List of national founders

"Founding fathers" redirects here. For the founding fathers of the United States, see Founding Fathers of the United States. For the founding fathers of the European Union, see Founding fathers of the European Union.

Further information: Father of the Country and Father of the Nation

The following list of national founding fathers is a record, by country, of men who were credited with establishing their nation. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e., political system form of government, and constitution), of the country. They can also be military leaders of a war of independence that led to the existence of the country.

Africa

Saad Zaghloul was the founder of independent Egypt. "Zaeem al Ummah (Leader of the People)"

Jan van Riebeeck of South Africa

Egypt

The Founder of Independent Egypt Saad Zaghloul (1859-August 23, 1927), was a great politician who served in many ministries of the Egyptian government, and was imprisoned by the British in Malta, but returned to Egypt to complete the revolution in 1919. Zaghloul then was able to make the Sultan of Egypt (later King) Fuad I to convince the British for Egypt's independence with a friendly British-Egyptian relationship and in 1922, Egypt was proclaimed an independent Kingdom, Kingdom of Egypt and Saad Zaghloul as it's Prime Minister.

Kenya

Jomo Kenyatta - served as the first Prime Minister (1963–1964) and President (1964–1978) of the Republic.

Libya

Omar Al-Mukhtar - Libyan national hero who resisted the Italian colonialism of Libya from 1911 until 1931 when he was hanged by the fascist government of Benito Mussolini.

Ghana

Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972) led the nation to its independence from the United Kingdom in 1957.

Liberia

Joseph Jenkins Roberts (1809–1876) was born a free man of Black American descent. In 1829 his family moved to Liberia. In 1839, Roberts became Liberia's lieutenant governor and afterwards, its governor (1841–1848). He is known as the father of Liberia and officially declared Liberia's independence in 1847.

Namibia

The founding father of Namibia is Dr. Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma, who freed Namibia from South African occupation.

Nigeria

Herbert Macaulay (1864–1946), Professor Eyo Ita (1904- ), Alvan Ikoku (1900–1971), Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (1904–1996), Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1909–1987), Sir Ahmadu Bello (1910–1966), Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1912–1966), Sir Udo Udoma (1917-1998), General Murtala Mohammed (1938–1976), Al-Haji Aminu Kano (1920–1983), Joseph Tarka (1932–1980) and Dennis Osadebay (1911–1994) are considered founding fathers of Nigeria. The troika of Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, and Ahmadu Bello negotiated Nigeria's independence from Britain, aided by such figures as Chieftess Funmilayo Ransome Kuti.

Tanzania

Julius Nyerere - Key figure in the independence of the country and first President.

Sierra Leone

Freetown, Sierra Leone was founded in part by an African American slave called Thomas Peters in 1792 who convinced British abolitionists to help settle 1,192 Black Americans who fought for the British in return for freedom. Peters alongside other Black Americans David George and Moses Wilkinson were influential in the establishment of Freetown, but it was Peters who is remembered today as the true influential leader and founder of Sierra Leone. A street was named for Thomas Peters in Freetown by the Krio Mayor Winstanley Bankole Johnson.

South Africa

Jan van Riebeeck (1619–1677) was the first Governor of the Cape and later of Batavia, he allowed for many more Europeans to go to the Cape, later leading to the foundation of the Cape Colony. The Voortrekkers (1800s) were the Founding Fathers of the Transvaal Republic, Orange Free State, and other Boer republics which make up a vast area of present-day South Africa. Nelson Mandela (1918– ) was the former President of South Africa 1994–1999. He led the campaign, together with F. W. de Klerk, to racially integrate the country.

Tunisia

The founding father of the modern Tunisia is Habib Bourguiba.

Asia

Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Ahmad Shah Durrani (1723–1773) unified the Afghan tribes and founded Afghanistan in 1747. His mausoleum is next to the Shrine of the Cloak in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he is fondly known as Ahmad Shah Baba (Ahmad Shah the Father).

