Out of Africa

 

It looks like it's from Africa.  

Street Scenes, Algeria

In the previous post, a French postcard publisher showed the French presence in Algeria.  In this post, ordinary, day to day life.  I couldn't find any information on the publisher, but with the English captions, and a stamp box on the back that gives stamp prices for the United States and Canada...well, I may be wrong, but I doubt anyone in north Africa ever saw this card.  Note the copyright date of 1909.  This card could have been sold for decades, but does the copyright date reflect when the photos were taken, or when the card was offered for sale?

Mobile Defense

If my translation is correct, that bit of type on the top of the card reads, Algeria, the admiralty and the mobile defense.  This card was published by "LEVY ET NEURDEIN REUNIS."   Levy and Neurdein was in business from 1920 to 1932.  It was a company that was formed when Levy & Sons merged with Neurdein et Cie.  Algeria, of course, was once part of France.  My guess is that the patrol boats seen in this card were part of the French equivalent of the coast guard.  There was once a major French naval base at Mers-a-Kebir on the Algerian coast.  After the fall of France, and the formation of non occupied France, the British government demanded that the French fleet in north Africa head to England and join in the fight against the Germans.  When Admiral Darlan of the Vichy government declined but promised that the French fleet would never be surrendered to the Nazis, Churchill ordered an attack that sank the fleet, killing thousands of French sailors.  Latter, when the Germans tried to seize the rest of the French fleet at Toulon,  Darlan ordered the scuttling of his ships. 

Now, for a movie recommendation,  The Battle of Algiers.  It'll help explain why Algeria is no longer part of France.

In Africa

My first thought, on seeing this photograph, was the military.  Then I realized that what looked like a uniform lacked emblems of rank, unit, or nationality.  It's that hat that has me confused. I've seen soldiers wear them, but never a civilian.  Perhaps he's a member of some sort of social organization, religious charity, or NGO.  What I'd really like to know in addition to an exact location...Was this picture taken during Africa's colonial period, or after independence.  And, I love the guy's camera.

For those interested, Saturday, January 25 is the annual Museums Free-for-All program.  Check your local museum for info on free admissions.  

Missionaries

One of the pleasures of collecting old photographs is...well, guessing. Even when an image is labeled with dates, names, and locations, the best that can be done, even if the image is something that can be researched, is to make an educated guess. When I look at this real photo postcard, I see the wife and son of a missionary. There are a lot of other explanations, but that's what I see.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the United States joined the British in shipping out young men and their families to convert the heathen, and like the British, had mixed results. A lot of the natives had no desire to be converted, and many simply added Christ to the pantheon of deities they already worshipped.

One of the most noted American missionaries was William Sheppard, often referred to as Black Livingston. Like the Scott, David Livingston, Sheppard, the first African American sent to Africa as a missionary, used his church assignment as a platform to pursue his real interests. During his time in the Congo Free State, he excelled as an explorer, big game hunter, anthropologist, ethnographer, art collector, and on his return trips to the United States, lecturer. And while British diplomat Roger Casement, wrote reports on the genocide in the Congo, the legacy of King Leopold of Belgium, and Mark Twain wrote about it in his book, King Leopold's Soliloquy, it was Sheppard at the risk of his life, who trekked through the Congo and documented the mass murder of Africans, by the Belgians that left so many dead. While we can never know for sure, one figure cited by historians for the final death toll of Leopold's rule is 10,000,000. All for piano keys, jewelry, and pneumatic tires.

Cape to Cairo

The Cape to Cairo Railway was the vision of Cecil Rhodes. The last 700 miles from the southern to Sudan into Uganda have never been completed. Rhodesia was renamed Zimbabwe after the fall of it's white rule government. Printed on the back of the card

"575 (17023) Lat. 17 S., Long. 26 E. CAPE TO CAIRO RAILWAY, RHODESIA, AFRICA Africa is indeed the Dark Continent if enlightenment comes with railways. It has very few railroads and, outside the Cape to Cairo branches, these are short. Until 1867 the whole continent had only 40 miles of track.

But European countries wished to tap the natural riches of central Africa. To do this railroads were needed to carry the raw materials to the coast. In the hope of striking through the heart of the continent the Cape to Cairo Railway was planned. The Cape means Cape Town at the Cape of Good Hope. Locate. Cairo is a large city in Egypt, on the Nile, and not far from the Mediterranean Sea. Locate Cairo.

The railroad as planned would follow the general course of the Nile into the Lake Victoria country. It would then go near Lake Tanganyika into Northeast Rhodesia and so on southwest to Cape Town. From Cape Town to Northeast Rhodesia 2,000 miles of the road is built. From Cairo to 100 miles south of Khartum some 1,500 more miles are built. This leaves a gap of 1600 miles yet to do. On a map of Africa dot the route of the Cape to Cairo Railway.

The view here shows the railway near the Zambesi River, just below the Victoria Falls. The bridge is 650 feet long, and is said to be the highest in the world-420 feet above the water. The building is the home of a guard who takes fares from foot passengers who cross the bridge-a shilling per person. How much is a shilling? Study the picture of the bridge. Observe the depth of the gorge through which the Zambesi flows. Notice the plants.

Copyright by The Keystone View Company.

The bridge shown is still in use and a color, aerial shot of the bridge showing Victoria Falls can be seen at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Victoria5.jpg Click on stereoview in the labels section to bring up other stereoview cards as well as more info on The Keystone View Company, the largest stereoview card company in the world.

Brazzaville

How were the European colonial powers able to conquer millions of people with so few troops? I suspect this postcard from French Congo, also known as Brazzaville, was meant to be comic. The type at the bottom of the card roughly translates as Congolese in city clothes and would allow the French recipient of this card to laugh at the natives trying to look European. The reality is that the European powers occupied much of the third world by seeking out native allies, usually playing off a favored tribal, religious, or ethnic group against those considered traditional rivals. While these men may have been servants, or models dressed up for the camera, it's also possible that they were some of the local collaborators used to subdue the majority of the native population. While the British and the French were masters at using locals to control, and when necessary, slaughter native populations, it was across the river from Brazzaville in the Belgian Congo where slaughter was at it's most destructive. Leopold II, the second king of Belgium, unable to interest his own government in taking African colonies, established a private company, The International African Society, with himself as the head and sole owner, to subdue the Congo region as a private colony. At first, Leopold's interest was ivory. When that proved less profitable than expected, his interest moved to rubber. Using both European and native troops, Leopold took native women for forced prostitution, cut off the right hands of workers unable to meet quotas, and killed people in the millions. Low estimates run from several million to as high as fifteen million. Ten million dead is a probable best estimate. Eventually the Congo Free State became an embarrassment and Leopold was forced to relinquish control to the Belgian government. All this from a postcard? Researching an image can lead in many directions. Phototypie, in the type on the front side of the card is the French translation of collotype, a mechanical photographic process that allowed for the mass production of black & white prints. I assume that Meyrignac and Puydebois were the publishers of the card. Brive is a town in France. On the back, "La correspondance au recto n'est pas acceptee par tous les pays etrangers. (Se renseigner a la Poste.)" translates to Correspondence on the front is not accepted by all foreign countries. (Inquire at the post.) At least that's how I think it translates.