Multi-Ethnic Empires and the Formulation of Identity
Author(s)
Manz, Beatrice F.
Abstract
This article explores the effect of multi-ethnic empires on the formulation of identity, examining particularly identities developed before the modern period. Imperial state structures and legitimation influenced the understanding of ethnic identities; the resulting definitions and expectations often outlived the empire. Modern European nationalism developed from the group feeling and ideologies of medieval and early modern Europe, influenced by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In western and central Asia large-scale secular identities also existed in the pre-modern period within several great empires: the Islamic caliphate, the Mongol Empire, and the Russian Empire. In these states, the connections made between various markers of identity–language, origin, and territory–were unlike those in Europe, and the expectations connected with separate identity were also different. Despite the spread of European nationalism and the creation of modern nation-states throughout these regions, earlier systems of identity have survived and influenced the form of modern national sentiment.
