Colonial Exhibition

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Postcard of the Annam Tower built in Marseilles (France) for the 1906 Colonial Exhibition.

Colonial exhibition refers to a number of international exhibitions which were intended to boost trade and bolster popular support for the various colonial empires during the New Imperialism period, which started in the 1880s with the scramble for Africa. The 1924 British Empire Exhibition was one, as was the successful 1931 Exposition coloniale in Paris, which lasted six months and attracted 34 million visitors.

Counter exposition to the 1931 Colonial Exhibition in Paris. Titled Truth on the Colonies, it was organized by the communists. The first section was dedicated to the crimes made during the colonial conquests, and quoted Albert Londres and André Gide's criticisms of forced labour while the second one made an apology of the Soviets' "nationalities' policy" compared to "imperialist colonialism".

Germany and Portugal also staged colonial exhibitions, as well as Belgium, which had a Foire coloniale as late as 1948. Human zoos were featured in some of these exhibitions, such as in the Parisian 1931 exhibition.["From human zoos to colonial apotheoses: the era of exhibiting the Other" by Pascal Blanchard, Nicolas Bancel, and Sandrine Lemaire]

See also

• Colonialism
• Human zoo
• List of world's fairs

References