50 years on since Bangladesh has become a sovereign nation and we, British Bangladeshi, have had a footprint in the UK that stretches back four centuries. It started with the expansion of the East India Company in Calcutta in the 17th-century, with merchant seamen known as ‘Laskars’. They were recruited to serve the ships and on occasions, they would jump ship in one of Britain's ports. There were also ‘ayas’ – servants and cooks brought back by returning employees of the East India Company, however, this was in very small numbers and there is little account of their presence in the UK.
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