Israel Zangwill and the Jewish Territorial Organization

This chapter recounts the origins and early history of the Territorialist movement, starting with the creation of the Israel Zangwill's Jewish Territorial Organisation (ITO) as the result of the rejection of the Uganda proposal of 1905. The chapter aims to show Territorialism's initial close ideological proximity to Zionism, followed by its rapid move away from these origins, turning the ITO into an independent movement. Focusing on the ITO's history, the chapter allows for an excavation of the main Jewish and geopolitical themes that developed into the driving forces of Territorialism from the 1930s onwards. It also explores the organization's ideological attachment to the British Empire and ITO leader Israel Zangwill's developing stance regarding the Jewish diaspora, Jewish tradition, and his conception of ‘race’, colonialism, and agriculture. The chapter chronicles the most important Territorialist projects of the period, notably those involving Galveston (1907–14) and Angola (1912–14).