Imperialism and colonization between 1900-1914

The term empire derives from the Latin imperium (power, authority). Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples (ethnic groups) united and ruled either by a monarch (emperor, empress) or an oligarchy.

Aside from the traditional usage, the term empire can be used in an extended sense to denote a large-scale business enterprise (e.g. a transnational corporation), or a political organisation of either national-, regional- or city scale, controlled either by a person (a political boss) or a group authority (political bosses).^[1]

An imperial political structure is established and maintained in two ways: (i) as a territorial empire of direct conquest and control with force (direct, physical action to compel the emperor’s goals), and (ii) as a coercive, hegemonic empire of indirect conquest and control with power (the perception that the emperor can physically enforce his desired goals). The former provides greater tribute and direct political control, yet limits further expansion because it absorbs military forces to fixed garrisons. The latter provides less tribute and indirect control, but avails military forces for further expansion.^[2] Territorial empires (e.g. the Mongol Empire, the Median Empire) tended to be contiguous areas. The term on occasion has been applied to maritime empires or thalassocracies, (e.g. the Athenian and British Empires) with looser structures and more scattered territories.

Definition[link]

An empire is a state with politico-military dominion of populations who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial (ruling) ethnic group and its culture^[3] — unlike a federation, an extensive state voluntarily composed of autonomous states and peoples.

What physically and politically constitutes an empire is variously defined. It might be a state effecting imperial policies, or a particular political structure. Empires are typically formed from separate components that come together. Some units include ethnic, national, cultural, and religious diversity.^[4]

Sometimes an empire is a semantic construction, such as when a ruler assumes the title of “Emperor”. The said ruler's nation logically becomes an “Empire”, despite having no additional territory or hegemony such as Central African Empire or the Korean Empire proclaimed in 1897 when Korea, far from gaining new territory, was on the verge of being annexed by the Empire of Japan, the last to use the name officially. Amongst the last of these empires of the 20th century were the Central African Empire, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Manchukuo, the German Empire, and Korea.

The terrestrial empire’s maritime analogue is the thalassocracy, an empire comprising islands and coasts which are accessible to its terrestrial homeland, such as the Athenian-dominated Delian League.

History of imperialism[link]

Early empires[link]

The Akkadian Empire of Sargon the Great (24th century BCE), was an early large empire. In the 15th century BCE, the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, ruled by Thutmose III, was ancient Africa’s major force upon incorporating Nubia and the ancient city-states of the Levant. The first empire comparable to Rome in organization was the Assyrian empire (2000–612 BCE). The Median Empire was the first empire on the territory of Persia. By the 6th century BCE, after having allied with the Babylonians to defeat the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the Medes were able to establish their own empire, the largest of its day, lasting for about sixty years. The successful, extensive, and multi-cultural empire that was the Persian Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE) absorbed Mesopotamia, Egypt, part of Greece, Thrace, the rest of the Middle East, much of Central Asia and Pakistan, until it was overthrown and replaced by the brief-lived empire of Alexander the Great.

The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive and powerful empire in ancient India, ruled by the Mauryan dynasty from 321 to 185 BCE. The Empire was founded in 322 BC by Chandragupta Maurya who rapidly expanded his power westwards across central and western India, taking advantage of the disruptions of local powers in the wake of the withdrawal westward by Alexander the Great. By 320 BCE, the empire had fully occupied past northwestern India as well as defeating and conquering the satraps left by Alexander. It has been estimated that the Maurya Dynasty controlled an unprecedented one-third of the world's entire economy, was home to one-third of the world's population at the time (an estimated 50 million out of 150 million humans), contained the world's largest city of the time (Pataliputra, estimated to be larger than Rome under Emperor Trajan) and according to Megasthenes, the empire wielded a military of 600,000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry, and 9,000 war elephants.

Classical period[link]

The Roman Empire was the most extensive Western empire until the early modern period. Prior to the Roman Empire the kingdom of Macedonia, under Alexander the Great, became an empire that spanned from Greece to Northwestern India. After Alexander's death, his empire fractured into four, discrete kingdoms ruled by the Diadochi, which, despite being independent, are denoted as the "Hellenistic Empire" by virtue of their similarity in culture and administration.

