This is a partial timeline of Zionism since the start of the 16th century.
Early modern period 1564 Joseph Nasi encourages Jewish settlement in Tiberias, having fled the Spanish Inquisition in 1547 1615 Thomas Brightman's Shall they return to Jerusalem again? is published posthumously. 1621 Sir Henry Finch publishes The World's Great Restauration, or Calling of the Jews, and with them of all Nations and Kingdoms of the Earth to the Faith of Christ 1643 Isaac La Peyrère, a French Protestant of Sephardic ancestry and contemporary of Menasseh Ben Israel, publishes Du rappel des juifs which prophesies the conversion of the Jews, their return to Palestine and the beginning of the Messianic Age 1649 Ebenezer and Joanna Cartwright dispatch a petition to the British Government calling for the ban on Jews settling in England to be lifted and for assistance to be provided to enable them to be repatriated to Palestine. 1670 Baruch Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise is the first work to consider the Jewish Question in Europe 1700 Judah he-Hasid leads some 1,500 Jewish immigrants to the Land of Israel and settles in Jerusalem. Three days after the group's arrival their leader dies (on October 17, 1700). In 1720 their synagogue was burned down and all Ashkenazi Jews were banned by the Ottomans. 1771 Joseph Eyre publishes a scholarly essay entitled Observations Upon The Prophecies Relating To The Restoration Of The Jews 1777 Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk along with a large group of followers emigrates and settles in Safed. In 1783 they were forced out of Safed, and moved to Tiberias. 1794 Richard Brothers, a millenarianist, Christian restorationist, a false prophet and the founder of British Israelism, writes A revealed knowledge of the prophecies & times, predicting the return of the Jews to Jerusalem in 1798 where they will be converted to Christianity. 1805 Foundation of the Palestine Association, stating amongst other goals that "we hope to establish relative to the history, the manners, and the country of the Jewish nation" 1808 The first group of Perushim, influenced by the teachings of the Vilna Gaon, leaves Shklov and after a 15-month journey settles in Jerusalem and Safed. 1809 Foundation of the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews 1811 François-René de Chateaubriand, the founder of Romanticism in French literature, published , in which he wrote of the Jews of Jerusalem as "rightful masters of Judea living as slaves and strangers in their own country"Intinéraire de Paris à Jérusalem, F.A. de Chateaubriand, p245 [French], also English translation, quote: "To see the Jews scattered over the whole world, according to the word of God, must doubtless excite surprise. But to be struck with supernatural astonishment you must view them at Jerusalem; you must behold these rightful masters of Judea living as slaves and strangers in their own country; you must behold them expecting, under all oppressions, a king who is to deliver them. Crushed by the cross that condemns them, skulking near the temple, of which not one stone is left upon another, they continue in their deplorable infatuation. The Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, are swept from the earth; and a petty tribe, whose origin preceded that of those great nations, still exists unmixed among the ruins of its native land". 1815 English poet Lord Byron publishes his Hebrew Melodies. The poem does not refer to a return to Palestine, but is one of the first literary works of Jewish nationalism. 1819 Wissenschaft des Judentums ("Jewish Studies") began to build a secular Jewish identity in the German Confederation 1827 John Nelson Darby's Plymouth Brethren is founded to propagate the Christian eschatological movement of dispensationalism, which teaches that God looks upon Jews as the chosen people (rejecting supersessionism), and that the nation of Israel will be born again and brought to realize they crucified their Messiah at his second coming 1821–1830 The Greek War of Independence legitimized the concept of small ethnically-based nation-states among other subject peoples of the Ottoman Empire
After the Egyptian–Ottoman War 1833 Benjamin Disraeli, then 28 years old, writes The Wondrous Tale of Alroy about David Alroy's messianic mission to Jerusalem 1837 Lord Lindsay travels to Palestine. In 1838 he wrote Letters on Egypt, Edom and the Holy Land in which he stated "Many I believe entertain the idea that an actual curse rests on the soil of Palestine, and may be startled therefore at the testimony I have borne to its actual richness. Let me not be misunderstood: richly as the valleys wave with corn, and beautiful as is the general aspect of modern Palestine, vestiges of the ancient cultivation are every where visible... proofs far more than sufficient that the land still enjoys her Sabbaths, and only waits the return of her banished children, and the application of industry commensurate with her agricultural capabilities, to burst once more into universal luxuriance—all that she ever was in the days of Solomon." 1839 The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland passes an Act on the Conversion of the Jews, and sends four Church of Scotland ministers, Andrew Bonar, Robert Murray M'Cheyne, Alexander Keith and Alexander Black to Palestine. They publish the popular book Narrative of a Visit to the Holy Land; And, Mission of Inquiry to the Jews in 1842 1839 Judah Alkalai publishes his pamphlet Darhei No'am (The Pleasant Paths) advocating the restoration of the Jews in the Land of Israel as a precursor to the coming of the Messiah, followed in 1840 by Shalom Yerushalayim (The Peace of Jerusalem). 1839 Lord Shaftesbury takes out a full-page advert in The Times addressed to the Protestant monarchs of Europe and entitled "The State and the rebirth of the Jews", which included the suggestion for the Jews to return to Palestine to seize the lands of Galilee and Judea, as well as the phrase "Earth without people – people without land". 