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TheInternational Colonial and Export Exhibition (Dutch:Internationale Koloniale en Uitvoerhandel Tentoonstelling; French:Exposition Universelle Coloniale et d'Exportation Générale) was acolonial exhibition (a type ofWorld's Fair) held inAmsterdam from May 1 to October 1, 1883. The event drew at least a million visitors and was the first international colonial exhibition, with 28 different nations presenting their colonial trade and wealth.
The event was the brainchild ofEdouard Agostini, a French entrepreneur. Agostini, who had previously been involved in organizing the 1878Exposition Universelle in Paris, presented his plans to the city of Amsterdam and KingWilliam III of the Netherlands in 1880. The Dutch government was initially hesitant, but Agostini managed to secure funding from Belgian and French investors.
The location chosen for the exhibition was an unused area of land behind theRijksmuseum, which at that time was still under construction. This area is nowMuseumplein square. The main building was designed by the French architectPaul Fouquiau in "Moorish" style. It was constructed of wood covered with plaster and painted cloth, in order to give the impression of marble. Between the building's two large towers, a large cloth in "Indian" style was hung, with plaster heads of elephants and other animals. The building contained pavilions representing 28 different nations, includingFrance,Germany, theUnited Kingdom,Belgium,Japan, theUnited States,China,Canada, theOttoman Empire,Siam (Thailand),Transvaal, and the host country, theNetherlands.
Items on show in the main building included a telephone, wood- and metalworking machines, and a safe large enough to fit eight people. The building's colonial section presented products such as tobacco and rubber, as well as a reconstructedJavanese-style settlement (kampung)with "natives".
Other structures included a music pavilion; the pavilion of the city of Amsterdam; the Dutch colonial pavilion; a Japanese bazar; various shops; and Dutch, English and German restaurants. In front of the Dutch colonial pavilion was a statue ofJan Pieterszoon Coen who, as governor-general of the Dutch East Indies, played a large part in the Dutch conquest of the Indonesian archipelago. A canal with a bamboo bridge and a Chinesejunk intersected the exhibition grounds.
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The exhibition, bringing more than a million visitors from around the world to Amsterdam, provided the city with a huge economic boost. A number of hotels were expanded or newly built in order to profit from the large number of visitors, including theHotel Americain, theDoelen Hotel, andHotel Krasnapolsky. The expansion of the Krasnapolsky included the glass-roofedWintertuin lounge, withelectric lighting, which at that time was considered a real novelty.
In Amsterdam, modern-day remains of the exhibition are the front gate of theVondelpark and a collection of items in theTropenmuseum which were on show in the Dutch colonial pavilion. Some items from the Dutch colonial pavilion were also donated to the ethnological museum ofArtis zoo and, after this museum was closed, ended up in the Tropenmuseum as well. However, the lion's share of the thousands of items from this pavilion was donated to theNational Museum of Ethnology inLeiden. Some parts of the German restaurant are now in theVeenkoloniaal Museum inVeendam.
Heineken still uses the labelDiplôme d'Honneur on its beer bottles, an honour that was bestowed on the brewer at the 1883 colonial exhibition.
There was a Surinam village complete with a group of 28 Surinam inhabitants of various ethnicities - Creoles, Caraïbes, Arowaks, Marrons - who demonstrated during a period of six months how they lived and worked. The photographer Friedrich Carel Hisgen took various photographs together with the French geologist Roland Bonaparte of Surinam families and these were published in 1894 asLes Habitants de Suriname; notes receuillies à l'exposition coloniale d'Amsterdam en 1883.
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