Type of exhibition held to promote colonial empires
Counter-exposition to the 1931 Colonial Exhibition in Paris.Map of the 1894 Lyon fairOverview of 1896 exhibitionPostcard from Brussels InternationalPostcard of the Palais d'expositions at Hanoi ExhibitionBird's eye view of the Franco-British exhibitionThe Royal Agricultural Hall site of the rubber exhibitionReplica of Canada Parliament Building at Festival of EmpireOverview of the colonial exhibition of Semarang.The Palace of Industry building from British Empire Exhibition
Acolonial exhibition was a type ofinternational exhibition that was held to boost trade. During the 1880s and beyond, colonial exhibitions had the additional aim of bolstering popular support for the variouscolonial empires during theNew Imperialism period, which included thescramble for Africa.
The first colonial exhibition, inVictoria,Australia, in 1866, was the progeny of 25 years of similar exhibitions held inMelbourne, in which other colonies within the Australian continent participated.
Perhaps the most notable colonial exhibition was the 1931Paris Colonial Exposition, which lasted six months and sold 33 million tickets.[1] Paris's Colonial Exhibition opened on 6 May 1931 on 110 hectares (272 acres) of theBois de Vincennes. The exhibition included dozens of temporary museums and façades representing the various colonies of the European nations, as well as several permanent buildings. Among these were thePalais de la Porte Dorée, designed by architect Albert Laprode, which then housed the Musée permanent des Colonies, and serves today as theCité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration.[1]
TheFrench Communist Party held an anti-colonial counter-exhibition near the 1931 Colonial Exhibition, titledThe Truth About the Colonies. The first section was dedicated to crimes during the colonial conquests, and quotedAlbert Londres andAndré Gide's criticisms offorced labour. The second one contrasted theSoviet Union's "nationalities policy" with "imperialist colonialism".
Germany and Portugal also staged colonial exhibitions.Human zoos were featured in some of the exhibitions, such as the Parisian 1931 exhibition.[2]
TheEmpire of Japan hosted colonial showcases in exhibitions within theHome Islands, but also held several full-scale expositions inside its colonies ofKorea andTaiwan. These exhibitions had objectives comparable to their European counterparts, highlighting economic achievements and social progress under Japanese colonial rule to Japanese and colonial subjects alike.
^Exhibitions in Australia started 25 years earlier, when the colonies of Victoria and New South Wales, inspired by the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, mounted their own exhibitions in 1854 in preparation for the Paris Exhibition of 1855 and in 1861 for the London Exhibition of 1862. These earlier exhibitions were known as Metropolitan Intercolonial Exhibitions: "intercolonial" referring to the Australian colonies that became states of Australia after federation in 1901, not those in separate countries of the British Empire.[3]
^ The exhibition was to "give a comprehensive picture of the Dutch Indies in their present prosperous condition".[4]
^This six-month exhibition attempted to display the diverse cultures and immense resources of France's colonial possessions.
^ The Empire Exhibition held in Johannesburg from 15 September 1936 to 15 January 1937 was the first time the Empire Exhibition was held outside of Britain.[6] It was seen as an opportunity for the expansion of British trade.[7] It coincided with Johannesburg's Jubilee and was staged on a grand scale, with over twenty acres of industrial and commercial exhibits.[8] It was opened by the Governor-General.[9]
^Held primarily as a celebration of theEstado Novo. One foreign nation,Brazil, participated in the exhibition.
^"Calendar".The Independent. 13 July 1914. Retrieved5 August 2012.
^Pelle, Findling, ed. (2008). "Appendix B:Fair Statistics".Encyclopedia of World's Fairs and Expositions. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 415.ISBN978-0-7864-3416-9.
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