Where can I find real images of colonialism?

This gallery collects 21 archival photographs and documents of colonial rule — Congo Free State mutilations (1904), the Brookes slave-ship diagram (1788), the Trail of Tears, Herero prisoners in Namibia (1907), the Bengal famine (1943) and the Imperial Federation map (1886). Every plate carries a place, a date and a source; the images themselves are public-domain or Creative Commons material held largely by Wikimedia Commons.

Are colonial-era photographs in the public domain?

Most photographs taken before 1929, and nearly all official colonial-government material of that period, are in the public domain in the United States and in most European jurisdictions. The plates in this archive are public-domain or Creative Commons; captions and research are published under CC BY 4.0.

What is the most famous photograph of colonialism?

The 1904 photograph of Nsala of Wala looking at the severed hand and foot of his five-year-old daughter Boali, taken in the Congo Free State by missionary Alice Seeley Harris, is the single most reproduced image of colonial violence. It was used in lantern-slide lectures across Britain and helped force the end of Leopold II's personal rule over the Congo.

Can I reuse these images?

The underlying photographs are public-domain or Creative Commons and can be reused under their original terms, which are listed with the sources at the foot of this page. The captions, sequencing and commentary are published under CC BY 4.0 — reuse them with a credit to Unsilenced.

IXVisual ArchiveUnsilenced Archive

Images of Colonialism

Photographs and documents from the long century of conquest. Each image is a deposition. Look at them in sequence and the argument makes itself.

In short

Where can you find real images of colonialism?

This page holds 21 archival photographs and documents of colonial rule, each captioned with a place, a date and a source. They run from the Congo Free State mutilations of 1904 and the 1788 Brookes slave-ship diagram to the Trail of Tears, the Herero prisoners of 1907, the Bengal famine of 1943 and the Imperial Federation map of 1886. The plates are public-domain or Creative Commons material, held largely by Wikimedia Commons; the captions and sequencing are ours, published under CC BY 4.0.

Congolese children mutilated by the Force Publique in the Congo Free State, c. 1904 — Congo Free State, c.1904 — children whose hands were severed by Force Publique soldiers under Leopold II's quota system.Source — Congo · 1904

Nsala of Wala beside the severed hand and foot of his five-year-old daughter Boali, Congo, 1904 — Nsala of Wala looks at the severed hand and foot of his five-year-old daughter Boali, killed when the village failed to meet its rubber quota.Source — Congo · 1904

Belgian colonial punishment by chicotte — a hippopotamus-hide whip — in the Congo, c. 1900 — Punishment by the chicotte — a whip of hippopotamus hide — was standard Belgian discipline in the rubber-producing zones.Source — Congo · c.1900

Abolitionist diagram of the Liverpool slave ship Brookes, 1788, showing 482 enslaved Africans packed below deck — The Brookes diagram, 1788. Used by abolitionists to show how 482 human beings were packed into a single voyage.Source — Atlantic · 1788

Engraving of the Haitian Revolution in Saint-Domingue, 1791 — Saint-Domingue in revolt. The Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) was the only successful slave uprising to found a nation; France punished it for the next 122 years.Source — Haiti · 1791

Portrait of the Spanish friar Bartolomé de las Casas, author of A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1552) — Bartolomé de las Casas. His Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies, 1552, remains one of the earliest published indictments of European cruelty in the Americas.Source — Americas · 1552

Painting of the Trail of Tears, the forced removal of Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw and Choctaw nations by the United States in the 1830s — The Trail of Tears. The forced removal of the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw and Choctaw nations under U.S. federal law. Thousands died on the march.Source — USA · 1830s

Portrait of Truganini, Palawa woman of Tasmania, photographed in the 19th century — Truganini (c.1812–1876), often called — incorrectly — the 'last' Tasmanian Aboriginal. The genocide of her people was carried out within living memory of Victorian Britain.Source — Tasmania · 19th c.

Herero survivors of the 1904 German extermination order in present-day Namibia — Herero survivors of the German extermination order of 1904. The first concentration camps of the twentieth century were built here, in present-day Namibia.Source — Namibia · 1904

Herero prisoners in chains under German colonial rule, Namibia, 1907 — Herero prisoners in chains. German colonial methods were studied closely by the next generation of European militarists.Source — Namibia · 1907

Famine victims on the streets of Calcutta during the 1943 Bengal famine under British administration — Calcutta, 1943. Three million Bengalis died while grain continued to be exported under British wartime policy.Source — India · 1943

Imperial Federation Map of the World showing the extent of the British Empire in 1886 — Imperial Federation Map of the World, 1886. The pink covers roughly a quarter of the earth's land surface.Source — Britain · 1886

The volcanic Banda Islands in Indonesia, site of the 1621 Dutch East India Company massacre — The Banda Islands, Indonesia. In 1621 the Dutch East India Company massacred or enslaved nearly the entire population to monopolise the nutmeg trade.Source — Indonesia · 1621

Algiers city view during the French colonial occupation and the Algerian War of Independence — Algiers under French occupation. The war for Algerian independence (1954–1962) cost between 300,000 and 1.5 million Algerian lives.Source — Algeria · 20th c.

Photograph of Frantz Fanon, Martinican psychiatrist and decolonial theorist, author of The Wretched of the Earth — Frantz Fanon (1925–1961). Psychiatrist and theorist of decolonisation; author of The Wretched of the Earth.Source — Theory

Portrait of the Palestinian-American literary critic Edward Said, author of Orientalism (1978) — Edward Said (1935–2003). His Orientalism (1978) reshaped how the West's gaze on the East could be analysed and criticised.Source — Theory

Headquarters of the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. — The International Monetary Fund, Washington D.C. Its 'structural adjustment' programmes have repeatedly forced poorer countries to gut social spending.Source — Today

Skyline of Lagos, Nigeria — the largest city in Africa — Lagos, Nigeria — the largest city in Africa. Rarely the image Western media reaches for when illustrating the continent.Source — Today

India's Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft, which reached Mars orbit in 2014 on its first attempt — India's Mars Orbiter Mission, 2014. India reached Mars on its first attempt, for less than the budget of a Hollywood film.Source — Today

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, first Black U.S. presidential family, 2012 — The Obamas, 2012. The first Black U.S. presidency triggered the largest organised resurgence of open white-nationalist politics in a generation.Source — USA · 2012

Stack of school history textbooks from former European colonial powers — School textbooks. In most former colonial powers, the empire is taught — when it is taught at all — as a story of administration, ports, and railways.Source — Education

Last updated 23 June 2026Submit a correction Methodology

References

Sources & Further Reading

[1]Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division — loc.gov/pictures.
[2]Wikimedia Commons — public-domain colonial and civil-rights era photography.
[3]National Archives (UK) and US National Archives and Records Administration.
[4]Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, nmaahc.si.edu.

All works cited in good faith for documentary, educational and critical use. Errors and omissions: contact the archive.

Cite this page

Unsilenced Editorial. (2026). Visual Archive. Unsilenced. https://silencedhistory.org/gallery

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