This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "English diaspora" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(May 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

TheEnglish diaspora consists ofEnglish people and theirdescendants whoemigrated fromEngland. Thediaspora is concentrated in theEnglish-speaking world in countries such as theUnited States,Canada,Australia,New Zealand,Scotland,Ireland,Wales,South Africa, and to a lesser extent,Zimbabwe,India,Zambia and continentalEurope.

The first notable exodus of English-speakers began in the years following theNorman Conquest of England, the majority of them being aristocrats and theirretinues, who had become dispossessed of theirmanors and titles by the invading Normans. Some went to neighboring lands inScotland,Ireland andScandinavia, but many fled to theByzantine Empire where they were said to have settled an area they namedNew England along theBlack Sea, likelyCrimea, and garrisoned a castle calledKibatos on the coast ofAnatolia. The Emperor'sVarangian Guard then became mostly Englishmen.^[7]

The first deliberate and organized English diaspora began whenEnglish Catholics exiled themselves fromHenry VIII's religious policies toHabsburg lands, especially the nearest Catholic intellectual centre, theUniversity of Louvain (in present-dayBelgium) which was by the late 1540s a bastion of ultra-orthodoxy. This was redoubled by a further wave of emigration underEdward VI's more radicallyProtestant regime.^[8]

After theAge of Discovery, the native peoples ofEngland were among the earliest and by far the largest communities toemigrate out of Europe, andEnglish overseas expansion beginning in the 16th century, followed by theBritish Empire's expansion during the first half of the 19th century saw an extraordinary dispersion of English people, with particular concentrations inNorth America andAustralasia.^[9]

The British Empire was "built onwaves of migration overseas by British peoples",^[10] who left the island ofGreat Britain, reaching across the globe and permanently affecting population structures in three continents.^[9] What became the United States was "easily the greatest single destination of emigrant British", but in theFederation of Australia the British ethnic groups experienced abirth rate higher than anything seen before, resulting in them becoming the dominant ethnic groups in Australia.^[9]

English settlers arrived in Buenos Aires in 1806 (then a Spanish colony) in small numbers, mostly as businessmen, when Argentina was an emerging nation and the settlers were welcomed for the stability they brought to commercial life. As the 19th century progressed more English families arrived, and many bought land to develop the potential of the Argentine pampas for the large-scale growing of crops. The English founded banks, developed the export trade in crops and animal products and imported the luxuries that the growing Argentine middle classes sought.^[11]

As well as those who went to Argentina as industrialists and major landowners, others went asrailway engineers,civil engineers and to work inbanking andcommerce.^[12] Others went to becomewhalers,missionaries and simply to seek out a future. English families sent second and younger sons, or what were described as theblack sheep of the family, to Argentina to make their fortunes incattle andwheat. English settlers introducedfootball to Argentina.^[13] Some English families ownedsugar plantations.^[12]

English culture, or a version of it as perceived from outside, had a noted effect on theculture of Argentina, mainly in the middle classes. In 1888 local Anglo-Argentines established theHurlingham Club, based onits namesake inLondon. The city ofHurlingham, Buenos Aires andHurlingham Partido inBuenos Aires Province later grew up around the club and took their names from it. TheCórdoba Athletic Club, one of the oldest sports clubs in Argentina, was founded in 1882 by Englishmen that lived in Córdoba working in the railways.

There are about 1,000,000 people of English descent in Argentina.^[14]

In theCanada 2016 Census, 'English' was the most common ethnic origin (ethnic origin refers to the ethnic or cultural group(s) to which the respondent's ancestors belong^[15]) recorded by respondents; 6,320,085 people or 18.3% of the population self-identified themselves as wholly or partly English.^[16][17] On the other hand, people identifying as Canadian but not English may have previously identified as English before the option of identifying as Canadian was available.^[18]

Chileans of English ancestry are estimated to number 1,000,000^{[citation needed]}

Since thePort of Valparaíso opened its coasts to free trade in 1811, the English began to congregate inValparaíso. The first to arrive brought with them tools, articles of china, wool and cotton, with instructions to return with copper and hemp. This was the first exchange of what would become a deep-rooted commercial relationship between the UK andChile.

In theValparaíso they constructed their largest and most important colony, bringing with them neighborhoods of English character, schools, social,sports clubs,business organizations andperiodicals. This influence is apparent in unique areas of Chilean society today, such as the bank and the national marina, as well as in certain social activities popular in the country, such asfootball, horse racing, and drinkingtea.