In western Asia, the term Persian Empire denotes the Iranian imperial states established at different historical periods of pre–Islamic and post–Islamic Persia. And in East Asia, various Celestial Empires arose periodically between periods of war, civil war, and foreign conquests. In India Chandragupta expanded the Mauryan Empire to Northwest India (modern day Pakistan and Afghanistan). This also included the era of expansion of Buddhism under Ashoka the Great. In China the Han Empire became one of East Asia's most long lived dynasties, but was preceded by the short-lived Qin Empire.

Post-classical period[link]

The 7th century saw the emergence of the Islamic Empire, also referred to as the Arab Empire. The Rashidun Caliphate expanded from the Arabian Peninsula and swiftly conquered the Persian Empire and much of the Byzantine Roman Empire. Its successor state, the Umayyad Caliphate, expanded across North Africa and into the Iberian Peninsula. By the beginning of the 8th century, it had become the largest empire in history at that point, until it was eventually surpassed in size by the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. The ally of the Caliphate, the Somali Ajuuraan Empire, ruled over the Horn of Africa^[5]. Through a strong centralized administration and an aggressive military stance towards invaders, the Ajuuraan empire successfully resisted an Oromo invasion from the west and a Portuguese incursion from the east during the Gaal Madow and the Ajuuraan-Portuguese wars.^[6][7] Trading routes dating from the ancient and early medieval periods of Somali maritime enterprise were strengthened or re-established, and foreign trade and commerce in the coastal provinces flourished with ships sailing to and coming from a myriad of kingdoms and empires in East Asia, South Asia, Europe, the Near East, North Africa and East Africa^[8]. In the 7th century, Maritime Southeast Asia witnessed the rise of a Buddhist thallasocracy—the Srivijaya Empire—which thrived for 600 years, and was succeeded by the Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit Empire in the 13th to 15th century. In the Southeast Asian mainland, the Hindu-Buddhist Khmer Empire built an empire centered in the city of Angkor and which flourished from the 9th to 13th century. In Eastern Europe the Byzantine Empire had to recognize the Imperial title of the Bulgarian rulers in 917 (through a Bulgarian Tsar). The Bulgarian Empire remained a major power in the Balkans until its fall in the late 14th century.

At the time, in the Medieval West, the title “empire” had a specific technical meaning that was exclusively applied to states that considered themselves the heirs and successors of the Roman Empire, e.g. the Byzantine Empire which was the actual continuation of the Eastern Roman Empire, and later the Carolingian Empire, the largely Germanic Holy Roman Empire, the Russian Empire, yet these states were not always technically — geographic, political, military — empires in the modern sense of the word. To legitimise their imperium, these states directly claimed the title of Empire from Rome. The sacrum Romanum imperium (Holy Roman Empire) of 800 to 1806, claimed to have exclusively comprehended Christian principalities, and was only nominally a discrete imperial state. The Holy Roman Empire was not always centrally-governed, as it had neither core nor peripheral territories, and was not governed by a central, politico-military élite — hence, Voltaire’s remark that the Holy Roman Empire “was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire” is accurate to the degree that it ignores^[9] German rule over Italian, French, Provençal, Polish, Flemish, Dutch, and Bohemian populations, and the efforts of the ninth-century Holy Roman Emperors (i.e. the Ottonians) to establish central control; thus, Voltaire’s “. . . nor an empire” observation applies to its late period.

In 1204, after the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople, the crusaders established a Latin Empire (1204–1261) in that city, while the defeated Byzantine Empire’s descendants established two, smaller, short-lived empires in Asia Minor: the Empire of Nicaea (1204–1261) and the Empire of Trebizond (1204–1461). Constantinople was retaken by the Byzantine successor state centered in Nicaea in 1261, re-establishing the Byzantine Empire until 1453, by which time the Turkish-Muslim Ottoman Empire (ca.1300–1918), had conquered most of the region. Moreover, Eastern Orthodox imperialism was not re-established until the coronation, in 1721, of Peter the Great as Emperor of Russia. Like-wise, with the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1806, during the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), the Austrian Empire (1804–1867), emerged reconstituted as the Empire of Austria–Hungary (1867–1918), having “inherited” the imperium of Central and Western Europe from the losers of said wars.