Bangladesh

File:Bangabandhu02 big.jpg

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920–1975), is revered as the Father of the Nation in Bangladesh. A charismatic orator and popularly called "Bangabandhu" (friend of the Bengal), Mujib rose from student politics to become the leader of the Bengali nationalist movement in Pakistan. He declared Bangladesh's independence in March, 1971 after the Pakistan Army refused to accept results of democratic elections and launched a brutal military crackdown on the population of East Pakistan. Mujib was arrested and kept in solitary confinement in West Pakistan throughout the nine-month long Bangladesh Liberation War that followed. He was released in January, 1972 and returned to Bangladesh to lead the newly independent country.

Mujib's administration would prove to be inept in governing the country wrecked by war and famine. On 15 August 1975, a group of junior army officers staged a military coup by assassinating Mujib along with most of his family members at his private residence in Dhaka.

In an opinion poll conducted by the BBC Bengali service in 2003, he was voted "The Greatest Bengali of All Time".

Bhutan

Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (1594–1651) fled Tibet and unified the fiefdoms of Bhutan. He established the dual system of shared power between secular and Buddhist leadership that continues as a tradition to the present.

People's Republic of China

Sun Yat-sen is revered as the "Father of the Country" (國父) of the Republic of China. However, following the Chinese Civil War, the Republic of China was split up into two states, the People's Republic of China, and the Republic of China, commonly referred to as Taiwan. Mao Zedong is commonly accredited with being the architect of the People's Republic of China.

India

Gandhi of India

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) is often referred to as the founding father of India. He was one of the top leaders of the Indian National Congress which struggled for the liberation from British rule and engineer in unifying various South Asian districts into one unified state to be called India. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India's First Deputy Prime Minister and Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964), the first Prime Minister of India, are also considered as founding fathers. It also refers to Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956), the architect of the Indian constitution, also an educationist, prominent political figure and India's first law minister. Indian constitution provided constitutional guarantees and protections for a wide range of civil liberties for individual citizens, including freedom of religion, the abolition of untouchability and the outlawing of all forms of discrimination. The Constitution was adopted on 9 August 1949 by the Constituent Assembly. Abul Kalam Azad, first Minister of Education, who worked to prevent the partition of India. Azad also work to unite Muslims and Hindus in India.

Although this usage is declining, when used in the plural, as the "Founding fathers" it usually refers to the members of the Constitutional Assembly's Draft Committee.

Indonesia

Soekarno, Founding Father of Indonesia

Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta are the founding fathers of Indonesia. They both signed the Proclamation of Independence which then read by Soekarno, proclaiming the independence of Indonesia from the Netherlands on 17 August 1945. A day later, they were elected respectively as the first President and Vice President of Indonesia. As the Netherlands did not recognize the independece, both of them were prominent figures and were seen as symbol of unity among Indonesian people to fight against Dutch during the National Revolution from 1945 to 1949. In August 1949, Hatta headed a delegation to the Hague for a Round Table Conference which then led to the recognition of Indonesian independence by the Netherlands in 23 December 1949.

Iran

Cyrus the Great (600 BC – 530 BC) was the founder of the Persian Empire under the Achaemenid dynasty an empire without precedent—a first world-empire of historical importance.

Israel

David Ben-Gurion (1886 - 1973) was the founder of the State of Israel and 1st Prime Minister of Israel

South Korea

Hwanung (환웅;桓雄) and his son Dangun Wanggeom (단군왕검; 檀君王儉) are legendary founders of Gojoseon, the first kingdom of Korea. The founding date is usually calculated as 3 October 2333 BC; 3 October is a South Korean national holiday known as Gaecheonjeol (개천절, 開天節, "Festival of the Opening of Heaven").

Malaysia

Tunku Abdul Rahman (8 February 1903 – 6 December 1990) usually known as "the Tunku" (a princely title in Malaysia), and also called Bapa Kemerdekaan (Father of Independence) or Bapa Malaysia (Father of Malaysia), was Chief Minister of the Federation of Malaya from 1955, and the country's first Prime Minister from independence in 1957. He remained Prime Minister after Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore joined in 1963 to form Malaysia.

Mongolia

Genghis Khan posthumous portrait

Chinggis Khagan (c.1162–1227), who by uniting the nomadic tribes founded the Mongol Empire, is generally regarded as the father of modern-day Mongolia. Although downcast during the communist-era, Genghis Khan's reputation surged after the democratic revolution in 1990. Modern Mongolia is often called "Genghis's Mongolia".