The English eventually numbered more than 32,000 during the port of Valparaíso's boom period during thesaltpeter bonanza at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.^[19] The British colonial influence is important to understanding the boom and bust of the port of Valparaíso.

The English colony was also important in the northern zone of the country during the saltpeter boom, in the ports ofIquique andPisagua. TheKing of Saltpeter,John Thomas North, was the principal backer of nitrate mining. The English legacy was reflected in the streets of the historic district of the city ofIquique, with the foundation of various institutions, such as the Club Hípico (Racing Club). Nevertheless, said presence came to an end with the saltpeter crisis during the 1930s.

An important contingent of English immigrants also settled in the present-day region ofMagallanes. In the same way, they established English families in other areas of the country, such asSantiago,Coquimbo, theAraucanía, andChiloé.

English people along the Caribbean Coast, orMiskito Coast, ofNicaragua began in 1633. The area was controlled by Britain until 1860, and eventually integrated into Nicaragua by 1894. The Miskito Coast region divided into two autonomous regions within Nicaragua after 1987.The first English settlers of the Miskito Coast arrived in 1633, exchanging products through primitive trade with theMiskitos. The English exchanged manufactured goods such as guns, machetes, beds, mirrors etc., in exchange for cocoa, animal skins, sarsaparilla, rubber, wood, and turtle shells. The formation of an English colony in the region ledSpain to protest, butEngland managed to create a colony on the Caribbean Coast. This colony had two different, but complementary, production methods; one a capitalist basis and the other communal.^{[citation needed]}

The English people in Paraguay mostly arrived during the colonial period as investors and industrialists. They were noted throughout theSouthern cone region ofParaguay as being skilled farmers, investors, and bankers and as having created many of the regions railways and settled vast tracts of land.^{[citation needed]}

In the modern day however it is assumed most have become a part of the wider Paraguayan ethnicity, although there are still some in Paraguay who identify as "English".The English indirectly and probably inadvertently played a major part in Paraguay's continual existence, because theBritish Empire had invested heavily throughoutSouth America, includingParaguay.^{[citation needed]}

English immigration began in the 1500s.Sir Walter Raleigh led expeditions to North America in order to found new settlements and find gold and namedVirginia in honor of Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen. In 1585 Sir Walter Raleigh sent several shiploads of colonists to the 'New World', who settled onRoanoke Island. It was here thatEleanor White Dare gave birth to a daughter,Virginia Dare, the first child born of English parents in America. The first immigrants mysteriously disappeared and Roanoke was given the nickname of "the Lost Colony".^{[citation needed]}

English settlement in America recommenced withJamestown in theVirginia Colony in 1607. With the permission ofJames I, three ships (theSusan Constant,The Discovery andThe God Speed) sailed from England and landed atCape Henry in April, under the captainship ofChristopher Newport,^[20] who had been hired by theLondon Company to lead expeditions to what is now America.^[21]In 1620 another religious group left England in search of religious freedom. This group was called thePuritans who represented the next wave of English immigration to America. The 'Great Migration' between 1620 and 1640 to America led to the establishment of the firstThirteen Colonies. It is estimated that over 50,000 undertook the 3,000-mile (5,000-kilometre) journey to America during the Great Migration.

The overwhelming majority of theFounding Fathers of theUnited States of America were of English extraction, includingBenjamin Franklin,George Washington,John Adams,James Madison,^[22]Thomas Jefferson, andAlexander Hamilton.

The table shows the English population old stock estimates from 1700 to 1790. In 1700 the total population of the American colonies was 250,888 of which 223,071 (89%) were white and 80% were ethnicallyEnglish and Welsh.^[25][26]

In the 2020United States census,English Americans (46.6 million or 19.8% ofwhite Americans) were the most common ancestral group, followed byGerman Americans (45 million) andIrish Americans at 38.6 million.^[37]

George Washington highlighted as being the "father of his country" was of English descent.^[38][39]

Benjamin Franklin had English roots on both sides.

