Columbia (personification)

 

The earliest type of personification of the Americas, seen in European art from the 16th century onwards, reflected the tropical regions in South and Central America from which the earliest European travelers reported back. Such images were most often used in sets of female personifications of the four continents. America was depicted as a woman who, like Africa, was only partly dressed, typically in bright feathers, which invariably formed her headdress. She often held a parrot, was seated on a caiman or alligator, with a cornucopia. Sometimes a severed head was a further attribute, or in prints scenes of cannibalism appeared in the background.^[2][3]

Though versions of this depiction, tending as time went on to soften the rather savage image into an "Indian princess" type, and in churches emphasizing conversion to Christianity, served European artists well enough, by the 18th century they were becoming rejected by settlers in North America, who wanted figures representing themselves rather than the Native Americans they were often in conflict with.^[4]

Massachusetts Chief Justice Samuel Sewall used the name "Columbina" for the New World in 1697.^[5] The name "Columbia" for America first appeared in 1738^[6][7] in the weekly publication of the debates of Parliament in Edward Cave's The Gentleman's Magazine. Publication of parliamentary debates was technically illegal, so the debates were issued under the thin disguise of Reports of the Debates of the Senate of Lilliput and fictitious names were used for most individuals and place names found in the record. Most of these were transparent anagrams or similar distortions of the real names and some few were taken directly from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels while a few others were classical or neoclassical in style. Such were Ierne for Ireland, Iberia for Spain, Noveborac for New York (from Eboracum, the Roman name for York) and Columbia for America—at the time used in the sense of "European colonies in the New World".^[8]

 

By the time of the Revolution, the name Columbia had lost the comic overtone of its Lilliputian origins and had become established as an alternative, or poetic, name for America. While the name America is necessarily scanned with four syllables, according to 18th-century rules of English versification Columbia was normally scanned with three, which is often more metrically convenient. For instance, the name appears in a collection of complimentary poems written by Harvard graduates in 1761 on the occasion of the marriage and coronation of King George III.^[11]

Behold, Britannia! in thy favour'd Isle;

At distance, thou, Columbia! view thy Prince,

For ancestors renowned, for virtues more;^[12]

The name Columbia rapidly came to be applied to a variety of items reflecting American identity. A ship built in Massachusetts in 1773 received the name Columbia Rediviva and it later became famous as an exploring ship and lent its name to new Columbias.

 

 

No serious consideration was given to using the name Columbia as an official name for the independent United States, but with independence, the name became popular and was given to many counties, townships, and towns as well as other institutions.

• In 1784, the former King's College in New York City had its name changed to Columbia College, which became the nucleus of the present-day Ivy League Columbia University.
• In 1786, the name Columbia was given to the new capital city of South Carolina. Columbia is also the name of at least 19 other towns in the United States.
• In 1791, three commissioners appointed by President George Washington named the area destined for the seat of the United States government the territory of Columbia. In 1801, it was organized as the District of Columbia.
• In 1792, the Columbia Rediviva sailing ship gave its name to the Columbia River in the American Northwest (much later, the Rediviva gave its name to the Space Shuttle Columbia^{[citation needed]}).
• In 1798, Joseph Hopkinson wrote lyrics for Philip Phile's 1789 inaugural president's march under the new title of "Hail, Columbia". Once used as de facto national anthem of the United States, it is now used as the entrance march of the Vice President of the United States.
• In 1821, citizens of Boone County, Missouri, chose the name for their new city Columbia, Missouri,
• In 1865 Jules Verne's novel From the Earth to the Moon, the spacecraft to the Moon was fired from a giant Columbiad cannon.

In part, the more frequent usage of the name "Columbia" reflected a rising American neoclassicism, exemplified in the tendency to use Roman terms and symbols.^{[citation needed]} The selection of the eagle as the national bird, the heraldric use of the eagle, the use of the term Senate to describe the upper house of Congress and the naming of Capitol Hill and the Capitol building were all conscious evocations of Roman precedents.

During the Civil War, the Union faced a coin shortage and issued Fractional currency depicting busts of George Washington and others, as well as allegorical figures such as Columbia and Liberty. The Confederacy also issued currency depicting allegorical figures such as Columbia and Liberty. However, Columbia depicted on these is very similar to the Progress of Civilization Pediment on the United States Capitol building.

 

 

Those on the Union side drew Columbia and the flag on envelopes to show their allegiance to the Union.

 

 

"Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" became popular during the Civil War. The song has lyrics praising the Union in the third verse. (Today, this part is usually not sung.) ^[14]

Her statue is used on many of the Civil War monuments. Some of them are listed in this page.

In the early 20th century, women dressed up as Columbia in parades to appeal for women's suffrage.

 

Early in World War I (1914–1918), the image of Columbia standing over a kneeling "doughboy" was issued in lieu of the Purple Heart medal. She gave "to her son the accolade of the new chivalry of humanity" for injuries sustained in the World War.