Myanmar

Anawrahta is considered to be founding father of ancient Burmese Kingdom of Pagan. General Aung San is the founding father of modern Burma (also known as Myanmar). Although he did not live to see the country's independence, he is credited in forming the basic structure of the independence movement and government. Aung San started his political career in 1930 as the editor of Rangoon University's Newspaper – where he accused one of the British administrators of misconduct. In late 1940 he went to Japanese controlled Taiwan and Xiamen to receive military training, and he led the Burmese National Army, spearheading the Japanese invasion of Burma. Later, he switched sides to the Allies, and helped in the Burma Campaign. After the war, he was appointed to the government of a returning British Administration, and was able to negotiate Burma's independence. He helped organized the Panglong Agreement in February 1947, achieving independence for all Burmese territories. However, on Saturday, 19 July 1947, Aung San, along with his cabinet ministers, was assassinated at the secretariat building in Rangoon.

Nepal

Prithvi Narayan Shah of Nepal

Prithvi Narayan Shah was largely responsible for the Unification of Nepal, and is considered to be the founding father of Nepal. His vision of ruling over a unified Nepal is said to have started when atop a hill near Nepa Valley (Present day Kathmandu), he decided he would like to rule over it. His strategic plan was very successful and his successors continued to build on his progress. Prithvi Narayan Shah's descendents continued to rule over Nepal for a total of 240 years before the 2006 democracy movement in Nepal toppled the abosolute power exercised by Gyanendra of Nepal, before abolishing the monarchy in 2008.

Pakistan

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan

Pakistan's founding father is Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876–1948), a Muslim Barrister, originally from the Indian National Congress and later the Muslim League, who fought for the rights of Muslim minority in the British India. Jinnah is referred to as Quaid-e-Azam or the "Great Leader".

Mr. Jinnah started his career as a cause of Indian independence and Hindu-Muslim unity but was later convinced of the Two-Nation Theory and utilised Muslim nationalism as a bargaining counter, a strategy later been dubbed as consociationalism. He worked along with Aga Khan III, martyred Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan and Poet Philosopher Allama Iqbal all of whom are also revered to a certain extent as founding fathers. Aga Khan was also the founding president of the All India Muslim League. Choudhary Rahmat Ali coined the term Pakistan and is considered the father of the word "Pakistan". Muslim modernist and reformist Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the founder of Aligarh Educational Movement, is sometimes referred to as the father of the Two-Nation Theory, the basic principle on which Pakistan was founded, along with Allama Iqbal who is also regarded as the first to aspire for a separate country.

Philippines

Jose Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines

Jose Rizal did not live long enough to see the Philippine Declaration of Independence from Spain. or the subsequent defeat of the fledgling government by the United States, but he did play a prominent role in building a sense of national identity in the Philippines. A novelist and a critic, he wrote very influential books, so influential that he was exiled by the Spanish government to the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, and when he left exile, executed, on 30 December 1896. During the Philippine Commonwealth, which was still under the rule of the United States, he was declared the official National Hero of the Philippines and subsequent to Philippine Independence laws were passed requiring courses on Rizal in all secondary schools and colleges.

Republic of China

Whilst Sun Yat-sen is revered as the founding father of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek is accredited with being the first leader and President of the current-day Republic of China on Taiwan.

Turkey

File:Ataturk and flag of Turkey.jpg

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is the founder of modern Turkey. "Father of the Turks"

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) the founder of the Republic of Turkey and its first President. Osman I (1258-1326) was the founder of the dynasty that established and ruled the former Ottoman Empire.

Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh (1890–1969) is the founder of modern Vietnam, a great leader for independence of Vietnam from Japan and France and also the leader for reunification of Vietnam.

Europe

Albania

George Kastrioti Skanderbeg was a prominent historical figure in the history of Albania and of the Albanian people. He is the national hero of the Albanians. Ismail Qemali Hero of Albania was a distinguished leader of the Albanian national movement, founder of the modern Albanian state and its first head of state and government.

