This month, we highlight an early-twentieth-century photo album that has recently been accessioned and digitised. Though the album’s creators remain unknown, the photographs document a journey across Africa and the Middle East, offering a unique perspective on travel at the turn of the century.
The travellers began their journey in the South African city of Pretoria. When these photographs were captured, Pretoria had a population of approximately 30,000 people and had become the administrative capital of South Africa. One photograph shows a panoramic view of the Union Buildings, located on the hill of Meintjieskop, Pretoria’s highest point. The edifice was designed by architect Sir Herbert Baker and was completed in 1913, taking 1,265 workmen three years to build. The design features a semi-circular shape and two wings, one at each side, to represent the union of formerly divided people, separated by an amphitheatre for official events.
The group continued their journey north to Victoria Falls — one of the world’s largest waterfalls, located on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. At the turn of the 20th century, this area was known as North-Western Rhodesia, and it was under company rule. The waterfall was known by the Indigenous population as Mosi-oa-Tunya, commonly translated as ‘the smoke that thunders.’ The first European sighting of the Falls is accredited to David Livingstone, a Scottish physician and explorer, who was working as a Christian missionary in Africa. In 1855, Livingstone named his discovery Victoria Falls after Queen Victoria, the reigning monarch of the British Empire at the time.
After Victoria Falls, the travellers made a brief crossover from Africa to the Middle East, stopping in Aden. Now recognised as part of Yemen, Aden was under British rule from 1839 to 1967, and was governed as part of British India. The port of Aden was the primary access point for both passenger ships and trade, serving as both a coaling station and a trading hub between Europe, India, and East Africa. A relatively rare image of St Mary’s Garrison Church — a Victorian Gothic-style church consecrated in 1871 — gives a glimpse into the city’s rich religious history. St Mary’s has not served as a church since the 1950s, but was used until recently as a community assembly hall. In 2015, the church was abandoned due to religious conflict in the area.
For their final stop, the travellers returned to Africa, ending their journey in the city of Tangier, on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco. At the turn of the 20th century, Tangier became a hub for writers and artists, fostering a vibrant creative environment for its residents. The photographs capture winding streets and local characters, presenting a stark contrast to previous locations. One such photo shows a man wearing a traditional fez crouching in the dust of the medina, with a monkey sporting a matching fez.
Whilst the photographers remain unknown, these images preserve rare glimpses of landscapes and cities that have since undergone dramatic changes.