Key dates

• c800 : Viking raids on the north coast of England
• 866 : York captured by Vikings
• 878: Peace was agreed between Saxons and Vikings leading to establishment of Danelaw
• 1066: Norman Conquest put the Normans in control of England
• 1070: William 1 invited Jewish merchant from Rouen to settle in England
• 1100-35: Henry 1 issued a Charter of Liberties, defining the privileges of Jews and their legal status as property of the King
• 1190,1244,1255: Massacres of Jews in York, Lincoln and London
• 1266: Henry 3rd granted a charter to German Hansa merchants, giving them a lot of control over the English wool trade
• 1290: Edward 1 issued an edict expelling Jews and encouraged Lombardy bankers to come to Britain
• 1348: The Black Death reached England and created a shortage of workers and artisans which created encouraging conditions for European migrants
• 1370: Letters of denization gave foreign workers the same toghts and protection as English citizens
• 1511: An illustration shows John Blanke, a trumpeter, proving evidence of black migrants as English citizens
• 1517: ‘Evil May Day’ riots in London
• 1530,1554,1562: Royal proclamations issued about status of Gypsies
• 1560s : Walloon migrants (from modern Belgium)
• 1560s and 1570s : John Hawkins led several voyages transporting Africans to the Americas ; Britains growing involvement in slave trade trade resulted in some enslaved Africans being brought to Britain
• 1600 East India Company founded
• 1620s-1650s : Cornelius Vermuyden carried out major projects to drain and reclaim land in England
• 1656 : Oliver Cromwell re-admitted Jews to Britain
• 1660 : Royal Africa Company founded
• 1685: French Protestants called Huguenots had settled in England after St Bartholomews Day Massacre in 1572. But number increased after 1685 when Protestantism was banned in France
• 1709: German Palatine migrants settled temporarily near London
• 1789: Oluadah Equiano published his autobiography
• 1807,1833: Legislatin - abolition of slave trade (1807) and abolition of slavery (1833)
• 1829 : Catholicism Emancipation Act
• 1840s : Railway mania involving extensive construction of railway lines
• 1840s : Famine in Ireland
• 1880s : Many Jews settled in East End of London, often seeing refuge in response to progroms of Russia
• 1905 : Aliens Act
• 1914-18 : First World War
• 1931: Dr Harold Moody established League of Coloured Peoples
• 1936: Battle of Cable Street, London
• 1939-45: Second World War
• 1948: British Nationality Act, migrants from Caribbean arrived to Britain on Empire Windrush
• 1958: Notting Hill riots
• 1959: Murder of Kelso Cochrane

  Oswald Mosleys election campaign

  Caribbean Carnival
• 1963: Bristol Bus Boycott

  Notting Hill housing Trust formed
• 1965 : Race relationship Act
• 1970: Trial of the Mangrove Nine
• 1972 : Ugandan Asians arrival in Britain