African immigration to Europe

African immigrants to Europe are those who live in or who are born in Africa, who immigrate to Europe. Although immigration from Africa to Europe has increased substantially in recent decades, it is not a recent phenomenon.

History

The Roman Emperor Septimius Severus was born in North Africa, in what is now modern day Libya. North Africans moved to Britain during Roman rule.

Some white British men have a Y chromosome haplogroup originating from sub Saharan African males.

Migration flows

Since the 1960s, the main source countries of migration from Africa to Europe have been Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, resulting in large diasporas with origins in these countries by the end of the 20th century. In the period following the 1973 oil crisis, immigration controls in European states were tightened, but the effect of this was not to reduce migration from North Africa but rather than encourage permanent settlement of previously temporary migrants, and associated family migration. Much of this migration was from the Maghreb to France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. From the second half of the 1980s, the destination countries for migrants from the Maghreb broadened to include Spain and Italy, as a result of increased demand for low-skilled labour in those countries.