National personification

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

A national personification is an anthropomorphism 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. Examples of personifications of the Goddess of Liberty include Marianne, the Statue of Liberty, and many examples of United States coinage. Examples of representations of the everyman or citizenry—rather than of the nation itself—are Deutscher Michel and John Bull.

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	Image	Personification
Albania		Mother Albania (Nëna Shqipëria)
Angola		Giant sable antelope (palanca-negra)
Argentina		Effigy of the Republic/Liberty/Progress/Fatherland, Gaucho, Martín Fierro
Armenia		Mother Armenia (Mayr Hayastan; lit. "Mother Hayastan")
Australia		Little Boy from Manly
Austria		Austria (personification) and the federal eagle
Bangladesh		Mother Bengal (also known as Bangla Maa)
Belgium		La Belgique or Belgica
Brazil		Efígie da República; the Bandeirante (only in São Paulo State); the Candango (in Brasília); the Gaúcho (in Rio Grande do Sul)
Belarus		Rus
Bulgaria		Mother Bulgaria
Cambodia		Preah Thong 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), Mother Canada (at the Vimy Memorial)
Chile		El Roto, El Huaso, La Carmela, Doña Juanita (an average Chilean woman from the countryside), Moya (a common surname used as N.N.)
China		Chinese dragon, Chinese phoenix, panda, little white rabbit (eg in Year Hare Affair)
Czech Republic		Čechie, Czech Vašek, Double-tailed Czech lion, Svejk.
Denmark		Holger Danske
Dominican Republic		Yania Tierra
Egypt		Mother of the World (Om El Donia)
El Salvador		Monumento al Divino Salvador del Mundo
Europe		Europa or Europa regina
Finland		Finnish Maiden (Suomi-neito)
France		Marianne, Gallic rooster
Georgia		Georgia: Saint George, "Mother of a Georgian" (Kartvlis Deda)
Germany		Germany: Germania, Arminius (Hermann der Cherusker), Deutscher Michel Bavaria: Bavaria, Berlin: Berolina, Brunswick: Brunonia, Franconia: Franconia, Hamburg: Hammonia, Prussia: Borussia, Palatinate: Palatia, Saxony: Saxonia
Greece		Athena, "Greece" by Delacroix
Haiti		Ezili Dantor
Iceland		The Lady of the Mountains (Fjallkonan)
India		Bharat Mata ("Mother India"), earlier the goddess Durga. Also the Tiger or the Indian Elephant is used to personify the nation. But strictly speaking of National Personification, the figure of Bharat Mata as a Goddess, wearing a white or saffron sari, holding the National flag, and having a Lion as her Vahana is the most widely popular Personification. The battle cry, "Bharat Mata ki Jai" (Victory for Mother India) is used by the Indian Army and is one of the most popular patriotic slogan used in India.
Indonesia		Ibu Pertiwi
Iran		Cyrus the Great
Ireland		Ériu, Banba, Fódla, Kathleen Ni Houlihan, Hibernia, Scotia, Granuaile, The Old Woman of Beare
Israel		King David, Srulik
Italy		Italia Turrita
Japan		Amaterasu Omikami
Korea		Dangun
Macedonia		Mother Macedonia
Malaysia		Harimau Malya
Malta		Melita
Mexico		El Charro, La China Poblana, el Pelado, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Tonatiuh
Mongolia		Genghis Khan
Netherlands		de Nederlandse Maagd` ("The Dutch Maiden"), De Leeuw van Oranje, Hans Brinker (outside the Netherlands), (Zeeland: Zeeuws Meisje)
New England		Brother Jonathan, Puritan, Pine tree.
New Zealand		Kiwi, Zealandia, Southern man (for the South Island)
Norway		Mother Norway, Ola Nordmann, Kari Nordmann, hist. Nór
Pakistan		Mumlikat-e-Khudadad ('God-given State')
Palestine		Handala
Peru		The chalán, La Madre Patria
Philippines		Juan dela Cruz, Ináng Bayan/Filipinas, Luzviminda
Poland		Polonia, Lech,
Portugal		Zé Povinho, Eu nacional (National Self), Lusitania (Ancient Roman Province consisting of what is mainly Portugal now), Republic effigy, Rooster of Barcelos, Guardian Angel of Portugal
Romania		România
Russia		Mother Russia/Mother Motherland, Rus, Russian Bear, Ivan Grozny
Scotland		Caledonia, Jock Tamson, Scotia, Cailleach
Serbia		Mother Serbia, Kosovo Maiden,
Singapore		The Merlion
Slovakia		Jánošík
Slovenia		Kranjski Janez ("John from Carniola", an average man from Slovenia's central region), Peter Klepec
Spain		Hispania
Sweden		Mother Svea
Switzerland		Helvetia
Ukraine		Cossack Mamay, Rus
United Kingdom		Britannia, John Bull, Lion, Bulldog
United States		Uncle Sam (government personification), Statue of Liberty as Lady Liberty, Columbia, Johnny Rebel (The South, obsolete), Billy Yank (The North, obsolete), Bald eagle
Wales		Dame Wales, Deffroad Cymru, the Awakening of Wales, Welsh Dragon

