National personification

Britannia arm-in-arm with Uncle Sam symbolizes the British-American alliance in World War I.

A national personification is an anthropomorphization of a nation or its people; it can appear in both editorial cartoons and propaganda.

Some early personifications in the Western world tended to be national manifestations of the majestic wisdom and war goddess Minerva/Athena, and often took the Latin name of the ancient Roman province. Examples of this type include Britannia, Germania, Hibernia, Helvetia and Polonia. Representations of the citizenry of a nation—rather than of the nation itself—are Deutscher Michel and John Bull.^[1]

A national personification is not the same as a national animal, although in some cartoons the national animal rather than the human personification is used to represent a country.

Personifications by country or territory

Country	Personification
Albania	Mother Albania
Argentina	Effigy of the Republic/Liberty/Progress/Fatherland, Gaucho
Armenia	Mother Armenia (Mayr Hayastan; lit. "Mother Hayastan")
Australia	Boxing kangaroo
Austria	Austria
Brazil	Efígie da República, the Candango (only in Brasília), the Bandeirante (only in São Paulo state)
Cambodia	Preah Thaong and Neang Neak
Canada	Mountie, Johnny Canuck, Le Vieux de '37 (French Canada), Adam Dollard des Ormeaux (used during the two World Wars as a military example), Miss Canada, Mother Canada (at the Vimy Memorial)
Czech Republic	Švejk (literary character), Český Vašek (obsolete, 19th Century), Hloupý Honza, Praotec Čech (Forefather Czech), Čechie, Double-tailed Czech lion.
Chile	El Roto, El Huaso, La Carmela, Doña Juanita (an average Chilean woman from the countryside)
China	Chinese dragon
Denmark	Holger Danske
Dominican Republic	Anacaona[citation needed]
Egypt	Mother of the World (Om el-Donia)
England	John Bull
Europe	Europa or Europa regina
Finland	Finnish Maiden (Suomi-neito)
France	Marianne , Gallic rooster
Germany	Germany: Germania, Arminius (Hermann der Cherusker), Deutscher Michel Bavaria: Bavaria, Berlin: Berolina, Franconia: Franconia, Hamburg: Hammonia, Prussia: Borussia, Palatinate: Palatia, Saxony: Saxonia
Greece	Athena, "Greece" of Delacroix
Honduras	Juan Pueblo
Hungary	Hungária/ Hunnia
Iceland	The Lady of the Mountains (Fjallkonan)
Ireland	Ériu, Kathleen Ni Houlihan, Hibernia, Granuaile
India	Bharat Mata ("Mother India")
Indonesia	Ibu Pertiwi
Israel	Srulik, King David
Italy	Italia Turrita
Japan	Amaterasu Omikami, Samurai
Macedonia	Mother Macedonia,[2] Macedonian lion (national symbol)
Malta	Melita
Mexico	Adelita
Netherlands	Hans Brinker (outside the Netherlands), De Leeuw van Oranje, de Nederlandse Maagd` ("Netherlands Maiden"), (Zeeland: Zeeuws Meisje)
New Zealand	Kiwi, Zealandia, Southern man (for the South Island)
Norway	Ola Nordmann, Kari Nordmann, hist. Nór
Pakistan	Pak Watan is a national personification and a term of endearment for Pakistan.
Palestinian territories	Handala
Peru	The chalán, La Madre Patria
Philippines	Juan dela Cruz, Maria Clara
Poland	Polonia
Portugal	Zé Povinho, Eu nacional (National Self), Lusitania, República, Rooster of Barcelos
Romania	România Revoluționară, Constantin Daniel Rosenthal
Russia	Mother Russia/Mother Motherland, Russian Bear
Scotland	Jock Tamson
Serbia	Wolf (national personification based on Serbian tradition), Prince Marko (mythical hero, stereotype of the average Serb mentality), Kosovo Maiden, Typical Serb (bearded, stubborn man wearing a fur hat)
Slovenia	Kranjski Janez ("John from Carniola", an average man from Slovenia's central region), Peter Klepec
Spain	Hispania, Juan Español, Osborne Bull/Toro Osborne
Sweden	Mother Svea
Switzerland	Helvetia
Turkey	Anatolia
United Kingdom	Britannia, John Bull, Lion
United States	Uncle Sam (government personification), Lady Liberty, Columbia, Brother Jonathan (obsolete), Johnny Rebel (The South, obsolete), Billy Yank (The North, obsolete)
Ukraine	Cossack Mamay
USSR	Mother Motherland
Venezuela	Liberty's White Horse
Wales	Dame Wales, Deffroad Cymru, the Awakening of Wales