However,demographers regard this as an undercount, as the index of inconsistency is high and many, if not most, people from English stock have a tendency (since the introduction of a new 'American' category in the 2000 census) to identify as simplyAmericans^{[40][41][42][43]} or if of mixed European ancestry, identify with a more recent and differentiated ethnic group.^[44] In the1980 United States Census, over 49 million (49,598,035) Americans claimed English ancestry, at the time around 26.34% of the total population and largest reported group which, even today, would make them the largest ethnic group in the United States.^[45]Scots-Irish Americans are descendants ofLowland Scots andNorthern English (specifically:County Durham,Cumberland, Yorkshire,Northumberland andWestmorland) settlers who colonised Ireland during thePlantation of Ulster in the 17th century.

Americans of English heritage are often seen, and identify, as simply "American" due to the many historic cultural ties between England and the U.S. and their influence on the country's population. Relative to ethnic groups of other European origins, this may be due to the early establishment of English settlements; as well as to non-English groups having emigrated in order to establish significant communities.^[46]

English ancestry
Census	Population	%	% change	Ref(s)
1986	6,607,228	42.3		[47]
2001	6,358,880	33.9		[48][49]
2006	6,283,647	31.6		[50]
2011	7,238,533	33.7	+15.2%	[51][52]
2016	7,852,224	36.1		[53]

Australia's biggest city Sydney was founded by the British government as a penal colony. Visitors described the English character of Sydney for at least the first 50 years after 1788, noting the traditional English appearance of the churches overlooking the convict barracks. First-generation Sydney residents, other than the diminished population of Aboriginal people, were predominantly English. 160,000 convicts came to Australia between 1788 and 1850.^[54] Between 1788 and 1840, 80,000 English convicts were transported to New South Wales, with the greatest numbers coming between 1825 and 1835. TheNew South Wales Census of 1846 accounted for 57,349 born in England.

From the beginning of thecolonial era until the mid-20th century, the vast majority of settlers to Australia were from theBritish Isles, with the English being the dominant group, followed by the Irish and Scottish. Among the leading ancestries, increases in Australian, Irish, and German ancestries and decreases in English, Scottish, and Welsh ancestries appear to reflect such shifts in perception or reporting. These reporting shifts at least partly resulted from changes in the design of the census question, in particular the introduction of a tick box format in 2001.^[55]

Until 1859, 2.2 million (73%) of the free settlers who immigrated were British.^[56]

Australians of English descent, are both the single largest ethnic group inAustralia and the largest 'ancestry' identity in the Australian census.^[57] In the2016 census, 7.8 million or 25.0% of respondents identified as "English" or a combination including English, a numerical increase from 7.2 million over the 2011 census figure. The census also documented 907,572 residents or 3.9% of Australia as being born inEngland, and are the largest overseas-born population.^[58]

English migrants and English Australians were by far the single most influential ethnic group in colonial Australia.^[59]

SeeBritons in Japan

New Zealand's foundational culture wasEnglish, given the strong representation in the mid and late-nineteenth century with the English being the largest in migration inflows.^[60]A 19th-century English company the "New Zealand Company" played a key role in the colonisation ofNew Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principles of systematic colonisation devised byEdward Gibbon Wakefield, who envisaged the creation of a new-model Englishsociety in theSouthern Hemisphere.^[61]

James Cook claimed New Zealand for Britain on his arrival in 1769. The establishment of British colonies in Australia from 1788 and the boom in whaling and sealing in the Southern Ocean brought many Europeans to the vicinity of New Zealand. By 1830 there was a population of about 800 non Māori which included a total of about 200 runaway convicts and seamen. The seamen often lived in New Zealand for a short time before joining another ship a few months later. In 1839 there were 1100 Europeans living in the North Island.

TheCanterbury Association was founded inLondon on 27 March 1848 and incorporated by Royal Charter on 13 November 1849. They recruited settlers from the south of England, creating a definite English influence over that region.^[69] In the 1860s most migrants settled in theSouth Island due to gold discoveries and the availability of flat grass covered land for pastoral farming.

