Gezicht op de Rotterdamse Diergaarde

This albumen print captures a view of the Rotterdam Zoo and was created by Pieter Oosterhuis in the mid-19th century, a time when the Dutch colonial empire was expanding. In this period, zoos were not simply places of entertainment, but sites that reflected and reinforced colonial power structures. They presented a carefully curated view of the world, one that often exoticized and objectified both animals and people from colonized lands. Zoos served as a stage for displaying human dominance over the natural world and, by extension, over non-European cultures. Oosterhuis's photograph offers us a glimpse into this complex relationship. It invites us to reflect on how the act of viewing—whether of animals in a zoo or people in a colonial context—can be laden with power dynamics. It is a moment frozen in time, inviting us to consider the gaze, the spectacle, and the underlying narratives of control and othering that shaped the colonial era.