In World War I, the name Liberty Bond for savings bonds was heavily publicized, often with images from the Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World). The personification of Columbia fell out of use and was largely replaced by the Statue of Liberty as a feminine symbol of the United States.^[16]

After Columbia Pictures adopted Columbia as its logo in 1924, she has since appeared as bearing a torch similar to that of the Statue of Liberty, unlike 19th-century depictions of Columbia. The Columbia Pictures logo is the most famous and prominent display of Columbia to many current Americans.^[17]

In 2023, on the commemorative medal issued by the U.S.Mint, Columbia does not wear a Phrygian cap and does not carry a weapon or shield as in the World War I poster. Instead, Columbia is holding an American flag and shaking hands with an American Indian. Between them sits a bust of Washington and the inscription "PEACE." Around them are elements symbolic of American life, both native and industrial. This medal is a reproduction of one issued in the 19th century.^[18] On a commemorative coin issued in 2024 depicting Liberty, the designers studied not only the liberty but also the portrayal of Columbia to depict liberty. The race of Liberty depicted on this coin is ambiguous.^[19] Like other national symbols such as Marianne, Britannia, and Liberty, Columbia's appearance and depiction has changed over time as a national symbol.^[20]

The adjective Columbian has been used to mean "of or from the United States of America" such as in the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago, Illinois. It has occasionally been proposed as an alternative word for American.

Columbian should not be confused with the adjective pre-Columbian, which refers to a time period before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492.

 

As a quasi-mythical figure, Columbia first appears in the poetry of the African-American Phillis Wheatley in October 1775, during the Revolutionary War:^[21][22]

One century scarce perform'd its destined round,
When Gallic powers Columbia's fury found;
And so may you, whoever dares disgrace
The land of freedom's heaven-defended race!
Fix'd are the eyes of nations on the scales,
For in their hopes Columbia's arm prevails.^[23]

 

Especially in the 19th century, Columbia was visualized as a goddess-like female national personification of the United States and of liberty itself, comparable to the British Britannia, the Italian Italia Turrita and the French Marianne, often seen in political cartoons of the 19th and early 20th century. The personification was sometimes called Lady Columbia or Miss Columbia. Such an iconography usually personified America in the form of an Indian queen or Native American princess.^[25] The image of the personified Columbia was never fixed, but she was most often presented as a woman between youth and middle age, wearing classically draped garments decorated with stars and stripes. A popular version gave her a red-and-white-striped dress and a blue blouse, shawl, or sash, spangled with white stars. Her headdress varied and sometimes it included feathers reminiscent of a Native American headdress while other times it was a laurel wreath, but most often, it was a cap of liberty.

 

 

 

 

Statues of the personified Columbia may be found among others in the following places:

• The 1863 Statue of Freedom atop the United States Capitol building, though not actually called Columbia, shares many of her iconic characteristics.^[30][31]
• The replica Statue of the Republic (Golden Lady) in Chicago's Jackson Park is often understood to be Columbia. It is one of the remaining icons of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.
• The Progress of Civilization Pediment on the United States Capitol building.
• The Genius of America Pediment on the United States Capitol building.
• Above the main entrance on the north side of the Arts and Industries Building.(Smithsonian Museum) in Washington D.C.
• The pediment on the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, Washington D.C.
• Atop the USS Maine National Monument in Central Park, in Manhattan, New York City
• Atop Philadelphia's Memorial Hall, built 1876
• Atop the Salt Lake City and County Building
• The pediment on the Colorado State Capitol Building^[32]
• Above the Statue of Francis Scott Key in San Francisco, California. The Statue of Francis Scott Key was removed, but the Statue of Columbia remains in place.
• Above the Francis Scott Key Monument in Baltimore, Maryland
• In the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Frederick, Maryland.
• In the Bountiful Veteran's Park in Bountiful, Utah.^[33]

• Atop the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch in Brooklyn, New York.
• Atop the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Troy, New York^[34]
• The Illinois monument in the Andersonville National Cemetery.^[35]
• The Civil War Monument at Central Park in Jacksonville, Illinois.^[36]
• Atop the Steuben County Soldiers' Monument in Angola, Indiana.
• Salisbury Soldiers' Monument. in Civil War Memorial Park ,Salisbury, Connecticut.^[37]
• In the Columbia Triumphant Park in Monmouth County, New Jersey.^[38]

 

• The Victory Monument (Chicago). It was built to honor the African-American unit that served with distinction in France during WWI.^[39]
• The Littlefield Fountain in Austin, Texas.
• Outside the Barack Obama Academy of International Studies in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was restored in 2024.^[40]
• The hospers Memorial Statues in Hospers, Iowa. This statue is colored and the model for Columbia is a local young woman.^[41]
• The Oak Park River Forest War Memorial in Oak Park ,Illinois.^[42]
• The World War I memorial in Edgemont Park ,Montclair, New Jersey.^[43]
• The Victory Monument in The Victory Park Historic District of Manchester, New Hampshire.^[44]

• In the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii
• The West Coast Memorial to the Missing of World War II in San Francisco, California.^[45]

• On the wall of the New York Palace building in Budapest, Hungary.
• On the wall of the Atlantic Chambers building in Liverpool, England.
• In the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France
• On the Château-Thierry American Monument in Aisne, France^[46]