Gallery

1914 poster showing Marianne, Mother Russia and Britannia, the "Triple Entente" allies in the first World War (1914)..  Columbia, personification of the United States (World War I patriotic poster)  French Marianne « Freedom for France, freedom for the French » (1940).  A print from the 1940's, During the Independence Movement, showing Mahatma Gandhi in the lap of Bharat Mata.  Germania representing Germany, in a painting by Phillip Veit from 1848.  Allegory of the Second Spanish Republic, Hispania embracing French Marianne (1931).  Bharat Mata, the personification of India as a mother goddess. Painting by Abanindranath Tagore, 1905  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  España y Filipinas, 1886 painting by Juan Luna. Depicts the reformist view of the relationship between the Philippines and "Mother Spain"  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.  Gold Coated Statue of Bharat Mata.  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-martial Britannia kissing "Citizen François", a personifiaction of Revolutionary France  Revolutionary Romania. Painting by C. D. Rosenthal, made in Paris exile in the early 1850s  Romania Breaking off Her Chains on the Field of Liberty, also by C. D. Rosenthal  A later depiction of Romania as a helpless woman threatened by the brutal Germany 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, America personified as a young woman holding up a Phrygian cap on a clipper ship card of the Young America Movement  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 an 1886 political cartoon.  John Bull, a national personification of the United Kingdom holds the head of Napoleon I of France in an 1803 caricature by James Gillray.  Albanian caricature from 1913 shows Albania as a woman defending herself from beasts representing neighboring countries seeking at the time to divide Albania's territory between them: Montenegro (monkey), Greece (leopard) and Serbia (snake), saying: "Get away from me! Bloodsucking beasts!"  The woman on the right, holding out a letter of thanks to the enthroned Jonathan Swift, represents Ireland (from the 1735 edition of Swift's works).  Bavaria, an early 19th-century statue made when Bavaria was a fully sovereign Kingdom with a considerable national pride  Political cartoon depicting the tangled web of European alliances in the 1870's, with France being conspicuously isolated.  In this Belarusian caricature commenting on the 1921 Peace of Riga, Russian Bolsheviks (right) and Nationalist Poles (left) are dividing the territory of Belarus.  In a 1897 political cartoon, Uncle Sam lays claim to Hawaii and warns off the figures representing Japan, Britain and France.  The goddess Roma was perceived as a personification of the city of Rome and more broadly, the Roman Empire.  In this cartoon of "Canada's debut at the Council of Nations", the young Canada is under the tutelage of the motherly Britania, Columbia extends welcoming hands, surrounded by figures representing other major nations.

See also

• Mural crown
• National emblem, for other metaphors for nations
• Countryballs, a contemporary form of national personification in which countries are drawn by Internet users as stereotypic balls and shared as comics on online communities

Further Reading

Lionel Gossman. "Making of a Romantic Icon: The Religious Context of Friedrich Overbeck's 'Italia und Germania.'" American Philosophical Society, 2007. ISBN 0-87169-975-3. [1]

External links

• A scholarly case study of the evolution of Deutscher Michel
• Kirsten Stirling: "The Image of the Nation as a Woman in Twentieth Century Scottish Literature"