Azerbaijan

Mammed Amin Rasulzade is the founding father of Azerbaijan. Mehemmed Emin Resulzade (Azerbaijani: Məhəmməd Əmin Axund Hacı Molla Ələkbər oğlu Rəsulzadə, Turkish: Mehmed Emin Resulzâde; 31 January 1884, Novkhana, near Baku — 6 March 1955, Ankara) was an Azerbaijani statesman, scholar, public figure and one of the founding political leaders of Azerbaijan Republic (1918–1920). His expression "Bir kərə yüksələn bayraq, bir daha enməz!" ("The flag once raised will never fall!") has become the motto of the independence movement in Azerbaijan in the 20th century.

Bulgaria

Asparuh established the First Bulgarian Empire in 681. Modern day Bulgaria is a direct successor of this state.

Croatia

• Porga of Croatia, first Croatian ruler
• Tomislav of Croatia, united all Croatian lands into one kingdom in 925, when he was crowned as the first Croatian king in Delminium, today Tomislavgrad in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• Franjo Tuđman, first President of Croatia

Czech Republic

Bohemia

Although the first known ruler of Bohemia was Bořivoj I, the real unifier of various Slavic tribes in Bohemia and creator of nation was Duke Boleslaus I. Emperor Charles IV is regarded "Father of the Homeland" in the Czech Republic, because during his time the kingdom of Bohemia experienced the greatest prosperity. Tomas Garrigue Masaryk (1850–1937) is widely revered as the Liberator President who played the chief role in the 1918 melding of Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia and Ruthenia into the Czechoslovak Republic, and who served as President of the Republic from 1918 to 1935.

France

Clovis I united all the frankish tribes in Gaul and gave them a common catholic religion. Napoleon founded the French Empire. Napoleon III is the first French President. Charles De Gaulle is a hero of the French resistance and the first president of the 5th Republic.

Germany

Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898), the "Iron Chancellor", engineered the unification of the numerous states of Germany. Modern, democratic Germany was decisively shaped by the "Fathers of the Basic Law" in the 1948 Constitutional Convention at Herrenchiemsee and by the first Federal Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer.

Greece

Rigas Feraios (1757–1798) was a Greek writer and revolutionary, an eminent figure of the Greek Enlightenment, remembered as a Greek national hero, the first victim of the uprising against the Ottoman Empire and a forerunner of the Greek War of Independence.

Adamantios Korais (1748–1833, Theophilos Kairis (1784–1853), Eugenios Voulgaris (1716–1806) and other figures of the Greek Enlightenment.

Theodoros Kolokotronis (1770–1843), (O Geros tou Morea or "The Elder of Morea") was a Greek field Marshal (archistrategos or Marshal Commander-in-Chief) and one of the leaders of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire, Georgios Karaiskakis (1780 or 1782–1827) was a famous Greek klepht, armatolos, military commander, and a hero of the Greek War of Independence, Andreas Vokos Miaoulis (1768–1835) an admiral and politician who commanded Greek naval forces during the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829), Yannis Makriyannis was (1797–1864) a Greek merchant, military officer, politician and author, Alexander Ypsilantis (1792–1828), Demetrios Ypsilantis (1793–1832) and other prominent personalities of the Greek War of Independence.

Count Ioannis Kapodistrias (1776–1831), was a Greek diplomat of the Russian Empire and later the first head of state of independent Greece recognized by many Greek historians as the Father of the Greek nation.

Eleftherios Venizelos (1864–1936), was an eminent Greek revolutionary, a prominent and illustrious statesman as well as a charismatic leader in the early 20th century,Prime Minister of Greece and served from 1910 to 1920 and from 1928 to 1932, he is credited with being "the maker of modern Greece", and he is still widely known as the Ethnarch.

Alexandros Papanastasiou (1876–1936), was a Greek politician, sociologist and Prime Minister, widely known as the Father of the Republic or Father of the Democracy.

Georgios Papandreou (1888–1968) was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty, often referred to affectionately as "ο Γέρος της δημοκρατίας" (o Géros tis dimokratías)—the old man of democracy.