The Mongol Empire, under Genghis Khan in the thirteenth century, was forged as the largest contiguous empire in the world. Genghis Khan's grandson, Kublai Khan, was proclaimed emperor, and established his imperial capital at Beijing; however, in his reign, the empire became fractured into four, discrete khanates. Nevertheless, the emergence of the Pax Mongolica had significantly eased trade and commerce across Asia.^[10][11]

In Oceania Tonga Empire was a lonely empire that existed many centuries since Medieval till Modern period.

Colonial empires[link]

European landings in the so-called "New World" (first, the Americas and later, Australia) in the 15th century, along with the Portuguese's travels around the Cape of Good Hope and along the southeast Indian Ocean coast of Africa, proved ripe opportunities for the continent's Renaissance-era monarchies to launch colonial empires like those of the ancient Romans and Greeks. In the "Old World", colonial imperialism was attempted, effected and established upon the Canary Islands and Ireland. These conquered lands and peoples became de jure subordinates of the empire, rather than de facto imperial territory and subjects. Such subjugation often elicited “client-state” resentment that the empire unwisely ignored, leading to the collapse of the European colonial imperial system in the late-19th century and the early- and mid-20th century. Spanish discovery of the New World gave way to many expeditions led by England, Portugal, France, the Dutch Republic and Spain. In the 18th century, the Spanish Empire was at its height because of the great mass of goods taken from conquered territory in the Americas (Mexico, parts of the United States, the Caribbean) and the Philippines. During that period the biggest empire was Spain.

Modern period[link]

In general governments styled themselves as having greater size, scope and power than the territorial, politico-military and economic facts allow. As a consequence some monarchs assumed the title of “emperor” (or its corresponding translation: tsar, empereur, kaiser, etc.) and renamed their states as “The Empire of . . . ”.

The French emperors Napoleon I and Napoleon III (See: Second Mexican Empire [1864–1867]) each attempted establishing a western imperial hegemony based in France. The German Empire (1871–1918), another “heir to the Holy Roman Empire” arose in 1871. Europeans began applying the name of “empire” to non-European monarchies, such as the Qing Dynasty and the Mughal Empire as well as Maratha Empire, and then leading, eventually, to the looser denotations applicable to any political structure meeting the criteria of imperium.

Empires accreted to different types of states, although they traditionally originated as powerful monarchies. The Athenian Empire, the Roman Empire and the British Empire developed under elective auspices. The Empire of Brazil declared itself an empire after breaking from the Portuguese Empire in 1822. France has twice transited from being called the French Republic to being called the French Empire, while France remained an overseas empire. To date it still governs colonies (French Guyana, Martinique, Réunion, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, St Martin, St pierre et miquelon, Guadeloupe, TAAF, Wallis and Futuna, Saint Barthélemy, Mayotte) and exerts an hegemony in Francophone Africa (29 francophone countries such as Chad, Rwanda, et cetera).

Historically empires resulted from military conquest, incorporating the vanquished states to its political union. A state could establish imperial hegemony in other ways. A weak state may seek annexation into the empire. For example, the bequest of Pergamon by Attalus III, to the Roman Empire. The Unification of Germany as the empire accreted to the Prussian metropole was less a military conquest of the German states than their political divorce from the Austrian Empire. Having convinced the other states of its military prowess — and having excluded the Austrians — Prussia dictated the terms of imperial membership.

The Sikh Empire (1799–1846) was established in the Punjab. It collapsed when the founder, Ranjit Singh, died and their army fell to the British. During the same period, Maratha Empire or the Maratha Confederacy was a Hindu state located in present-day India. It existed from 1674 to 1818 and at its peak the empire's territories covered much of South Asia. The empire was founded and consolidated by Shivaji. After the death of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb it expanded greatly under the rule of the Peshwas. In 1761, the Maratha army lost the Third Battle of Panipat which halted the expansion of the empire. Later, the empire was divided into a confederacy of Maratha states which eventually were lost to the British in the Anglo-Maratha wars by 1818.^[13]

The British also established their first empire in North America by colonizing the northern part that included Canada and the colonies in America. In 1776, the United States declared itself independent from the British empire thus beginning the American Revolution.