Since 1800, the name Columbia has been used for a wide variety of items and places:

• The naming of the New World and of the newly independent country of Colombia after Christopher Columbus in the early 19th century is discussed at Colombia § Etymology.
• In the 1840s, British Columbia, which is now a province of Canada, was named by Queen Victoria. The details of the naming of the Columbia River and the Columbia provinces around it are discussed at British Columbia § Etymology.
• The element niobium was first called columbium, a name which some people still use today. The name columbium, coined by the chemist Charles Hatchett upon his discovery of the metal in 1801,^[47] reflected that the type specimen of the ore came from America.^[48]
• Avenues and streets in various cities and towns throughout the United States named Columbia Avenue or Columbia Street, such as the Columbia Avenue Historic District in Davenport, Iowa, and various Columbia Avenues in Pennsylvania cities.
• Columbia County, Wisconsin
• Columbia County, Pennsylvania
• Columbia, Kentucky in Adair County
• Columbia, Pennsylvania in Lancaster County
• Columbia, Maryland in Howard County
• Columbia, Connecticut in Tolland County
• The South Carolina state capital of Columbia, located in Richland County
• Columbia, Missouri in Boone County
• Columbia, Tennessee in Maury County
• Columbia Square, Savannah
• The name Columbia has been used as the name of many ships. For example USS Columbia (SSN-771) is named for three cities: Columbia, Illinois, Columbia, Missouri and Columbia, South Carolina.

 

 

• Columbia University, an Ivy League university in New York City that first adopted the name Columbia College in 1784 to replace King's College
• The song "Hail, Columbia," an American patriotic song. It was considered with several other songs one of the unofficial national anthems of the United States until 1931, when "The Star-Spangled Banner" was officially named the national anthem.
• The song "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean" (1843) commemorates the United States under the name Columbia.
• Columbia Records, founded in 1888, took its name from its headquarters in the District of Columbia.
• Columbia Pictures, named in 1924, uses a version of the personified Columbia as its logo after a great deal of experimentation.^[49]
• CBS's former legal name was the Columbia Broadcasting System, first used in 1928. The name derived from an investor, the Columbia Phonograph Manufacturing Company, which owned Columbia Records.
• The Command Module of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, the first crewed mission to land on the Moon, was named Columbia (1969).
• The Space Shuttle Columbia, built in 1975 to 1979, was named for the exploring ship Columbia.
• A personified Columbia appears in Uncle Sam, a graphic novel about American history (1997).
• The setting of the steampunk video game BioShock Infinite is the alternate reality city of Columbia, which makes frequent use of Columbia's image. Columbia herself is believed to be an archangel by the citizens.
• Columbia, played by Laura Bell Bundy, appears in season two of the Starz series American Gods, based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman.
• The Columbia Typographical Union/CWA No. 101 is the oldest existing local union in the United States.

•  
  Political cartoon from 1860 depicting Stephen A. Douglas receiving a spanking from Columbia as Uncle Sam looks on approvingly
•  
  In John Gast's 1872 painting American Progress, Columbia symbolizes the Spirit of the Frontier, advancing telegraph lines to fulfill manifest destiny.
•  
  A defiant Columbia in an 1871 Thomas Nast cartoon shown protecting a defenseless Chinese man from an angry Irish lynch mob that has just burned down an orphanage
•  
  Columbia in an 1865 Thomas Nast cartoon asking the government to allow black soldiers to vote
•  
  Carte de visite (c. 1866) featuring a woman dressed as Columbia and a man dressed as a Revolutionary War general
•  
  Columbia (representing the American people) reaches out to oppressed Cuba with blindfolded Uncle Sam in background (Judge, February 6, 1897; cartoon by Grant E. Hamilton).
•  
  Columbia from a Columbia Records phonograph cylinder package
•  
  Columbia at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific
•  
  Lady Columbia recognized World War I Doughboy soldier as having suffered injury due to his willingness to serve humanity.
•  
  Columbia Calls – Enlist Now for U.S. Army, World War I recruitment poster by Vincent Aderente
•  
  Columbia depicted in an American Committee for Relief in the Near East poster
•  
  John Bull and Columbia in an 1887 Punch illustration.

• Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World), the more common female personification of the United States beginning in the 20th century
• List of national personifications
• Britannia, a similar symbol for Britain
• Marianne, a similar symbol for France
• Mother Russia, a medieval feminine personification of Russia
• Germania, a female personification of Germany
• Italia turrita, a similar symbol for Italy
• Our Lady of Guadalupe, a similar symbol for Mexico, albeit of religious nature
• Goddess of Democracy, a destroyed statue in Tiananmen Square
• Lady Justice, the personification of law and justice
• Liberty, a goddess personification of Liberty

• Higham, John (1990). "Indian Princess and Roman Goddess: The First Female Symbols of America", Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society. 100: 50–51, JSTOR or PDF
• Le Corbeiller, Clare (1961), "Miss America and Her Sisters: Personifications of the Four Parts of the World", The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 19, pp. 210–223, PDF Archived 2019-08-05 at the Wayback Machine
• George R. Stewart (1967). Names on the Land. Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston.

 

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