Konstantinos Karamanlis (1907–1998), was a four-time Prime Minister,founder of the third Hellenic Republic, the 3rd and 5th President of the Third Hellenic Republic and a towering figure of Greek politics whose political career spanned much of the latter half of the 20th century is still widely known as the Ethnarch.

Hungary

According to Anonymus the fejedelem who made the Magyars settle into the Carpathian Basin in 896 A.D. was Árpád. His dynasty reigned over the Hungarian Kingdom from the ninth century until 1301. In Hungary Stephen I of Hungary is commonly regarded as the founder of the nation. He was Hungary's first king and united the Magyar people into the Kingdom of Hungary which grew out to be one of the largest monarchies in medieval Europe. Amongst others, Lajos Kossuth is supposed to be the Pater Patriae. He is known as the leader of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 against the Habsburg royalists, and therefore founder of the modern Hungarian Republic. Had the Hungarian Uprisings of 1956 succeeded, Imre Nagy and Maléter Pál would have been noted as founding fathers of the Republic of Hungary.

Ireland

The Irish Free State was established after the Irish War of Independence (1919–21), in which Éamon de Valera, Cathal Brugha and Michael Collins were key leaders. However, they became antagonists in the Irish Civil War (1922–23), in which Collins and Brugha were killed and de Valera defeated. For decades, the inheritors of the opposing factions bypassed these sensitivities to honour the earlier leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916, in particular the seven signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic: Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, Éamonn Ceannt, Tom Clarke, Seán Mac Diarmada, Thomas MacDonagh, and Joseph Mary Plunkett Robert Emmett is also condidered a founding father.

Italy

King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy was the main founding father of a united Italy - being called the "Father of the Fatherland" by the Italian people after he conquered the Italian Peninsula (he was already King of Piedmont-Sardinia).

Giuseppe Garibaldi the "Hero of the Two Worlds"

Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–1882), Count Camillo Benso di Cavour (1810–1861), Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872) have been referred to as other founding fathers of the Kingdom of Italy also.

The members of the Assemblea Costituente (the Constitutional Assembly of 1946–1947, which wrote the Constitution of the newborn Italian Republic) are considered as the "fathers" of the Italian Republic.

Macedonia

As well respected statesmen in Macedonia are considered Metodija Andonov - Čento (first president of SR Macedonia), Nikola Karev (president of Kruševo Republic) and Kiro Gligorov (first president of independent Macedonia). However, often, as "fathers" of the nation are considered Goce Delčev, Krste Misirkov, Gjorgjija Pulevski and Dimitrija Čupovski and other prominent authors and revolutionaries.

Norway

Usually the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814, consisting of 112 men from most of the country, in Norway often referred to as the Eidsvoll Men or the Fathers of the Constitution.

Netherlands

Prince William I of Orange (1533–1584) or William the Silent, is known as the father of the Netherlands. He led the Dutch in their Revolt against Spain for their independence. Today he is often called Vader des Vaderlands which in English means, Father of the Fatherland.

Poland

Mieszko I of Poland

Mieszko I (b. ca. 920/45 – d. 25 May 992), the first historical ruler of Poland, Mieszko I is considered as the de facto creator of the Polish state. He was a Duke of the Polans from about 960 until his death. Mieszko I's marriage in 965 to the Přemyslid princess Dobrawa and his baptism in 966 put him and his country in the cultural sphere of Western Christianity. According to existing sources, Mieszko I was a wise politician, a talented military leader and charismatic ruler. He successfully used diplomacy, concluding an alliance with Bohemia first, and then with Sweden and the Holy Roman Empire. In foreign policy, he placed the interests of his country foremost, even entering into agreements with former enemies. On his death, he left to his sons a country of greatly expanded territory, with a well-established position in Europe. Mieszko I also appeared as "Dagome" in a papal document from about 1085, called "Dagome iudex", which mentions a gift or dedication of Mieszko's land to the Pope (the act took place almost a hundred years earlier).

Portugal

Henry of Burgundy (1066–1112), was appointed Count of Portugal as a reward for military services to Kingdom of León, and with the purpose of expanding the territory southwards. And, more importantly, his son, Count Afonso I of Portugal (1109–1185), a Templar Brother who took control of the county after Henry died and was recognized by the Holy See, in 1179, as the first King of Portugal, through the Manifestis Probatum bull.

