The Immigration Into London In The Transitional Period

England witnessed its society transformed from Feudalism into Capitalism in the transitional period. As the capital of the England, London changed profoundly in the fields of politic, economy, culture and ideology. With a large number of rural population rolled in, the population increase of London was extremely notable. The large number of immigration from rural area not only promoted the development of social economy of London, but also accelerated and improved the urbanization process and quality of the London and England, which made London the biggest city in Europe in the end of17century and advanced the transformation of the England society to some extent, drawing the fore shadowing of mass increase of urban population in the Industrial Revolution Era.Mainly from the historical angle and by using the knowledge of demography and sociology and the "Push and Pull Theory", this dissertation will exam the reasons of why mass rural populations immigrated into London. Additionally based on predecessors’study achievements, the paper will also exam the general facts of London’s immigration and appraise objectively and fairly the positive and negative impacts that followed the population migration from the rural area to London. This dissertation is made up of5parts:Part1is the preface, including the causes of the subject-selecting, the overseas and domestic research status about the population history of England, especially about the population history of London, and the definitions of some related conceptions. Part2will explain the reasons of why large number of rural population migrated into London with the "Push and Pull Theory". First, from the respect of Supply Push, the population of England increased fast after the16century, which sharped the contradiction between man and earth, leaving a large number of surplus labors. The Enclosure Movement pulled those populations into urban violently. The innovation of the agricultural production raised the productivity, which released more rural laborers in return. Many other social factors, such as the collapse of the old system, the primogeniture, the apprenticeship system and the servant system, also played some important roles in the immigration of the rural populations. Second, from the respect of Demand Pull, the low birth rate and the high mortality rate of London needed a large number of populations to maintain the development of the city. As the capital and the political, economic, and culture center of England, London had a greater appeal to the immigrations than other cities.Part3will exam the changes of the geographical origins of the immigrations and the distance traveled to London by these immigrations, the London’s immigration size, the professions that the immigrations engaged after they migrated into London. This part will also come to the conclusion that the majority of the immigration populations almost immigrated into the suburbs of London and the gender ratio of them was unbalanced.Part4will expound the positive and negative impacts of the population immigration to London. First, the population immigration advanced the process of urbanization, promoted the development of economy, expanded the areas of the city, improved the culture level, made the relations between London and the whole county more closed. Of cause, the population immigration also caused some problems, such as poverty, vagrancy and difficulties in city management.Part5is the epilogue of the dissertation; this part will give a summary of the whole thesis. All in all, there were many reasons that immigrated so large number of rural populations into London. The scale of the immigration, the geographical origins of the immigration and the distance traveled by the immigration are ever-changing. The large scale of immigration not only impacted London and rural areas positively, but also caused some social problems. However, the positive impacts were more than those of negative factors.