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Human Zoos Essay

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Adriann Welte
Mrs. Phelps
1.3 CP English
28 March 2017 Europe 's Human Zoos
Starting in the late 1800s, Europe was filled with public exhibitions of humans and animals called ethnological expositions. These so called “human zoos” were first created by Carl Hagenbeck. Originally, the zoos were created as a part of the great international trade fairs (Schofield). These expositions were brought to Europe to yield interest and delectation of the crowds. This began in the era before the cinema (“Shame and Exploitation”). When the animal trade declined in the 1870s, Carl Hagenbeck thought of bringing native humans into the zoos from remote regions (“Carl Hagenbeck”). As a result of bringing these natives to the zoos, many European …show more content…

Sara died in 1816 at the age of twenty six possibly from alcoholism, smallpox, or pneumonia (Sara). Other cages held tribes such as the Igorot village. The Igorot village was considered the most popular exhibit at the time (“Shame and Exploitation”). Within the Igorot village, were indigenous people who would perform sacred rituals such as crowning a chief. Although this ritual was sacred to the Igorot tribe, the Europeans took away all special meaning to the ritual by asking them to stage the crowning multiple times a day for different audiences. Sometimes tribes were expected to perform six to eight times a day usually with no breaks (“Editors of Rare”; “Shame and Exploitation”). Another reason the Europeans wanted to showcase this group was because their village ate dog for ceremonial reasons (“Shame and Exploitation”). Yet again, the Europeans fed the Indigenous people this everyday taking away the meaning in the ceremony. Moreover, the tribes who executed such rituals wore costumes. The positive outcome of wearing these costumes was that when the temperature dropped they had a layer on to keep them warm. Their native homeland climate was hot and dry (Sharairi). The costumes also prevented them from getting many of the diseases that were native to them and their countries (“Shame and Exploitation”). In the same way, the costumes protected them from the harsh living environments and conditions that they encountered. On the other hand, the natives who

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