Multi-ethnic Empires and the formulation of identity

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.