Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, who sought to restore their freedom and independence in their ancestral homeland in the Land of Israel. 

The Jewish people trace its ancestry back to the Land of Israel. And though they were dispossessed through successive imperial conquests, always maintained a connection to its historic homeland.

The term Zionism was coined in 1890 to refer to the desire of Jews to create a sovereign homeland in the Land of Israel. In 1896, the First Zionist Congress formalized Zionism as a political goal. 

Leading up to 1948, Zionism referred to the support of the Jewish community to establish a sovereign state in the Land of Israel. When that goal was accomplished in 1948, Zionism began to refer to the support of the existence and legitimacy of the State of Israel. 

It references thousands of years of yearning to return home, to the indiginous homeland of the Jewish people.