There is a long history of migration to the United Kingdom (and its predecessor states) from across the Asian continent. British colonies and protectorates throughout Asia brought "lascar" sailors and militiamen to port cities in Britain. Immigration of small numbers of South Asians to England began with the arrival of the East India Company to the Indian subcontinent, and the decline of the Mughal India, at the end of the 16th century. Between the 17th and mid-19th century, increasingly diverse lascar crews heading for Britain imported East Asians, such as Japanese and Chinese seamen, Southeast Asians, such as Malays, and post-Suez Canal; West Asian Armenians and Yemenis, who settled throughout the United Kingdom. In particular, Indians also came to Britain, for educational or economic reasons, during the British Raj, with most returning to India after a few months or years, and in greater numbers as the Indian independence movement led to the partition of 1947, eventually creating the separate countries of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.