Greek Britons
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Greek Britons Έλληνο-Βρετανός |
|---|
    .jpg/79px-Marie_Spartali_Stillman_(1868).jpg)  |
| Notable Greek Britons: Alex Kapranos · Peter Andre · Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh · George Michael · Marie Spartali Stillman · Marina Sirtis    |
| Total population |
|
Greek/Cypriot |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Throughout the United Kingdom, in particular, London · Birmingham · Liverpool · Manchester · Glasgow · Cardiff |
| Languages |
| British English · Greek · Languages of Greece |
| Religions |
| Christianity |
Greek Britons are people of Greek or Greek Cypriot ancestry who were born or were raised in the United Kingdom.
Contents |
[edit] Early Greek settlement
Pytheas (Greek: Πυθέας) is the first known Greek to come to Britain, and Pretannia, to become Britannia, is Diodorus's hellenised version of the name already used by some of the local peoples of the time to describe themselves, Pretani. Many Greeks later arrived with the Roman legions as soldiers and traders.
Following the death of the previous holder of the post, the Greek Theodore of Tarsus was appointed Head of the Anglican Church as Archbishop of Canterbury in 669 AD, playing an important part in the early history of England, building churches and monasteries and establishing theological studies. According to the Venerable Bede, Theodore contributed to the bringing of a greater unity to English Christianity, and in 672 presided over the first council of the entire English Church, at Hertford. The structure of dioceses and parishes he put in place is still substantially in place today.
Greeks later came to the island as sailors, merchants, missionaries, as mercenaries (especially after the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453) and subsequently as students during Ottoman rule. The first documented organised Greek Orthodox Community was established in London in the 1670s. In the 19th century, Greeks settled mostly in the port cities of London, Liverpool, Glasgow and Cardiff. Britain gained control over Cyprus on 4 June 1878 as a result of the Cyprus Convention and formally annexed it in 1913. Greek Cypriots began to settle in London from the 1930s[citation needed]. The earliest migrants came to the area around Soho, and many more arrived at the end of the Second World War. As rents in the West End increased, Camden and Fulham became popular areas for Greek-Cypriot migrants. Women initially worked from home in industries such as dressmaking. By the 1960s, a Greek language school and Greek Orthodox church, St Nicholas, had been established in Fulham.
[edit] Population numbers
There are no official statistics on the number of Greeks and Greek Cypriots in Great Britain and there are no scientifically based estimates.
According to community tradition, after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, the Greek Cypriot population of London more than doubled to about two hundred thousand (200,000) in 1980. Today north London is often referred to as Little Cyprus since there are nearly as many Greek Cypriots living there as in the capital of Cyprus, Nicosia (Lefkosia), or approximately 270,000 people who constitute the highest number of Cypriots living outside Cyprus. An estimated 40,000 Greeks from Greece also live in the Greater London area, and about 50,000 Greeks, mostly Cypriots live in Birmingham. (see discussion)
All in all the Greek population of the UK, consisting of Greeks from Cyprus, Greece and other parts of the east Mediterranean and people of mixed Greek ancestry estimated to reside in Great Britain is close to 400,000. Other estimates vary depending on the criteria. It is accepted that the majority live in the Greater London region, in particular Southgate and Palmers Green. According to a City of London Corporation sponsored report[1], there are between 28,600-31,000 Greek speakers in Greater London. The study also reports that out of a total 896,743 London schoolchildren, 0.71% come from a Greek-speaking home. There is currently no census of persons of Greek origin who use English as the home language, or of Greek Orthodox persons.
There is also a considerable number of Greek students from Greece studying in the UK. According to official UK Higher Education Statistics Agency results[2] for the 2005/2006 academic year, there were just under 18,000 Greek undergraduate and prostgraduate students in the UK (a drop from previous years). This was third only behind Chinese and Indian students.
The sharpest increase in numbers has been Greeks arriving to fill banking and executive jobs in the financial sector of the City of London, in the medical professions and in academia.
[edit] Everyday life
Traditional Greek restaurants (known in the UK as Tavernas) have become part of mainstream British culinary life. As far as cultural events go, the Dionysos Greek Wine Festival & Culture (founded in 2003 to promote the Greek wine and food industry and raise funds for charities) attracts in excess of 12,000 visitors and is growing each year.
[edit] List of notable Greek Britons
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Philip Baker & John Eversley, Multilingual Capital, commissioned by City of London Corporation, published by Battlebridge 2000.
- ^ UK Higher Education Statistics Agency results
[edit] External links
- A short history of the Greek presence in pre-20th century London
- Greek wine festival
- London Greek Radio
- Greek London online magazine
- Union of Greek students in london
- The Hellenic Centre, promoting Hellenic Culture in the UK
- London Festival of Greek Drama
- Parikia - Newspapers for the UK Greek community
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