Zionism is a nationalist movement that advocates for the establishment and support of a Jewish homeland in the territory of Palestine.

It emerged in the late 19th century in Europe.

The movement was a modern nationalist response to centuries of Jewish persecution and anti-Semitism.

Theodor Herzl, an Austro-Hungarian journalist, is considered the father of modern political Zionism.

His influential 1896 pamphlet, 'Der Judenstaat' ('The Jewish State'), argued that the only solution to anti-Semitism was the creation of a sovereign Jewish state.

Herzl organized the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897, which established Zionism as a formal political movement.

Early Zionists promoted Jewish immigration to Ottoman-controlled Palestine and the purchase of land for settlement.

Zionism combined a political goal with the ancient religious and cultural connection of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel.

The movement was diverse, with different streams including political, cultural, and religious Zionism.

The rise of Zionism would eventually lead to the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.