Kraupi entertainment, people’s zoos, was one of the most profitable in the 20th century. start showing business addresses

The last human zoo was closed in Belgium only in 1958!

Human zoos are one of the most embarrassing pages of the colonial era.

11 Indigenous fire of the earth: the first fence of humans

German businessman Carl Hagenbeck loved animals very much. He couldn’t see the poor beasts torment themselves in narrow cages just to entertain the public. For this reason, he was the first to build spacious aviaries, in which he tried to create conditions as close as possible to the natural environment, so that the beasts were less sad and could follow at least some wildlife habits.

Ironically, the same person came up with the idea of ​​establishing “zoos” for people, places where people were kept. Admittedly, at the time these two-legged displays were not considered human, they were only representatives of those exotic tribes that had not yet been discovered by European researchers and anthropologists (as well as by slave authorities).

In 1889, C. Hagenbeck kidnapped 11 members of the tribe on the islands of Tierra del Fuego. It is surprising that these natives were taken captive with the blessing of the Chilean government. Basically slavery awaited them, only these slaves did not cross the sugar cane, but entertained the audience. People have shown themselves to the public since Roman times, but it was C. Hagenbeck who made it a very lucrative new business.

The natives of Tierra del Fuego were brought to Europe with their hunting gear, household utensils, and cabins, and the zoo had to live as in their own village. It was a kind of reality show, but it encouraged the viewer to feel their superiority. More human exposures soon appeared. Indians and Africans were kidnapped by entire families.

Perhaps the practice of displaying people in zoos would not have been so embarrassing if it had survived in the 19th century. However, in 1958, ordinary Belgians were able to go to the zoo and see “wild people” in their “normal habitat”.

The girl captured in this photo, sitting on a fence, became one of the most striking symbols of colonialism of her time. Imagine yourself in the middle of the 20th century!

Ota Benga: the most famous of the 20th century. an exhibition of human zoos

Ota Benga was a pygmy from the Congo. In 1906, he was housed in the Monkey Division of the Bronx Zoo in New York. Americans imagined that pygmies are children of nature, that they understand animals and talk to trees, so Ota was forced to do the same. He had to walk among the monkeys (which, by the way, was deadly), use them on his hands, and complain like a savage. Visitors were especially eager to see his teeth, which sharpened to sharpen during a youthful beauty ritual.

The blackboard hanging in his cabinet said: “Age: 23 years. Height: 4 feet 11 inches. Weight: 103 pounds. Brought by Dr. Samuel P. Werner from the banks of the Kasai River in the Congo, South Africa. It is exhibited every day in September. “

Ota Benga at the zoo was also supposed to shoot small animals and birds with a bow and show monkey tricks. Despite the incredible popularity of Ota Benga and other Africans, this “anthropological exposition” had to stop when an influx of criticism of racism damaged the zoo’s reputation.

Sarah Bartman is the most famous human exhibition of the 19th century.

People were shown before C. Hagenbeck, although only one at a time. They were kept in cages, like a beast. The most famous example is Sarah Bartman (real name Saartri Baartman), a black woman from the Eastern Cape of South Africa who became a sensation in the 19th century. starting in Europe.

Her life was incredibly tragic. At the age of two, he lost his mother and his father died as a teenager. When a Dutch settler killed his partner, with whom he had a baby (he did not survive either), S. Baartman began working as a servant in Cape Town. In 1810, her teacher convinced her to go to Europe and participate in performances. The point is that S. Baartman was characterized by steatopygia, a large accumulation of fat in the buttocks, so he had extremely large buttocks. She was very popular with viewers in London and Paris.

When interest in his figure waned, S. Baartman was sold to a circus of malice. Her new teacher is believed to have forced her into prostitution. S. Baartman died of an unknown disease at age 26. However, even then, the so-called “Venus of the Hotentots” did not find peace. His brain and genitals were preserved and the skeleton preserved. A plastic copy of his body was made from his image, which, along with the brain, genitalia, and skeleton, was exhibited at the Human Museum in Paris until 1974.

French colonial park

The French were not far behind the British, Belgians and Americans and also established human zoos, which were to bear witness to the power of their colonial empire. However, it was in France that this practice acquired a special pomp.

In each one of the zones (it was not more than enormous pavilions) typical buildings of those lands were built and whole families of the locals lived there. The half-year exhibition attracted several million visitors.

Filipinos in the land of dreams

1905, Dreamland Amusement Park on Cone Island, New York. This photo captures an extremely loving moment for viewers when a group of Filipinos kills and ejaculates a dog and then throws its meat into a cauldron. The public was impressed.

Olympic Games

These games took place in 1904 in St. Louis, USA. USA, before the 1904 Summer Olympics, and were called Days of Anthropology. The sport was attended by approximately 100 natives from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, as well as Indians. They competed in competitions such as running, lifting weights, pushing the ball, climbing the pole, etc. James Edward Sullivan, the organizer of the event, claimed that his goal is to show that primitive nations are much weaker and less athletic than white Americans.

Other examples of human zoos

Black Village, German Empire.

At one point, one of the visitors to this human zoo was Otto von Bismarck himself.

It is here that the people of Ethiopia are observed by the German Emperor Wilhelm II at a village zoo. Hamburg, 1909

Another tribe that lives in “natural conditions” in one of the European zoos.

World’s Fair in Paris, 1931. The event was so popular that it was visited by millions of people. People’s exhibits received a lot of attention. It is true that at the same time there was an alternative exhibition “The truth about the colonies”, organized by citizens outraged by the demonstration of the people. It is not difficult to predict that the last event did not have a good attendance: the people living in the venues were of much greater interest to the residents of the time.

Pygmies dancing to the public. They had to dance day by day, until, in the true sense of the word, they began to fall from fatigue.

1881 Five Indians from the Kavescar tribe were kidnapped from Tierra del Fuego and brought to Europe as exhibits. Unlike the eleven compatriots brought in by C. Hagenbeck, they were less fortunate: they were simply displayed in cages.

The German zoologist Lutz Heck and the exhibits for research are the elephant and the Aboriginal family. Berlin Zoo, 1931.

It is worth saying that human zoos were not only established in the West. Here the exposition of the Somali settlement was also in Saint Petersburg.

People were shown in their time in Antwerp, London, Barcelona, ​​Milan, New York, Warsaw, Hamburg and other places. Such exhibitions were visited by 200 to 300 thousand. people. It can even be said that this entertainment was one of the most lucrative lines in show business in the early 20th century.