Politically it was typical for either a monarchy or an oligarchy, rooted in the original core territory of the empire, to continue to dominate. If government was maintained via control of water vital to the colonial subjects, such régimes were called hydraulic empires. When possible, empires used a common religion or culture to strengthen the political structure.

In time, an empire may metamorphose to another form of polity. To wit, the Holy Roman Empire, a German re-constitution of the Roman Empire, metamorphosed into various political structures (i.e. Federalism), and eventually, under Habsburg rule, re-constituted itself as the Austrian Empire — an empire of much different politics and vaster extension. After the Second World War (1939–1945) the British Empire evolved into a loose, multi-national Commonwealth of Nations; while the French colonial empire metamorphosed to a Francophone commonwealth. The British Empire also colonized China after the opium wars and had major influences in the region via controlling Hong Kong, which was handed back to China in 1997 after 150 years of rule. The Portuguese established its colony in China and had control over the territory of Macau, which was also handed back to China in 1999. Also, the French established its colony in China and had control over the territory of Kwang-Chou-Wan, which was also handed back to China in 1946.

An autocratic empire can become a republic (e.g. the Central African Empire in 1979); or it can become a republic with its imperial dominions reduced to a core territory (e.g. Weimar Germany, 1918–1919 and the Ottoman Empire, 1918–1923). The dissolution of the Austro–Hungarian Empire, after 1918, is an example of a multi-ethnic superstate broken into its constituent states: the republics, kingdoms, and provinces of Austria, Hungary, Transylvania, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechoslovakia, Ruthenia, Galicia, et al.

Empire from 1945 to the present[link]

Contemporaneously, the concept of Empire is politically valid, yet is not always used in the traditional sense; for example Japan is considered the world’s sole remaining empire because of the continued presence of the Japanese Emperor in national politics. Despite the semantic reference to Imperial power, Japan is a de facto constitutional monarchy, with a homogeneous population of 127 million people that is 98.5 per cent ethnic Japanese, making it one of the largest nation-states.^[14]

Characterizing some aspects of American foreign policy and international behavior "American Empire" is controversial but not uncommon. Stuart Creighton Miller posits that the public's sense of innocence about Realpolitik (cf. American Exceptionalism) impairs popular recognition of US imperial conduct. Since it governed other countries via surrogates — domestically-weak, right-wing governments that collapse without US support.^[15] G.W. Bush's Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said: “We don’t seek empires. We’re not imperialistic; we never have been”^[16] — directly contradicts Thomas Jefferson, in the 1780s, awaiting the fall of the Spanish empire: “. . . till our population can be sufficiently advanced to gain it from them piece by piece”.^[17][18][19] In turn, historian Sidney Lens argues that from its inception the US has used every means to dominate other nations.^[20]

Since the European Union began, in 1993, as a west European trade bloc, it established its own currency, the Euro, in 1999, established discrete military forces, and exercised its limited hegemony in parts of eastern Europe and Asia. This behaviour, the political scientist Jan Zielonka suggests, is imperial, because it coerces its neighbour countries to adopt its European economic, legal, and political structures.^{[21][22][23][24][25][26]}

In his book review of Empire (2000) by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Mehmet Akif Okur posits that, since the 11 September 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S., the international relations determining the world’s balance of power (political, economic, military) have been altered. These alterations include the intellectual (political science) trends that perceive the contemporary world’s order via the re-territorrialisation of political space, the re-emergence of classical imperialist practices (the “inside” vs. “outside” duality, cf. the Other), the deliberate weakening of international organisations, the restructured international economy, economic nationalism, the expanded arming of most countries, the proliferation of nuclear weapon capabilities and the politics of identity emphasizing a state’s subjective perception of its place in the world, as a nation and as a civilisation. These changes constitute the “Age of Nation Empires”; as imperial usage, nation-empire denotes the return of geopolitical power from global power blocs to regional power blocs (i.e. centred upon a “regional power” state [China, Russia, U.S., et al.]) and regional multi-state power alliances (i.e. Europe, Latin America, South East Asia). Nation-empire regionalism claims sovereignty over their respective (regional) political (social, economic, ideologic), cultural and military spheres.^[27]

Timeline of some Eurasian emperors[link]

The chart below shows a timeline of some Eurasian states claiming the imperial title. Dynastic changes are marked with a white line.