From 1840, the English constituted the largest single group among New Zealand's overseas-born, consistently being over 50 percent, sometimes 60 percent of those who were born in the United Kingdom and Ireland.^[60] Despite their prominence as migrants, at no point after the early 1850s did the English-born constitute a majority of the colonial population. In the1851 Census, just over half (50.5%) the total population was born in England, this proportion then fell to 36.5% (1861) and 24.3% by 1881.^[60] In 2013, there were 215,589 English-born representing 21.5% of all overseas-born residents or 5 percent of the total population and is still the most-common birthplace outside New Zealand.^[70] In the recent 2018 census, 210,915 were born in England or 4.49% of the total population, a slight decrease from 2013.^[68]

Plantations in 16th- and 17th-century Ireland were the confiscation of land by theEnglish crown and thecolonisation of this land with settlers from England (particularly the Border Counties) and theScottish Lowlands. They followed smaller-scale immigration to Ireland as far back as the 12th century, which had resulted in a distinct ethnicity in Ireland known as theOld English.^{[citation needed]}

The 16th-century plantations were established throughout the country by the confiscation of lands occupied byGaelic clans andHiberno-Norman dynasties, but principally in theprovinces ofMunster andUlster. The Crown granted these lands to colonists ("planters") fromEngland. This process began during the reign ofHenry VIII and continued underMary I andElizabeth I. It was accelerated underJames I,Charles I andOliver Cromwell; in their time, land was also granted to Scottish planters.^{[citation needed]}

The earlyplantations in the 16th century tended to be based on small "exemplary" colonies. The later plantations were based on mass confiscations of land from Irish landowners and the subsequent importation of numerous settlers and labourers fromEngland and Wales, and later from Scotland.The final official plantations were established under theEnglish Commonwealth and Cromwell'sProtectorate during the 1650s, when thousands ofParliamentarian soldiers were settled in Ireland. Apart from the plantations, significant immigration into Ireland continued well into the 18th century, from bothGreat Britain andcontinental Europe.The plantations changed thedemography of Ireland by creating large communities with a British andProtestant identity.^{[citation needed]}

English immigration to the Kingdom of Poland, dating back to early modern times, was significantly smaller thanScottish immigration. English immigrants were often merchants and mercenaries, however, the last major recruitment to the Polish Army in England and Scotland was conducted in 1633.^[71] There were also some scholars and students, includingLeonard Cox, humanist, professor at theKraków Academy.^[71] The English rather quickly assimilated with thePolish population.^[72]

According to the 1921 Polish census, the largest English populations lived in the cities ofWarsaw (169),Łódź andLwów (31 each).^[73][74][75]

In the2011 Polish census, 10,495 people declared English nationality, of which 9,132 declared both Polish and English nationality.^[76]

In the 2021Polish census, 54,424 people declared English nationality, it was seventh biggest nationality in Poland.^[77]

• English-speaking world

• Ember, Carol R.; et al. (2004).Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World. Springer.ISBN 978-0-306-48321-9.
• Erickson, Charlotte.Invisible Immigrants: The Adaptation of English and Scottish Immigrants in Nineteenth-Century America (1972).
• Feduszka, Jacek (2009). "Szkoci i Anglicy w Zamościu w XVI-XVIII wieku".Czasy Nowożytne (in Polish). Vol. 22. Zarząd Główny Polskiego Towarzystwa Historycznego.ISSN 1428-8982.
• Furer, Howard B., ed.The British in America: 1578-1970 (1972).online; chronology and documents

• Grant, Robert.Representations of British emigration, colonisation and settlement (2005).

• Marshall, Peter James (2001).The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire. Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-521-00254-7.

• Richards, Eric.Britannia's children: emigration from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland since 1600 (A&C Black, 2004)online.

• Shepperson, Wilbur S.British emigration to North America; projects and opinions in the early Victorian period (1957)online
• Tennenhouse, Leonard.The Importance of Feeling English: American Literature and the British Diaspora, 1750-1850 (2007).online
• Van Vugt, William E. "British (English, Scottish, Scots Irish, and Welsh) and British Americans, 1870–1940’." in Elliott Barkan, ed.,Immigrants in American History: Arrival, Adaptation, and Integration (2013): 4:237+.
• Van Vugt, William E.British Buckeyes: The English, Scots, and Welsh in Ohio, 1700-1900 (2006).
• Van Vugt, William E.Britain to America: mid-nineteenth-century immigrants to the United States (University of Illinois Press, 1999).

• English diaspora
• Ethnic groups in Ireland
• Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with Spanish-language sources (es)
• CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list
• CS1 Polish-language sources (pl)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use British English from June 2019
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Use dmy dates from May 2019
• Articles needing additional references from May 2025
• All articles needing additional references
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from August 2024
• Articles using infobox ethnic group with image parameters
• Articles with unsourced statements from June 2024
• Articles with unsourced statements from October 2024