Nationalism Figures
Five figures who shaped modern ideas of nationhood, peoplehood, self-determination, and national imagination.
5 profilesNationalism Figures
Johann Gottfried Herder
Herder gave nationalism a cultural and linguistic vocabulary before modern nation-states hardened it.
- Birth
- 1744 CE
- Region
- Central Europe
Giuseppe Mazzini
Mazzini was a major theorist and activist of democratic nationalism.
- Birth
- 1805 CE
- Region
- Italy
Ernest Renan
Renan gave modern nationalism one of its most famous civic definitions.
- Birth
- 1823 CE
- Region
- Western Europe
Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen became a founding figure of modern Chinese nationalism and republican politics.
- Birth
- 1866 CE
- Region
- East Asia
Benedict Anderson
Anderson gave nationalism studies one of its most influential modern frameworks.
- Birth
- 1936 CE
- Region
- Global academic context