<timeline> ImageSize = width:1000 height:550 PlotArea = width:850 height:450 left:50 bottom:50

DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:-336 till:2009 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:100 start:-300

1. there is no automatic collision detection,
2. so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap

Colors=

 id:red  value:red

Define $dx = 25 # shift text to right side of bar Define $dy = -5 # adjust height

PlotData=

 bar:Alexandria color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

 from:-336  till:-323 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red

 bar: China color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize: 7
 from:-221 till: 1911 shift:($dx,-2) color: red
 at:206 mark:(line,white)
 at:220 mark:(line,white)
 at:265 mark:(line,white)
 at:280 mark:(line,white)
 at:420 mark:(line,white)
 at:589 mark:(line,white)
 at:618 mark:(line,white)
 at:907 mark:(line,white)
 at:960 mark:(line,white)
 at:907 mark:(line,white)
 at:1125 mark:(line,white)
 at:1279 mark:(line,white)
 at:1271 mark:(line,white)
 at:1368 mark:(line,white)
 at:1644 mark:(line,white)

 bar:Roman color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

 from:-27  till:476 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red
 at:68 mark:(line,white)
 at:69 mark:(line,white)
 at:96 mark:(line,white)
 at:192 mark:(line,white)
 at:235 mark:(line,white)
 at:284 mark:(line,white)
 at:364 mark:(line,white)
 at:392 mark:(line,white)
 at:455 mark:(line,white)

 bar:Mauryan color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7
 from:321  till:185 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red

 bar:Byzantine color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

 from:306  till:1204 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red
 at:363 mark:(line,white)
 at:364 mark:(line,white)
 at:457 mark:(line,white)
 at:518 mark:(line,white)
 at:602 mark:(line,white)
 at:610 mark:(line,white)
 at:711 mark:(line,white)
 at:717 mark:(line,white)
 at:803 mark:(line,white)
 at:813 mark:(line,white)
 at:820 mark:(line,white)
 at:867 mark:(line,white)
 at:1056 mark:(line,white)
 at:1057 mark:(line,white)
 at:1059 mark:(line,white)
 at:1081 mark:(line,white)
 at:1185 mark:(line,white)
 from:1261  till:1453 shift:($dx,$dy)    color:red

 bar:Bulgarian color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

 from:913  till:1018 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red
 at:997 mark:(line,white)
 at:1280 mark:(line,white)
 at:1292 mark:(line,white)
 at:1299 mark:(line,white)
 at:1300 mark:(line,white)
 at:1323 mark:(line,white)
 from:1185 till:1422 shift:($dx,$dy)    color:red

 bar:Holy-Rоman color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

 from:962  till:1024 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red
 from:1027  till:1125 shift:($dx,$dy)    color:red
 from:1133  till:1137 shift:($dx,$dy)    color:red
 from:1155  till:1197 shift:($dx,$dy)    color:red
 from:1209  till:1215 shift:($dx,$dy)    color:red
 from:1220  till:1250 shift:($dx,$dy)    color:red
 from:1312  till:1313 shift:($dx,$dy)    color:red
 from:1328  till:1347 shift:($dx,$dy)    color:red
 from:1355  till:1378 shift:($dx,$dy)    color:red
 from:1433  till:1437 shift:($dx,$dy)    color:red
 from:1452  till:1740 shift:($dx,$dy)    color:red
 from:1742  till:1806 shift:($dx,$dy)    color:red
 at:1745 mark:(line,white)
 at:1765 mark:(line,white)

