East end

Evening mood in the East End ( Brick Lane )

The East End in London comprises the districts east of the medieval city center and north of the Thames .

History and character

The district was particularly intensely bombed by the German air force during the Second World War ( The Blitz ). Today these are the Tower Hamlets district and the southern part of Hackney . Hackney is considered a poor, proletarian neighborhood and has attracted various immigrant groups over the centuries, Jews around the end of the 19th century and Africans and South Asians, especially from Bangladesh, in the second half of the 20th century .

Explanations for the traditionally low social status of the East End of London:

Because of the prevailing westerly winds , exhaust gases (heating, industry, etc.) were particularly noticeable here and the area was particularly at risk for smog .
This is where the docks are located , where many unskilled workers were employed.
The East End emerged in the 18th century (around 1750) as a collection of quite prosperous factory districts (especially textile processing) in the hinterland of the London harbor (e.g. Wapping or Limehouse harbor districts, Stepney , Poplar or Whitechapel were grouped around various factories). When England's population explosion broke out 100 years later, around 1820, the hope of work drew hundreds of thousands of people to districts that were not intended for this rush (read: much too small). Overpopulation was the result. Almost at the same time, however, the economy of the East End fell into a severe crisis, as many factories could not follow the technical progress of the large factories in the north of England ("backyard industry") and had to close. In addition, the new port facilities moved further and further downstream and withdrew jobs from the old port. Around 1850, many neighborhoods in the East End degenerated into slums and remained so for a long time.

East End as a term

According to the conditions in London , the location East End became a synonym for socially underprivileged or working-class neighborhood, while the West End is a synonym for the "better society". The award-winning BBC television series EastEnders has been telling the story of people in the fictional Borough of Walford in London's East End since 1985 .

additional

The East End (Whitechapel) was the site of the murders committed by an unknown woman murderer in the 19th century . This one became popularly known as Jack the Ripper . Countless film adaptations of this topic took place in the East End. In the twentieth century the East Ends were the site of the siege of Sidney Street and the Kray twins were active in the East End. The gangster film Bube, Dame, König ,grAs was set in the East End, as were the novels Brick Lane (named after the street of the same name ) and The Satanic Verses . Football fans among the residents of the East End are traditionally supporters of the West Ham United , Leyton Orient or Dagenham and Redbridge teams .

Individual evidence

^ The Jews , A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 1: Physique, Archeology, Domesday, Ecclesiastical Organization, The Jews, Religious Houses, Education of Working Classes to 1870, Private Education from Sixteenth Century (1969), pp. 149-51. Accessed April 17, 2007.
↑ The Spatial Form of Bangladeshi Community in London's East End Iza Aftab (UCL; PDF; 8.7 MB) (particularly background of Bangladeshi immigration to the East End). Accessed April 17, 2007.

[1] The Jews , A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 1: Physique, Archeology, Domesday, Ecclesiastical Organization, The Jews, Religious Houses, Education of Working Classes to 1870, Private Education from Sixteenth Century (1969), pp. 149-51. Accessed April 17, 2007.

[2] The Spatial Form of Bangladeshi Community in London's East End Iza Aftab (UCL; PDF; 8.7 MB) (particularly background of Bangladeshi immigration to the East End). Accessed April 17, 2007.