National personification

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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. Representations of the everyman or citizenry—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

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Country	Image	Personification
Albania		Mother Albania
Argentina		Effigy of the Republic/Liberty/Progress/Fatherland, Gaucho
Armenia		Mother Armenia (Mayr Hayastan; lit. "Mother Hayastan")
Australia		Little Boy from Manly
Brazil		Efígie da República, the Bandeirante (only in São Paulo State)
Bulgaria		Mother Bulgaria, Bulgarian Lion, Bay Ganyo (literary character)
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), Miss Canada, Mother Canada (at the Vimy Memorial), Bob and Doug McKenzie
Chile		El Roto, El Huaso, La Carmela, Doña Juanita (an average Chilean woman from the countryside)
China		Chinese dragon, Sun Wukong
Czech Republic		Švejk (literary character), Jára Cimrman, Hloupý Honza, Jan Žižka, Praotec Čech (Forefather Czech), Čechie, Double-tailed Czech lion.
Denmark		Holger Danske
Dominican Republic		Yania Tierra
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
Georgia		Georgia: Saint George, "Mother of Georgia"
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" of Delacroix
Hungary		Hungária/ Hunnia
Iceland		The Lady of the Mountains (Fjallkonan)
India		Bharat Mata ("Mother India"), earlier the goddess Durga
Indonesia		Ibu Pertiwi
Iran		Cyrus the Great
Ireland		Ériu, Kathleen Ni Houlihan, Hibernia, Granuaile
Israel		Srulik, King David
Italy		Italia Turrita
Japan		Amaterasu Omikami, Samurai
Korea		Dangun
Macedonia		Mother Macedonia,[2][3][4] Macedonian lion (national symbol)
Malta		Melita
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, Filipinas, Luzviminda, Lapu-Lapu
Poland		Polonia
Portugal		Zé Povinho, Eu nacional (National Self), Lusitania, República, Rooster of Barcelos, Guardian Angel of Portugal
Russia		Mother Russia/Mother Motherland
Scotland		Jock Tamson
Serbia		Prince Marko, 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, Juan Español
Sweden		Mother Svea, The Swedish Tiger (En svensk tiger)
Switzerland		Helvetia
Turkey		Anatolia
Ukraine		Cossack Mamay
United Kingdom		Britannia, John Bull, Lion, Bulldog
United States		Uncle Sam (government personification), Lady Liberty, Columbia, Brother Jonathan (obsolete), Johnny Rebel (The South, obsolete), Billy Yank (The North, obsolete)
Vatican City		Jesus Christ
Vietnam		Ho Chi Minh
Wales		Dame Wales, Deffroad Cymru, the Awakening of Wales

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).   Germania representing Germany, in a painting by Phillip Veit from 1848.   Allegory of the Second Spanish Republic, Hispania embracing French Marianne (1931).   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.   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 never used by the French themselves   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 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, 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   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.   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!"

See also

• Mural crown
• National emblem for other metaphors for nations

References

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