 bar:Nicaea color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

 from:1204  till:1261 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red

 bar:Latin color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

 from:1204  till:1261 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red

 bar:Trebizond color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

 from:1204  till:1461 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red

 bar:Ottoman color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

 from:1299  till:1922 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red

 bar:Serbian color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

 from:1345  till:1371 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red

 bar:Russian color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

 from:1480  till:1917 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red
 at:1598 mark:(line,white)
 at:1605 mark:(line,white)
 at:1606 mark:(line,white)
 at:1610 mark:(line,white)
 at:1612 mark:(line,white)

 bar:Swedish color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

 from:1611  till:1718 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red

 bar: Maratha color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7
 from:1647  till:1818 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red

 bar:French color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

 from:1804  till:1814 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red
 at:1815 mark:(line,red)
 from:1852  till:1870 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red

 bar:Austrian color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

 from:1804  till:1918 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red

 bar:German color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

 from:1871  till:1918 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red

 bar:British color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

 from:1677  till:1998 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red
 at:1677 mark:(line,white)
 at:1998 mark:(line,white)

</timeline>

See also[link]

References[link]

Notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Gilpin, Robert War and Change in World Politics pp. 110–116
• Geiss, Imanuel (1983), War and empire in the twentieth century, Aberdeen University Press, ISBN 0-08-030387-0 
• Johan Galtung (January 1996), The Decline and Fall of Empires: A Theory of De-Development, Honolulu, archived from the original on 2007-10-13, http://web.archive.org/web/20071013085302/http://transcend.org/galt.htm, retrieved 2008-01-06  Written for the United Nations Research Institute on Development, UNRISD, Geneva.
• Lens, Sidney; Zinn, Howard (2003), The Forging of the American Empire: From the Revolution to Vietnam: A History of American Imperialism, Plkuto press, ISBN 0-7453-2100-3, http://books.google.com/?id=qvLfIHqkOOAC 
• Bowden, Brett (2009), The Empire of Civilization: The Evolution of an Imperial Idea, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0-226-06814-5 

External links[link]

• Index of Colonies and Possessions
• Gavrov, Sergey Modernization of the Empire. Social and Cultural Aspects of Modernization Processes in Russia
• Mehmet Akif Okur, Rethinking Empire After 9/11: Towards A New Ontological Image of World Order, Perceptions, Journal of International Affairs, Volume XII, Winter 2007, pp.61-93

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2010)

Mason Jennings
Background information
Born	(1975-03-19) March 19, 1975 (age 37) Honolulu, Hawaii
Genres	Folk-rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar
Website	www.masonjennings.com

Mason Jennings (born March 19, 1975 in Honolulu, Hawaii) is an American pop-folk singer-songwriter. He is well known for his simple yet catchy melodies, intimate lyrics, literary and historical themes, and distinctive voice. His music has appeared in the surf film Shelter and he has toured extensively.

Biography[link]

Born in Hawaii, Jennings moved with his family to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at an early age. Jennings learned to play guitar at the age of 13, when he began writing songs. Jennings later dropped out of school and moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota to pursue his musical career.^[1]

Jennings produced his self-titled debut album in 1997 on an analog four-track in the living room of a rented home, playing all instruments himself. In October 1998, joined by drummer Chris Stock (a.k.a. Chris Stocksmith) and bassist Robert Skoro, he began a weekly gig at Minneapolis' 400 Bar as the Mason Jennings Band. The two week gig ended up lasting four months. In April, 1999, six months after forming, The Mason Jennings Band and Mason were voted by the 1999 "Picked to Click Poll" conducted by Minneapolis newspaper, City Pages. Mason began touring nationally and expanded the depth of his sound by inviting saxophonist Chris Thomson to play with them occasionally and replacing Stock with Brazilian jazz drummer Edgar Olivera.

Birds Flying Away (2000) revealed Jennings' political activism and penchant for singing first-person narratives of imaginary rustic characters. Following the release of this album, Noah Levy of The Honeydogs took over drumming duties from Olivera.