1840 Lord Shaftesbury presents a paper to British Foreign Minister Lord Palmerston calling for the 'recall of the Jews to their ancient land'. 1840 (August 11) Lord Palmerston writes to Lord Ponsonby, British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire: "There exists at the present time among the Jews dispersed over Europe, a strong notion that the time is approaching when their nation is to return to Palestine... It would be of manifest importance to the Sultan to encourage the Jews to return and settle in Palestine because the wealth which they would bring with them would increase the resources of the Sultan's dominions; and the Jewish people, if returning under the sanction and protection, and at the invitation of the Sultan, would be a check upon any future evil designs of Mehemet Ali (of Egypt) or his successor... I have to instruct Your Excellency strongly to re-commend (to the Turkish Government) to hold out every just encouragement to the Jews of Europe to return to Palestine."FO 78/390, 1841 George Gawler, previously the governor of South Australia, starts to encourage Jewish settlements in the land of Israel. 1842 Nadir Baxter, of the Church Pastoral Aid Society, died in 1842 and donated £1,000 in his will, stating that it be paid "towards the political restoration of the Jews to Jerusalem and to their own land; and as I conscientiously believe also that the institution by the Anglican Church of the bishopric of Jerusalem is the actual commencement of the great and merciful work of Jehovah towards Zion". The gift was declared void in 1851 in the case of Habershon v Vardon by Sir James Lewis Knight-Bruce, Chancellor of the High Court, who stated "If it can be understood to mean any thing, it is to create a revolution in the dominions of an ally of her Majesty". 1841–42 Correspondence between Moses Montefiore, the President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and Charles Henry Churchill, the British consul in Damascus, is seen as the first recorded plan proposed for political Zionism.Notes on the Diplomatic History of the Jewish Question with texts of protocols, treaty stipulations and other public acts and official documents, Lucien Wolf, published by the Jewish Historical Society of England, 1919 1844 Mordecai Noah publishes Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews. 1844 According to one source, the Old Yishuv Jews constitute the largest of several ethno-religious groups in Jerusalem – however estimates approximately 20 years before and 20 years after this date suggest otherwise. See Demographics of Jerusalem. 1844 Rev. Samuel Bradshaw, in his Tract for the Times, Being a Plea for the Jews calls for Parliament to allot 4 million pounds for the Restoration of Israel, with another 1 million to be collected by the Church. 1844 Pastor T. Tully Crybace convenes a committee in London for the purpose of founding a "British and Foreign Society for Promoting the Restoration of the Jewish Nation to Palestine". He urges that England secure from Turkey Palestine "from the Euphrates to the Nile, and from the Mediterranean to the Desert". 1845 George Gawler publishes "Tranquilization of Syria and the East: Observations and Practical Suggestions, in Furtherance of the Establishment of Jewish Colonies in Palestine, the Most Sober and Sensible Remedy for the Miseries of Asiatic Turkey." 1849 George Gawler accompanies Sir Moses Montefiori on a trip to Palestine, persuading him to invest in and initiate Jewish settlements in the country. c.1850 James Finn and his wife found the "British Society for the Promotion of Jewish Agricultural Labour in the Holy Land" 1851 Correspondence between Lord Stanley, whose father became British Prime Minister the following year, and Benjamin Disraeli, who became Chancellor of the Exchequer alongside him, records Disraeli's proto-Zionist views: "He then unfolded a plan of restoring the nation to Palestine – said the country was admirably suited for them – the financiers all over Europe might help – the Porte is weak – the Turks/holders of property could be bought out – this, he said, was the object of his life...."Coningsby was merely a feeler – my views were not fully developed at that time – since then all I have written has been for one purpose. The man who should restore the Hebrew race to their country would be the Messiah – the real saviour of prophecy!" He did not add formally that he aspired to play this part, but it was evidently implied. He thought very highly of the capabilities of the country, and hinted that his chief object in acquiring power here would be to promote the return" 1852 George Gawler founds the Association for Promoting Jewish Settlement in Palestine 1853–1875 Heinrich Graetz publishes History of the Jews (), the first academic work portraying the Jews as a historical nation. Graetz's work became more nationalistic as the volumes progressed, culminating with Volumes I and II in 1873–1875 after he had returned from a trip to Palestine. 1853 Abraham Mapu publishes Ahabat Zion, the first Hebrew novel, a romance of the time of King Hezekiah and Isaiah 1857 James Finn, the second British Consul in Jerusalem, writes to Foreign Secretary the Earl of Clarendon regarding his proposal "to persuade Jews in a large body to settle here as agriculturalists on the soil ... in partnership with the Arab peasantry" 1860 The Alliance Israélite Universelle is founded in Paris 1861 The Zion Society is formed in Frankfurt, Germany. 1861 Mishkenot Sha'ananim — first neighborhood of the New Yishuv outside the Old City of Jerusalem, built by Sir Moses Montefiore. 1862 Moses Hess writes Rome and Jerusalem. The Last National Question (text) arguing for the Jews to return to the Land of Israel, and proposes a socialist country in which the Jews would become agrarianised through a process of "redemption of the soil". His ideas later evolved into the Labor Zionism movement.