Noble Savages

Or savage nobles?


During the so-called 'High Colonialism' era, European societies developed a practice of exhibiting human "specimens" from their areas of invasion for the amusement and curiosity of the people.  While the practice started with displaying individuals like Saartjie Baartman of the Namaqua (Often referred to as the Venus of Hottentot) who was displayed in London and France until her death in 1815, it soon became more common to place the shipped people in a so-called 'natural state' - often replicas of villages or nature - With the displays often emphasizing the cultural differences between Europeans and non-Europeans with a lifestyle deemed primitive.

By the 1870s, these 'exhibitions' could be found in paris, Hamburg, Antwerp, Barcelona, London, Milan, and New York City - Enjoying considerable popularity in each city. Later on, what started as curiosity on the part of observers later turned into pseudo-science in the mid-1800s, as researchers sought out physical evidence for their theory of races, building a case for Western 'superiority' in genes and physiology while also creating a sense of "the other" in regard to foreign peoples, thus legitimizing the forced domination of European colonizers. 

One of the last iteration of this model of 'zoo' is in 1906 where American socialite Madison Grant had a Congolese named Ota Benga put on display at the Bronx Zoo in New York City alongside apes and other animals.