Gallery

1914 poster showing Marianne, Mother Russia and Britannia.   French political cartoon from the late 1890s, depicting European powers and Japan carving their shares out of China who protests in vain.   Marianne is kept isolated from John Bull, Russian Bear and all the other European powers as Bismarck busily courts them.   John Bull, a national personification of the United Kingdom holds the head of Napoleon I of France in an 1803 caricature by James Gillray.   Germania representing Germany, in a painting by Phillip Veit from 1848.   Eugène Delacroix, Greece Expiring on the Ruins of Missolonghi (1827)   Theodoros Vryzakis' depiction of Hellas as a woman surrounded by rebels of the Greek War of Independence   Italia and Germania by Friedrich Overbeck, symbolising the friendship between Germany and Italy   Norway, Denmark and Sweden joining hands in a 19th Century poster   Lech, Czech, Rus and the White Eagle   Statue of Mother Svea representing Sweden on a building in Stockholm.   World War I recruiting poster featuring John Bull.   Brazilian Constitutionalist Revolution recruiting poster, showing a Bandeirante with the dictator of Brazil, Getúlio Vargas, in his hand.   Allegory drawing depicting the friendship between the Argentine Republic and the newly-formed Brazilian Republic.   Zé Povinho, caricature of a Portuguese working class man of the 19th century   In this 1806 French print, the woman with the Menorah represents the Jews being emancipated by Napoleon Bonaparte   James Gillray's cartoon on the 1803 Peace of Amiens, features a fat and non-marital Britannia kissing "Citizen François", a personifiaction of Revolutionary France never used by the French themselves   Revolutionary Romania. Painting by C. D. Rosenthal, made in Paris exile in the early 1850's   Romania Breaking off Her Chains on the Field of Liberty, also by C. D. Rosenthal   A later depiction of Romania as a woman in a World War I French caricature   Uncle Sam in a U.S. Army recruitment poster used in both World War I and World War II   The figures in this late 18th century painting by Shiba Kōkan represent Japan, China, and the West.   Columbia, personification of the United States ( World War I patriotic poster)   Columbia, America personified as a young woman holding up a Phrygian cap on a clipper ship card of the Young America Movement   Mother Canada statue in the World War I Vimy Memorial   Mother Motherland, personification of the Soviet Union, at a World War II war memorial in Volgograd (the former Stalingrad)   Polonia (Poland), by Jan Matejko, painted after the failure of the 1863 January Uprising   Lady of the mountain in Iceland.   Cossack Mamay, personification of Ukraine and Ukrainians.   Peru (left), Argentina (centre) and Chile (right), personified at the Mausoleum of General San Martín, Buenos Aires.   Free Bulgaria; lithography by Georgi Danchov   17th century map by Frederik de Wit showing mythological Europa as the continent's personification   Europa regina in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia".   "Mrs. Britannia" and her daughter "Miss Canada" discussing "Cousin Jonathan"(the US) in a 1886 political cartoon

See also

• Hetalia: Axis Powers
• Afghanis-tan
• National emblem for other metaphors for nations
• Italia Turrita
• Emblem of Italy
• Mural crown
• The Stella d’Italia

References

1. ^ Eric Hobsbawm, "Mass-Producing Traditions: Europe, 1870-1914," in Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, eds., The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge, 1983), 263-307.
2. ^ Often seen in Macedonian folklore.

Lionel Gossman. “Making of a Romantic Icon: The Religious Context of Friedrich Overbeck’s ‘Italia und Germania.’” American Philosophical Society, 2007. ISBN 0871699753. [1]

External links

• A scholarly case study of the evolution of Deutscher Michel