Russia

Russia has passed through various stages of its history, thus its founding fathers might have various historic backgrounds, with common features like the idea of strong central power, the idea of spiritual mission of Russia, and the idea of the Motherland

• Prince Rurik - first prince of Rus, believed to be a Norse warlord invited to rule the Slavic peoples.
• Vladimir the Great or Vladimir the Saint - the baptizer of the Rus.
• Peter the Great – first Russian Emperor, great reformer of Russia in the Western (previously Dutch) style, creator of the modern Army and of the Navy, leader of Russia through the victorious war with Sweden, founder of Saint-Petersburg
• Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik party - founders of Soviet Russia and later the Soviet Union.
• Boris Yeltsin - key politician in the creation of the post-Soviet Russian Federation.

San Marino

Saint Marinus was the founder of the world's oldest surviving republic, San Marino, in 301. Tradition holds that he was a stonemason by trade who came from the island of Rab on the other side of the Adriatic Sea (modern Croatia), fleeing persecution for his Christian beliefs in the Diocletianic Persecution.

Serbia

• the leader of the Serbs (fl. 610-641)
• Vlastimir, Prince (r. ca. 830-850), united Serbian provinces
• Mutimir, Prince (r. ca. 850-891), first Christian ruler of Serbia
• Časlav, Prince (r. ca. 927–960), united Serbian provinces
• Stefan Vojislav, Prince (fl. 1034–1043), led a successful revolt in Serbia against the Byzantines
• Stefan Nemanja, Grand Prince (r. 1166–1196), founder of the Nemanjić dynasty, and Serbian Church
• Dušan, Emperor (1331–1355), most powerful Serbian ruler in history
• Karađorđe Petrović, Grand Leader (1804–1813), liberator of Serbia, organizer and leader of the Serbian Revolution

Slovenia

France Bučar is a Slovenian politician, legal expert and author. Between 1990 and 1992, he served as the first chairman of the freely elected Slovenian Parliament. He was the one to formally declare the independence of Slovenia on 25 June 1991. He is considered as one of the founding fathers of Slovenian democracy and independence. He is also considered, together with Peter Jambrek, as the main author of the current Slovenian constitution. Jože Pučnik was president of DEMOS and one of the main persons at Slovenian fight for independence. Biggest Slovenian airport is named Letališče Jožeta Pučnika (Jože Pučnik airport). Lojze Peterle was first prime minister of Slovenia and Milan Kučan was the first president.

Switzerland

Both the anonymous Eidgenossen who drew up the Federal Charter of 1291, or the liberal statesmen who helped found the modern Swiss Confederation in 1848 can be considered the founding fathers of Switzerland. Among the latter, those who became the first members of the Swiss Federal Council were perhaps the most notable: Ulrich Ochsenbein, Jakob Stämpfli, Jonas Furrer, Martin J. Munzinger, Daniel-Henri Druey, Friedrich Frey-Herosé, Wilhelm Matthias Naeff and Stefano Franscini.

Spain

The Catholic Monarchs (15th century). Unification of Spain, both coming from the noble House of Trastámara.

Charles I of Spain (1500–1558). First monarch of the Spanish realms and emperor of the Spanish Empire.

Ukraine

Bohdan Khmelnytsky – (c. 1595 – 6 August 1657) was a hetman of the Zaporozhian Cossack Hetmanate of Ukraine. He led an uprising against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth magnates (1648–1654) which resulted in the creation of a Cossack state.

United Kingdom

As the UK formed over many years, its founders did not live at the same time as each other. They include: Humphrey Wingfield, Speaker of the English House of Commons in 1535, at the time of England's union with Wales; John Smith and James Ogilvy, Speakers of the English and Scottish Parliaments in 1707, when the Acts of Union united Scotland and England; Henry Addington and John FitzGibbon, leaders of the British and Irish parliaments at the time of the Acts of Union 1801, uniting Great Britain and Ireland; and Prime Minister David Lloyd George, and Winston Churchill who signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty, founding Northern Ireland.