In 2002, Jennings released a studio album, Century Spring, and a "fans only" collection of acoustic songs, Simple Life. An EP supporting Century Spring was also released, featuring the album's opening track, "Living In The Moment," two live tracks, and the previously-unreleased "Emperor Ashoka." Jennings released all three discs — and re-released his earlier albums — on his homebrew record label, Architect Records.

In 2003, Skoro and Levy left the band and were replaced by bassist Chris Morrissey (Bill Mike Band) and drummer Brian McLeod.

On February 10, 2004, Jennings released Use Your Voice, which notably included the songs "Keepin' It Real," ostensibly written at the request of Shrek 2 producers (but not used in the film), and "The Ballad of Paul and Sheila," an acoustic dirge for late Minnesota senator Paul Wellstone. On September 30 of that year, the band released a DVD entitled Use Your Van, which chronicled the recording of Use Your Voice and part of the promotional tour. The DVD was filmed by Andy Grund.

On June 17, 2005, Jennings signed with Glacial Pace, a subsidiary of Sony's Epic Records headed by Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock. Minnesota's Star Tribune credited Brock with convincing Jennings to sign after the Mason Jennings Band had opened for several Modest Mouse shows in 2004. Jennings had long avoided the major labels, citing desires to maintain creative control and dodge big-label politics.^{[citation needed]} Glacial Pace is now an independent label.

Jennings recorded his sixth album, Boneclouds, at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, MN with producer Noah Georgeson. The album was released on May 16, 2006 by Glacial Pace. Soon thereafter, bassist Chris Morrisey left the band.

Mason Jennings opened for Guster during their Winter 2007 tour. Accompanying Mason was new bassist Arabella Kauffmann and Brian McLeod on drums.

Mason sang two Bob Dylan songs for the soundtrack of the movie "I'm Not There" (released in November 2007 in the U.S.): "The Times They Are a-Changin'" and "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll."

In early 2008 Mason signed with Jack Johnson's record label, Brushfire Records. Jennings released In the Ever in May 2008. The title was inspired by his son referring to where he was before he was born as, "In the ever". Mason and Johnson met at Gustavus Adolphus College's Earth Jam in 2001 when Mason was scheduled as Johnson's opening act. Both enjoyed the other's musical style and toured together shortly afterward.

Mason announced at the Elemental Experience Music & Arts Festival in San Diego on May 2, 2009, that he would be releasing a new album (later entitled Blood of Man) in summer 2009. He also mentioned that he would have music on the soundtrack for the documentary "180° South". The documentary was released in March 2010.

On June 2, 2009 the single "Sunlight" was released on iTunes and all proceeds will go to the Surfrider Foundation in efforts to help clean up beaches around the country.

On June 20, 2009, Mason Jennings headlined the Locally Grown Festival in Ojai, CA. Jack Johnson sat in for a portion of the set, singing both Mason and Jack's songs. Zach Gill performed as well, as the show ended with "I Shall Be Released", a song written by Bob Dylan.

On September 15, 2009, Blood of Man was released on CD and vinyl format. A free bonus EP titled Independent (containing the tracks "Mark My Heart With Ashes" and "Wide Open Country") was distributed with the album at independent record stores. A week before the official CD release, a version of the album containing the exclusive track "Waves" was made available exclusively on iTunes.

In late 2010, Live at First Ave. his first live album ever was released. Mason Jennings is the subject of the second episode of BYUtv's AUDIO-FILES on April 24, 2012.

Discography[link]

• Mason Jennings (1997)
• Birds Flying Away (2000)
• Living in the Moment EP (2002)
• Century Spring (2002)
• Simple Life (2002)
• Use Your Voice (2004)
• Use Your Van DVD (2004)
• Boneclouds (2006)
• If You Need a Reason EP (2006)
• In The Ever (2008)
• How Deep is that River EP (2008)
• Blood of Man (2009)
• Independent EP (2009)
• Live at First Ave. (2010)
• The Flood (2010)
• 180° South: Conquerors of the Useless Soundtrack (2010)
• Minnesota (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• CLIF GreenNotes
• Archive.org Free audio downloads of live shows (Lossless formats).
• Strangers Almanac Column on Mason Jennings from