The 1897 Tervuren Exhibition: Belgium's Colonial Propaganda

In 1897, King Leopold II staged a massive colonial exhibition in Tervuren, just outside Brussels, to sell the Congo Free State to the Belgian public. Lucas and Luna discuss how the exhibition featured a 'human zoo' of 267 Congolese people, elaborate ethnographic displays, and a lavish palace that would become the Royal Museum for Central Africa. They explore the racial pseudoscience that underpinned the exhibits, the infamous 'Negress Village' where forced performers cooked and danced for crowds, and the ironic fact that many Congolese participants died of pneumonia in the damp Belgian autumn. Lucas contrasts the exhibition's propaganda with the reality of the rubber terror then unfolding in the Congo, and reflects on how Tervuren shaped European perceptions of Africa for generations. The episode reveals how a single event crystallized Belgium's colonial fantasy, hiding the brutality of Leopold's regime behind a veneer of education and civilization. #TervurenExhibition #CongoFreeState #LeopoldII #ColonialPropaganda #HumanZoo #RoyalMuseumCentralAfrica #NegressVillage #1897 #BelgianCongo #EthnographicDisplay #RacialPseudoscience #RubberTerror #WorldFair #CongoVillage #BelgiumHistory #Colonialism #History #FexingoHistory #Brussels #Flemish Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo