such artists have heralded a new generation of British Asian musicians - Shizzio, 21 Perspective and Raxstar are just some of the names from the British Asian music industry.
Communities
Although there are South Asian communities all over the UK, towns and cities with particularly significant South Asian populations include:The council area with the most South Asians is the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough to the east of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It is in the eastern part of London and covers much of the traditional East End. It also includes much of the redeveloped Docklands region of London, including West India Docks...
, whose population is 35% South Asian, most of Bangladeshi
British Bangladeshi
A British Bangladeshi is a person of Bangladeshi origin who resides in the United Kingdom having emigrated to the UK and attained citizenship through naturalisation or whose parents did so; they are also known as British Bengalis...
origin. The district with the largest Muslim population in England and Wales is High Wycombe
High Wycombe
High Wycombe , commonly known as Wycombe and formally called Chepping Wycombe or Chipping Wycombe until 1946,is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England. It is west-north-west of Charing Cross in London; this figure is engraved on the Corn Market building in the centre of the town...
, according to a report by the Buckinghamshire County Council
Buckinghamshire County Council
Buckinghamshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Buckinghamshire, in England, the United Kingdom. Its area of control does not include Milton Keynes, which is a unitary authority...
. An exact figure is not given, however.
- BatleyBatleyBatley is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It lies southeast of Bradford, southwest of Leeds and north of Dewsbury, near the M62 motorway. It has a population of 49,448 . Other nearby towns include Morley to the northeast, Ossett to the southeast...
30% S. Asian. 40.72% in Batley East and 21.43% in Batley West - BedfordBedfordBedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...
(Queens Park, Cauldwell) 7.7% S. Asian - BirminghamBirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
(especially SparkhillSparkhillSparkhill is an inner-city area of Birmingham, England, situated between Springfield, Hall Green and Sparkbrook.-Etymology:Sparkhill takes its name from Spark Brook, a small stream that flows from Moseley to the River Cole in Small Heath. It was, as the name suggests, a hill that was situated...
, Hall GreenHall GreenNot to be confused with Hall Green, Wolverhampton or Hall Green, SandwellHall Green is an area and ward in south Birmingham, England. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee...
Alum RockAlum Rock, BirminghamAlum Rock is an inner-city suburb of Birmingham, England, located roughly 2 miles east of Birmingham city centre...
, SparkbrookSparkbrookSparkbrook is an inner-city area in south-east Birmingham, England. It is one of the four wards forming the Hall Green formal district within Birmingham City Council.-Etymology:...
, Small HeathSmall Heath, BirminghamSmall Heath is an inner-city area within the city of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. It is situated on and around the A45 ....
, Balsall HeathBalsall HeathBalsall Heath is a working class, inner-city area of Birmingham, England. It is home to a diverse cultural mix of people and the location of the Balti Triangle.-History:...
, Washwood HeathWashwood HeathWashwood Heath is a ward in Birmingham, within the formal district of Hodge Hill, roughly two miles north-east of Birmingham city centre, England...
, SaltleySaltleySaltley is an inner-city area of Birmingham, east of the city centre. The area is currently part of the Washwood Heath ward, although formerly a feature of the Nechells ward...
, HandsworthHandsworth, West MidlandsHandsworth is an inner city area of Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. The Local Government Act 1894 divided the ancient Staffordshire parish of Handsworth into two urban districts: Handsworth and Perry Barr. Handsworth was annexed to the county borough of Birmingham in Warwickshire in 1911...
, Handsworth WoodHandsworth WoodHandsworth Wood is a loosely defined area in the north west of Birmingham, England. It is also a ward within the formal district of Perry Barr. Located within the metropolitan county of the West Midlands since April 1, 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, it was previously a part of the...
) 22% S. Asian - Blackburn 20.6% S. Asian
- BoltonBoltonBolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
9.1% S. Asian - BradfordBradfordBradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
(ManninghamManningham, BradfordManningham is an area of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, approximately a mile north of the city centre and is seen as the centre of the city's south Asian population.- Geography :...
, Great HortonGreat HortonGreat Horton is a Ward in Bradford Metropolitan District in the county of West Yorkshire, England.The ward covers the area west of Bradford ring road and east of the village of Clayton. The areas covered include Great Horton, Scholemore, Paradise Green, Lidget Green and Pickles Hill...
, HeatonHeaton, West YorkshireHeaton is a Ward of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It includes the villages of Frizinghall, Heaton and Daisy Hill, extending to Chellow Heights reservoir on the western edge and the Bradford-Shipley railway line on the eastern edge...
, Girlington, West BowlingWest BowlingWest Bowling are an amateur rugby league club situated in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in the National Conference League.West Bowling play their home games at Bankfoot Cricket Club, next to Odsal stadium...
, BD3 and ThornburyThornbury, West YorkshireThornbury is a district on the eastern edge of Bradford, in West Yorkshire, England on the border with the City of Leeds and located in the Bradford Moor ward and in the East Bradford parliamentary constituency....
) 24.3% S. Asian - Burton upon TrentBurton upon TrentBurton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a town straddling the River Trent in the east of Staffordshire, England. Its associated adjective is "Burtonian"....
(AngleseyAnglesey, StaffordshireAnglesey is a civil parish in the East Staffordshire district of Staffordshire, England. It covers an area in the south of Burton upon Trent, south of the town centre, around Anglesey Road...
) 4.3% s. Asian (east StaffordshireEast StaffordshireEast Staffordshire is a local government district with borough status in Staffordshire in England. It has two main towns, Burton upon Trent, famous for its breweries, and Uttoxeter, for its racecourse....
so also includes UttoxeterUttoxeterUttoxeter is a historic market town in Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. The current population is approximately 13,711, though new developments in the town will increase this figure. Uttoxeter lies close to the River Dove and is near the cities of Stoke-on-Trent, Derby and...
where the is little if any S. Asian population) - CardiffCardiffCardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
(ButetownButetownButetown is a community in the south of the city of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. It was originally a model housing estate built in the early nineteenth century by John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute, for whose title the area was named...
, GrangetownGrangetown, CardiffGrangetown is a community in the south of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is one of the largest districts in the south of the city and is bordered by Riverside, Canton and Butetown. The River Taff winds its way through the area...
, RiversideRiverside, CardiffRiverside is an inner-city southern area of Cardiff, capital of Wales. Riverside is also the name of the electoral ward, which can be split into two very different parts, Riverside and Pontcanna...
) 3.96% S. Asian - CoventryCoventryCoventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
11.3% S. Asian - DerbyDerbyDerby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
8.4% S. Asian - DewsburyDewsburyDewsbury is a minster town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Huddersfield and south of Leeds...
(RavensthorpeRavensthorpe, DewsburyRavensthorpe is an area of Dewsbury, in West Yorkshire, England. Ravensthorpe is on the western outskirts of Dewsbury and is part of the "Dewsbury West" ward in the district of Kirklees. The area has always been heavily industrial and was once bustling with textile mills. There is now a toxic...
, Thornhill Lees, Savile TownSavile TownSavile Town is a small area of Dewsbury in West Yorkshire, England. It lies just to the south of the River Calder and just north of a railway line. It consists of late Victorian housing, which varies between long terraces, semi-detached and detached housing...
) around 33% Asian. Savile Town is "97-100% Muslim". - DundeeDundeeDundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
4,000 (especially the HilltownHilltown, DundeeHilltown in Dundee is a mainly residential area to the north of the City Centre and lying to the south of the main circular road, The Kingsway.-Demographics:In the 2001 census the population was 9,337...
and StobswellStobswellStobswell is an area of Dundee, Scotland with a population of approximately 10,000. It was originally a small hamlet outside the city until the industrial revolution caused the growth of Dundee. The area is by and large a residential area. Schools in the area are Morgan Academy Secondary School,...
) - EdinburghEdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
10,000 - GlasgowGlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
(especially PollokshieldsPollokshieldsPollokshields is a district in the Southside of Glasgow, Scotland. It is a conservation area which was developed in Victorian times according to a plan promoted by the original landowners, the Stirling-Maxwells of Pollok, whose association with the area goes as far back as...
, PollokshawsPollokshawsPollokshaws is a district on the southside of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The housing stock mostly consists of some sandstone tenement housing, tower blocks and modern brick tenement-style buildings...
, GovanhillGovanhillGovanhill is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated south of the River Clyde between the Gorbals, Mount Florida and Queen's Park...
and WoodlandsWoodlands, GlasgowWoodlands is a residential area in the west-end of Glasgow, Scotland. It is to the east of Hillhead, the south of Maryhill and Woodside, and north of the city's Park District...
) Scotland 0.9% S. Asian - some estimates are as high as 80,000. http://news.scotsman.com/secretservices/MI5-targeting-the-wrong-people.2600624.jp - HalifaxHalifax, West YorkshireHalifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...
10% S.Asian - High WycombeHigh WycombeHigh Wycombe , commonly known as Wycombe and formally called Chepping Wycombe or Chipping Wycombe until 1946,is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England. It is west-north-west of Charing Cross in London; this figure is engraved on the Corn Market building in the centre of the town...
11% S. Asian - KeighleyKeighleyKeighley is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of Bradford and is at the confluence of the River Aire and the River Worth...
(especially Lawkholme, HighfieldHighfieldHighfield may refer toplaces in England*Highfield, Bolton*Highfield, Derbyshire*Highfield, Gloucestershire*Highfield, Hampshire, a suburb of Southampton*Highfield, Hertfordshire a neighbourhood in Hemel Hempstead*Highfield, Oxfordshire...
, Knowle Park and StockbridgeStockbridge-Places:In the United States* Stockbridge, Georgia* Stockbridge, Massachusetts* Stockbridge, Michigan* Stockbridge Township, Michigan* Stockbridge, New York* Stockbridge, Vermont* Stockbridge, Wisconsin* Stockbridge , WisconsinIn the United Kingdom...
) 15% S. Asian - LeedsLeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
(Beeston, HarehillsHarehillsHarehills is an inner-city area of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is approximately north east of Leeds city centre. Harehills is situated between the A58 and the A64 .- Overview :...
, MoortownMoortownMoortown may refer to:*Moortown, West Yorkshire, a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England*Moortown, Lincolnshire*Moortown, County Tyrone, a small village in Northern Ireland*Moortown, Isle of Wight...
, Hyde ParkHyde Park, LeedsHyde Park is an inner-city area of north-west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, situated between the University of Leeds and Headingley.It is mainly in the Hyde Park & Woodhouse ward, though some areas of what is often considered to be Hyde Park lie within the Headingley Ward . The boundary is...
, ChapeltownChapeltown, West YorkshireChapeltown is a suburb of north-east Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, and is the centre of the city's British African-Caribbean community. It is approximately one mile north of Leeds city centre...
) 4.5% S. Asian - LeicesterLeicesterLeicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
(especially BelgraveBelgrave, LeicestershireBelgrave is an electoral ward and administrative division of the city of Leicester, England, consisting of the Leicester suburb of Belgrave in its entirety....
, Rushey MeadRushey MeadRushey Mead is an electoral ward and administrative division of the city of Leicester, England. It comprises the northern Leicester suburb of Rushey Mead in its entirety, as well as historical parts of Northfields and Thurmaston.-Geography:...
, HighfieldsHighfields, LeicestershireHighfields is an inner city area of Leicester, England. As the name suggests, it is one of the highest areas in the city, on high ground southeast of the city centre. To the west the area is bounded by the Midland Main Line, to the south by London Road, and to the east by East Park Road...
, Spinney HillsSpinney HillsSpinney Hills is an inner city area of Leicester, England. It is situated to the north of the core Highfields area, around Spinney Hill Park. To the north is Northfields, to the east North Evington, to the west is the railway line, and to the south is the main part of Highfields....
, EvingtonEvingtonEvington is an electoral ward and administrative division of the city of Leicester, England. It used to be a small village centred around Main Street and the Anglican church of St Denys but was close enough to Leicester to become one of the outer suburbs in the 1930s...
) 29.9% S. Asian - LoughboroughLoughboroughLoughborough is a town within the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. It is the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and is home to Loughborough University...
6% S. Asian - LutonLutonLuton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....
(especially Bury ParkBury ParkBury Park is located one mile north west of Luton town centre on the road to Dunstable. Since the mid 1970s a large Muslim Pakistani community has grown and Bury Park is now the home of a purpose-built mosque....
) 18.3% S. Asian - ManchesterManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
(especially RusholmeRusholme-Etymology:Rusholme, unlike other areas of Manchester which have '-holme' in the place name is not a true '-holme'. Its name came from ryscum, which is the dative plural of Old English rysc "rush": "[at the] rushes"...
, Whalley Range and Cheetham HillCheetham HillCheetham Hill is an inner city area of Manchester, England. As an electoral ward it is known as Cheetham and has a population of 12,846. It lies on the west bank of the River Irk, north-northeast of Manchester city centre and close to the boundary with the City of Salford...
) 9.1% S. Asian - Milton KeynesMilton KeynesMilton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
(especially Kents Hill, Bletchley and WolvertonWolvertonWolverton is part of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England.Wolverton may also refer to:Places in England:*Wolverton, Dorset*Wolverton, Kent*Wolverton, Hampshire*Wolverton, Shropshire*Wolverton, WarwickshirePlaces in the United States:...
) 4.7% S. Asian - Newcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
(especially Arthur's HillArthur's HillArthur's Hill is an area of Newcastle upon Tyne, England.The area is situated one mile west of the city centre, in the Wingrove electoral ward. As the name suggests, the area is atop a large hill overlooking the city...
, ElswickElswick, Tyne and WearElswick is a ward of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in the western part of the city, bordering the river Tyne. One of the earliest references to the coal mining industry of the north east occurs in 1330, when it was recorded that the Prior of Tynemouth let a colliery, called Heygrove, at...
and FenhamFenhamFenham is an area of the west end of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It lies to the west of the city centre, and is bounded on the north and east by a large area of open land known as the Town Moor. To the south lies Benwell, whilst West Denton lies to the west, Blakelaw and Cowgate to the north, and...
) 6.1% S. Asian - NewportNewportNewport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
(especially MaindeeMaindeeMaindee is a large inner-city area in the city of Newport, South Wales.It lies mostly within the electoral district and community of Victoria, although some areas traditionally associated with Maindee are in the Beechwood ward....
and PillgwenllyPillgwenllyPillgwenlly is an electoral district and coterminous community parish in the city of Newport, South Wales. The area is governed by the Newport City Council.- Origin of the name :...
) 2.6% S. Asian - OldhamOldhamOldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...
(especially GlodwickGlodwickGlodwick is an area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It is south-east of Oldham town centre.Glodwick is a multi-ethnic residential area in the south of the Oldham, home particularly to a large community of Pakistanis and British Pakistanis....
, WestwoodWestwood, Greater ManchesterWestwood is an urban area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It occupies a hillside known as North Moor in the western part of Oldham, close to its boundary with Royton and Chadderton...
and Werneth) 11.9% S. Asian - OxfordOxfordThe city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
(especially Cowley Road) 5.8% S. Asian - PendlePendlePendle is a local government district and borough of Lancashire, England. It adjoins the Lancashire boroughs of Burnley and Ribble Valley, the North Yorkshire district of Craven and the West Yorkshire districts of Calderdale and the City of Bradford...
(especially NelsonNelson, LancashireNelson is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England, with a population of 28,998 in 2001. It lies 4 miles north of Burnley on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal....
) 14.1% S. Asian - PeterboroughPeterboroughPeterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
7.0% South Asian - Preston 11.6% S. Asian (especially DeepdaleDeepdale, PrestonDeepdale is an electoral ward in Preston, Lancashire, England. The ward is home to the Deepdale football stadium of Preston North End. The ward is a predominately urban area of terraced housing, notable for one of the largest Muslim populations in the city....
, Avenham, Fishwick, St. George's PrestonSt George's, PrestonSt George’s is an electoral ward in Preston, Lancashire, England. The ward is adjacent to the larger Deepdale to the east and is considered to be more an area within Deepdale than a distinct community of its own...
. - ReadingReading, BerkshireReading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
borough 5.2% S. Asian - RochdaleRochdaleRochdale is a large market town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch, north-northwest of Oldham, and north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan...
(Especially Wardleworth, Spotland, Deeplish, Hamer, Smallbridge, Belfield) 9.8% S. Asian - Burnley (borough)Burnley (borough)Burnley is a local government district of Lancashire, England, with the status of a non-metropolitan district and borough. It has an area of and a population of , and is named for its largest town, Burnley. The borough is bounded by Hyndburn, Ribble Valley, Pendle, Rossendale — all in Lancashire...
7.2% S. Asian - RugbyRugby, WarwickshireRugby is a market town in Warwickshire, England, located on the River Avon. The town has a population of 61,988 making it the second largest town in the county...
(especially New BiltonNew BiltonNew Bilton is a place in Rugby, Warwickshire, in England. It is a suburb of Rugby, situated to the west of the town centre. The nearby village of Bilton has also been absorbed into Rugby....
, BennBennBenn is a surname, and may refer to:* A. W. Benn , British rationalist/humanist writer* Arrelious Benn, American football wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers* Arthur Shirley Benn , British politician, later Baron Glenravel...
and BrownsoverBrownsoverBrownsover is a small village about 1½ miles north of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. Since 1960, it has been further absorbed by the suburban expansion of Rugby.-'Old' Brownsover:...
) 5.3% S. Asian - SheffieldSheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
(especially BurngreaveBurngreaveBurngreave ward—which includes the districts of Burngreave, Fir Vale, Grimesthorpe, Pitsmoor, and Shirecliffe—is one of the 28 electoral wards in City of Sheffield, England. It is located in the northern part of the city and covers an area of 7.3 km2. The population of this ward in...
, SharrowSharrowFor the village in North Yorkshire, see Sharow. For the shared lane roadway marking, see Shared lane marking.Sharrow is a district of Sheffield directly south west of Sheffield city centre....
, DarnallDarnallDarnall ward—which includes the districts of Attercliffe, Carbrook, Darnall, Tinsley, and parts of Handsworth—is one of the 28 electoral wards in City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is located in the eastern part of the city and covers an area of 17.4 km2. The...
and Firth Park) 4.6% S. Asian - SloughSloughSlough is a borough and unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Royal Berkshire, England. The town straddles the A4 Bath Road and the Great Western Main Line, west of central London...
27.9% S. Asian - SandwellSandwellSandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands with a population of around 289,100, and an area of . The borough is named after Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of both the Black Country, and the West Midlands conurbation, encompassing the urban towns of Blackheath,...
(especially the Victoria Park area of TiptonTiptonTipton is a town in the Sandwell borough of the West Midlands, England, with a population of around 47,000. Tipton is located about halfway between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is a part of the Black Country....
) 14% South Asian - SouthamptonSouthamptonSouthampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
3.8% S. Asian - Stoke-on-TrentStoke-on-TrentStoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
4.1% S. Asian - SunderlandCity of SunderlandThe City of Sunderland is a local government district of Tyne and Wear, in North East England, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough...
(especially Eden ValeEden ValeEden Vale is a small village in County Durham, in England. It's situated a few miles to the south of Peterlee....
, Hendon and Thornhill) 1.2% South Asian - WakefieldWakefieldWakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....
5% Asian. The Asian population is estimated at 27.6% in College Grove and 19.6% in Agbrigg. - WalsallWalsallWalsall is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation and part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...
10.4% S. Asian - WolverhamptonWolverhamptonWolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
14.3% S. Asian
- Note: Some local authorities contain large areas of countryside surrounding the actual towns, e.g. Bedford, Bradford, Leeds, Newport, Sunderland and High Wycombe. This may lead to the local South Asian and ethnic minority populations being underestimated in these places.
Counties with a high population of South Asians include -
- LancashireLancashireLancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
5.3% S. Asian - Greater ManchesterGreater ManchesterGreater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
5.6% S. Asian - West YorkshireWest YorkshireWest Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
8.7% S. Asian - West Midlands (county)West Midlands (county)The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
13.4% S. Asian - Greater LondonGreater LondonGreater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
12.09% S. Asian - BerkshireBerkshireBerkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
6.8% S. Asian - BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
4.3% S. Asian - BedfordshireBedfordshireBedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
8.3% S. Asian - LeicestershireLeicestershireLeicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
11.9% S. Asian
London Boroughs with a high population of British Asians include -
- London Borough of Tower HamletsLondon Borough of Tower HamletsThe London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough to the east of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It is in the eastern part of London and covers much of the traditional East End. It also includes much of the redeveloped Docklands region of London, including West India Docks...
36.6% South Asian - London Borough of BrentLondon Borough of BrentIn 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough had a total population of 2,022. This rose slowly throughout the 19th century, as the district became built up; reaching 5,646 in the middle of the century. When the railways arrived the rate of population growth increased...
27.7% South Asian - London Borough of EalingLondon Borough of EalingThe London Borough of Ealing is a borough in west London.-Location:The London Borough of Ealing borders the London Borough of Hillingdon to the west, the London Borough of Harrow and the London Borough of Brent to the north, the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham to the east and the London...
24.5% South Asian - London Borough of HarrowLondon Borough of HarrowThe London Borough of Harrow is a London borough of north-west London. It borders Hertfordshire to the north and other London boroughs: Hillingdon to the west, Ealing to the south, Brent to the south-east and Barnet to the east.-History:...
29.7% South Asian - London Borough of HounslowLondon Borough of Hounslow-Political composition:Since the borough was formed it has been controlled by the Labour Party on all but two occasions. In 1968 the Conservatives formed a majority for the first and last time to date until they lost control to Labour in 1971. Labour subsequently lost control of the council in the...
24.7% South Asian - London Borough of NewhamLondon Borough of NewhamThe London Borough of Newham is a London borough formed from the towns of West Ham and East Ham, within East London.It is situated east of the City of London, and is north of the River Thames. According to 2006 estimates, Newham has one of the highest ethnic minority populations of all the...
32.5% South Asian - London Borough of RedbridgeLondon Borough of RedbridgeThe London Borough of Redbridge is a London borough in outer north-east London. Its administrative headquarters is at Redbridge Town Hall in Ilford. The local authority is Redbridge London Borough Council.-Etymology:...
25.0% South Asian
See also
- List of British Asian people
- Asian-ScotsAsian-ScotsAsian-Scots or Scottish Asians is a term used for people of South Asian ancestry who were born in Scotland, or for South Asian immigrants....
- British BangladeshiBritish BangladeshiA British Bangladeshi is a person of Bangladeshi origin who resides in the United Kingdom having emigrated to the UK and attained citizenship through naturalisation or whose parents did so; they are also known as British Bengalis...
- British IndianBritish IndianThe term British Indian refers to citizens of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in India. This includes people born in the UK who are of Indian descent, and Indian-born people who have migrated to the UK...
