Julian Abagond Human zoos (1500s- ), also known as ethnological exhibits, peoples shows (Völkerschau) or Negro villages, showed native peoples at zoos and fairs. They have been common in the West since the time of Columbus, butreached their height from the 1870s to the 1930s – back in the days of Joseph Conrad, Gauguin, minstrel shows and the birth of National Geographic. They showed people from: the Middle East, Africa, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Java, New Guinea, the Pacific, the Americas and the Arctic. They were especially common in Germany (huge), France, Britain and America. Tens of millions saw them. Examples: 1896: the Cincinnati Zoo showed Sioux Indians. 1899: “Savage South Africa” in Britain showed Zulus, complete with spears, shields and staged battles. 1904: the St Louis world’s fair showed a “parade of evolutionary progress” with Filipinos and American Indians ranked below whites and with Pygmies just above apes. 1906: the Bronx Zoo showed a Pygmy, Ota Benga, in the same cage as an orangutan. Iroquois at a 1905 exposition dressed as Plains Indians. Probably in Belgium. Ever since Columbus natives brought back by sailors were shown to the public, especially at fairs. Few ever made it back home and many did not last long in disease-ridden Europe. A [...]
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