Wales

Magnus Maximus (ca. 335 – 28 August 388). According to Welsh tradition, Magnus Maximus (Welsh: Macsen-Wledig) was a Roman General who was proclaimed Emperor of Rome by his soldiers in Britain in 383. As such, he was the first "Romano-Britain" ruler of Britain and Rome itself (although he was born in the Roman province of Hispania and was only stationed in Britain in 380.) His mytho-heroic founding of Wales is celebrated in the modern Welsh anthem Yma o Hyd by Dafydd Iwan. Other traditional "founding" heroes of Wales include Boudica, Owen Glendower, and Llywelyn the Last.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Simón Bolívar of Venezuela

José de San Martín, Simón Bolívar, Antonio José de Sucre, Francisco de Paula Santander, Francisco de Miranda have been referred to as the founding fathers of the region comprising modern day Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Panama.

Argentina

José de San Martín (1778–1850) is considered the founding father of Argentina.

Chile

Bernardo O'Higgins (1778–1842) and José Miguel Carrera (1785–1821) are usually considered the founding fathers of Chile. Other people referred as founding fathers of Chile include Camilo Henríquez and Manuel Rodríguez (1785–1818).

Dominican Republic

Juan Pablo Duarte (1813–1876), Francisco del Rosario Sánchez (1817–1861) and Matías Ramón Mella (1816–1864) are considered the "Padres de la Patria" or Fathers of the Country. Duarte is featured on the $1 coin; Sanchez on the $5 coin and on the now discontinued $5 bill; Mella on the $10 coin and on the also discontinued $10 bill.

Benito Juárez of Oaxaca, Mexico became the first indigenous president in the Americas.

Haiti

Toussaint L'Ouverture (20 May 1743 – 8 April 1803) and Jean-Jacques Dessalines (20 September 1758 – 17 October 1806) were revolutionary and early political leaders of Haiti.

Mexico

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753–1811) is considered the leading founder and framer of Mexico, closely followed by the national heroes José María Morelos (1765–1815), Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez (1773–1829), Guadalupe Victoria (1786–1843) and Benito Juárez (1806–1872).

Peru

José de San Martín and Simón Bolívar led Peru to independence and forged the country.

Venezuela

Simon Bolivar (1783–1830) is considered to be the founding father not only of Venezuela, but of much of the regions countries. Bolivar is often referred to as the liberator of Latin America as a whole.

North America

Canada

Main article: Fathers of Confederation

Canadian Fathers of Confederation

The name "Fathers of Confederation" is given to those who attended the Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences in 1864, and the London Conference of 1866, to establish the Canadian Confederation. There were 36 original Fathers of Confederation. Queen Victoria, who supported and encouraged this process, is known as the Mother of Confederation. She was the first Monarch under the 1867 Constitution and personally chose Ottawa as Canada's capital city. The political leaders who brought the other provinces into Confederation after 1867 are also referred to as "Fathers of Confederation."

United States

Main article: Founding Fathers of the United States

Founding fathers of the United States

Oceania

Australia

Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896) is often regarded as the "Father of Federation" in Australia. During the late 19th century, he was the strongest proponent for a federation of Australian territories. Unfortunately, he died before Australia federated, and was never able to see his plan come to fruition. Various other "founders" of Australia have also been unofficially recognised: Captain James Cook, the Englishman who claimed Australia; Captain Arthur Phillip, the first governor of New South Wales and founder of the first colony; and Sir Edmund Barton, the first Australian Prime Minister.

Fiji

Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara is widely viewed as the "Founding Father" of an independent Fiji.

Federated States of Micronesia

Chief Justice Andon Amaraich is regarded as "one of the founding fathers of the Federated States of Micronesia".

George Tupou I founded the modern Kingdom of Tonga

Papua New Guinea

Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare is viewed as the "Founding Father" of Papua New Guinea. The leading figure during the country's transition to independence from Australia, he was Papua New Guinea's first Prime Minister.

Tonga

King George Tupou I, who united his country and established the contemporary Kingdom of Tonga, has been described as Tonga's "founding father".