Zionism before Herzl

Timeline of Zionism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This timeline shows how Herzl, though called the Father of Zionism, was not the first Zionist. Check out the entries on Hovevei Zion, Eliezer ben Yehuda, and Dr. Leon Pinsker.

Many of these early Zionists wrote pamphlets to convince Jewish that it was necessary to create a Jewish homeland. One of these was Pinsker's Auto-Emancipation. It's a long document, but is an excellent example of the types of arguments popular with these early supporters of a Jewish state. Check it out here.