National personification

John Bull, a national personification of the United Kingdom holds the head of Napoleon Bonaparte in an 1803 caricature by James Gillray.

A national personification is an anthropomorphization of a nation; 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.

A national personification is not the same as a national animal, and many countries have both, quite distinct from each other. The division is not, however, always watertight - for example, in some cartoons it is the national animal rather than the human personification which is used to represent a country.

Personifications by country or territory

Country	Personification
Albania	Mother Albania
Armenia	Mother Armenia (Mayr Hayasdan; lit. "Mother Hayastan")
Brazil	Efígie da República, the Candango (only in Brasília), the Bandeirante (only in São Paulo state)
Bulgaria	Bai Ganio, Mother Balgaria with her Lion (sometimes together with Rumelia's personification)
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)
Chile	El Huaso, La Carmela, Doña Juanita (an average Chilean woman from the countryside), El Roto
Denmark	Mother Denmark (Mor Danmark)
Europe	Europa
Finland	Finnish Maiden (Suomi-neito)
France	Marianne
Germany	Germania, Arminius/Hermann der Cherusker, Deutscher Michel
Greece	Athena, "Greece" of Delacroix
Iceland	The Lady of the Mountains (Fjallkonan)
Ireland	Ériu, Kathleen Ni Houlihan, Hibernia
India	Bharat Mata ("Mother India"), Golden Bird ("Soney ki chiriyan", especially in Indian poetry)
Indonesia	Ibu Pertiwi
Israel	Srulik
Italy	Italia Turrita
Malaysia	Pak Belang or other name Harimau Malaya
Mexico	Miguel Hidalgo, Adelita
Netherlands	Hans Brinker (outside the Netherlands), Jan Modaal or Jan met de pet (Average Joe), ` de Nederlandse Maagd` ("Netherlands Maiden"), (Zeeland: Zeeuws Meisje)
New Zealand	Zealandia
Norway	Ola Nordmann, Kari Nordmann, hist. Nór
Palestine	Handala
Peru	The chalán, The Motherland
Philippines	Juan dela Cruz, Joseng Masipag, Gabriela, Inang Bayan, Maria Clara
Poland	Polonia
Portugal	Zé Povinho, Eu nacional (National Self), Lusitania, República
Russia	Mother Russia/Mother Motherland, Russian Bear
Scotland	Jock Tamson
Serbia	Saint Sava, Kosovo Maiden
South Africa	Van Der Merweu Khabazela (Khabazela is a clan name of Mkhize)
Spain	Hispania, Juan Español
Sweden	Mother Svea, Svensson
Switzerland	Helvetia
United Kingdom	Britannia, John Bull, Lion and Unicorn
United States	Lady Liberty, Uncle Sam, Yankee Doodle which grew into Brother Jonathan, Pocahontas which grew into Columbia Obsolete examples: The South: Johnny Rebel The North: Billy Yank The Frontier: Johnny Appleseed, Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, John Henry
Soviet Union	Mother Motherland
Venezuela	Juan Bimba
Wales	Dame Wales, Deffroad Cymru, the Awakening of Wales

Pictures

• 
  Britannia arm-in-arm with Uncle Sam symbolizes the British-American alliance in World War I.
• 
  Germania representing Germany, from 1848.
• Bharat Mata, the personification of India as a mother goddess.
  Bharat Mata, the personification of India as a mother goddess.
• 
  Eugène Delacroix, Greece Expiring on the Ruins of Missolonghi (1827)
• 
  1914 poster showing Marianne, Mother Russia and Britannia.
• 
  Famous French political cartoon from the late 1890s.
• 
  Norway, Denmark and Sweden joining hands in a 19th Century poster
• 
  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.
• 
  Zé Povinho, caricature of a Portuguese working class man of the 19th century
• 
  In this 1804 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 perosnifiaction of Revolutionary France never used by the French themselves
• 
  The figures in this late 18th century painting by Shiba Kōkan represent Japan, China, and the West.
• 
  Romania depicted as a woman. WWI caricature
• 
  Uncle Sam in a U.S. Army recruitment poster used in both WWI and WWII

See also

• National emblem for other metaphors for nations
• Hetalia Axis Powers
• Afghanis-tan

External links

• A scholarly case study of the evolution of Deutscher Michel