Human zoos were a disturbing form of public exhibition in which people, primarily from colonised regions, were displayed in staged environments for entertainment

Human zoos were a disturbing form of public exhibition in which people, primarily from colonised regions, were displayed in staged environments for entertainment. These exhibitions were most common during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in Europe and the United States.



Organisers presented individuals from Africa, Asia, and the Americas as “exotic” curiosities, often placing them in reconstructed villages designed to mimic their homelands. Visitors paid to observe them performing daily activities, reinforcing racist ideas that portrayed non-European people as primitive or inferior.

Although they declined after World War I, some continued into the mid-20th century.

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