East London is the northeastern part ofLondon. It is east of theCity of London.
It does not have an officialdefinition. The idea has its origins in 1720 as "That part beyond theTower". By 1950 it was called East London and included all of Greater London east of the City of London and north of the River Thames. This area now makes up the London boroughs ofBarking and Dagenham,Hackney,Havering,Newham,Redbridge,Tower Hamlets andWaltham Forest. It includes one of the highestethnic minority populations in the country, mostly families of South Asian origin.
TheEast End of London is a subset of East London, corresponding to areas closer to the ancient City.
The early development of London eastward was caused by shipping on theRiver Thames. There weredocks andshipbuilding. These industries declined afterWorld War II.Felixstowe is now used as the maincontainerport of southern England. East London is now an area of regeneration.
Areas further east developed in theVictorian andEdwardian eras following the expansion of therailways in the 19th century. InTower Hamlets thepopulation peaked in 1891 and growth was restricted to the outer boroughs. By 1971 the population had peaked in every borough and the entire area was experiencing population decline. By the time of the 2011 census this had reversed and every borough had some growth in population.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
Many famous places likeSpitalfields,Brick Lane andShoreditch are in East London.
| Borough | Barking and Dagenham | Hackney | Havering | Newham | Redbridge | Tower Hamlets | Waltham Forest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Location |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Population (2001) | 165,700 | 207,200 | 224,700 | 249,500 | 241,900 | 201,100 | 222,000 |
| Population (1901) | 25,080 | 374,132 | 24,853 | 338,506 | 77,621 | 578,143 | 154,146 |
| Population (1801) | 1,937 | 14,609 | 6,370 | 8,875 | 4,909 | 130,871 | 6,500 |
| Population peak | 168,724 (1951) | 379,120 (1911) | 248,107 (1971) | 454,096 (1931) | 270,876 (1951) | 584,936 (1891) | 280,094 (1931) |