- British Indo-Caribbean communityBritish Indo-Caribbean communityThe British Indo-Caribbean community consists of residents of the United Kingdom who are of Caribbean origin and whose ancestors were indigenous to India...
- British Pakistanis
- British Tamil
- Mauritians in the United Kingdom
- Nepalis in the United KingdomNepalis in the United KingdomNepalese in the United Kingdom are British citizens or full time residents of the United Kingdom whose ethnic origins lie fully or partially in the South Asian nation of Nepal.-History:...
- Sri Lankans in the United Kingdom
- Asian-Scots
- African migration to the United Kingdom
- Anglo-IndianAnglo-IndianAnglo-Indians are people who have mixed Indian and British ancestry, or people of British descent born or living in India, now mainly historical in the latter sense. British residents in India used the term "Eurasians" for people of mixed European and Indian descent...
- BBC Asian NetworkBBC Asian NetworkBBC Asian Network is a British radio station serving those originating from and around the Indian subcontinent. The music and news comes out of the main urban areas where there are significant communities with these backgrounds. The station has production centres in Birmingham, Leicester and London...
- British ArabsBritish ArabsBritish Arabs are Arab people living or born in the United Kingdom. Unlike Black British or Asian British, the term is not one of those employed in government ethnicity categorisations used in the census and for national statistics. It is, however, the term used by the National Association of...
- British Asians in association footballBritish Asians in association footballThe term "British Asian" generally refers to British citizens who can trace their origin to South Asia; however, it also refer to those of East Asian origin...
- British Asians in politics of the United KingdomBritish Asians in politics of the United KingdomBritish Asians have played a large role in the recent politics of the United Kingdom. People from the Indian subcontinent have had a role in the politics of the United Kingdom, starting from the British educated Indians who struggled for independence as well as Indians who became Members of...
- British Iranians
- British Cypriots
- British Turks
- Afghans in BritainAfghans in BritainAfghans in the United Kingdom are citizens or residents of the UK whose ethnic origins are in Afghanistan.Most Afghans are in London, particulary in the West and North. Areas with very high number of Afghans include: Wembley, Hendon, Kingsbury, Edgware and Southall.-Historical migration:Afghans in...
- DesiDesiDesi or Deshi refers to the people, cultures, and products of the Indian subcontinent and, increasingly, to the people, cultures, and products of their diaspora. Desi countries include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh...
- East Asians in the United Kingdom
- Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian OriginNon-resident Indian and Person of Indian OriginA Non-Resident Indian is an Indian citizen who has migrated to another country, a person of Indian origin who is born outside India, or a person of Indian origin who resides permanently outside India. Other terms with the same meaning are overseas Indian and expatriate Indian...
- Pakistani diasporaPakistani diasporaThe Pakistani diaspora, or an overseas Pakistani is a Pakistani citizen who has migrated to another country or a person of Pakistani origin who is born outside Pakistan. There are approximately 7 million Pakistanis living abroad...
- RomnichalRomnichalThe Romanichals are a Romani sub-group in the United Kingdom.Romanichals are thought to have arrived in Britain in the 16th century...
External links
- BBC Radio Player discussion on the dissatisfaction over the term Asian
- hWeb - An outline of the immigration pattern of the Pakistani community in Britain
- Indian Mirror Magazine - Only British Asians lifestyle magazine
- Asian - Website for British Asians
- Asians in UK - A Web Portal dedicated to Young British Asians
- British Council Arts - Contemporary Writers information on British Asian writer Raman MundairRaman MundairRaman Mundair is a British poet, writer, artist and playwright. She was born in Ludhiana, India and came to live in the UK at the age of five. Her poetry has been featured in Acumen, Poetry Scotland, Kavya Bharati and widely anthologized...
. - BBC News Many Asians 'do not feel British' 30/07/07 based on ICM Research poll conducted 4–12 July 2007
- London Asian Guide - Online Guide for British Asians
- Reassessing what we collect website - The Asian Community in London History of Asian London with objects and images