MIGRANTS AND THE GLOBAL CITY

From the Romans until the twenty-first century migrants and settlers have played a central role in the development of the city which would, by the nineteenth century, become the capital of the world because of the size of its population and its economic and political power. Although London may have experienced relative decline from the zenith of its influence and status in the late Victorian era, it has remained the most important metropolis in Europe and also one of the leading cities in the world, whatever time period we may examine. Even after the final collapse of Empire during the