One of the hallmarks of pre-industrial societies, before the advent of mass production and modern distribution networks, is that people could specialize in and make a living from selling a very narrow product line. There were no Wal-Marts, not even general stores. So if you wanted shoes, you went to a shoe salesman. If you wanted a nail, you went to the man that sold nails. People were known by what they sold; they often did not have store, just a booth or perhaps they were traveling salesmen selling their wares to passersby. Here is an extreme example of specialization: this man doesn’t sell fruits, in the plural, he just sells lemons. That’s it.
His entire stock and trade is on his back as he walks down the sun scorched streets of Athens in the early 1900s, selling lemons. Just lemons. And if you wanted lemons, I suppose you would have to track him down whatever street he happened to be on that day. It is hard for us to even imagine a world where shopping is conducted this way.
The Lemon Merchant of Athens
This is a pictorial journey back in time to 1906 Brittany. Brittany, a small corner of France on the English channel had for centuries retained its semi independence, its own customs and culture. It was a semi-independent Celtic duchy until it was annexed by France in 1532, but even then the rugged country side allowed the local people to lead a lifestyle insulated from the main cultural currents and changes that swept greater France. Even now local dialects known as Breton and Gallo persevere in the face of the dominant French culture.
At the dawn of the twentieth century, before television and radio had begun their work of shaping mass culture, the south of Brittany retained an even more unique aspect than it does today.
Our tour of old Brittany begins in the town of Quimperlé where an open air pottery market has drawn several women dressed in traditional Brittany costumes.
Pottery Market in Brittany
Arriving on a night of bright moonlight, one finds a peaceful, quiet town, which looks fantastic, with empty streets and winding alleys, facades, which overhangs and receding down houses. The bell tower of Saint-Michel rises above the houses of the upper town. The blue moonlight shines on the stone colossus.
A Girl from Brittany Wearing Traditional Head Dress
All sleep the sleep of small towns that sleep; sleep really is the death of mankind. No step on the pavement of the streets, no noise of a carriage, not even the whistle of a train. All is silent, not like the nights of the great Paris, whose hollow ground rings with the noise from the the tubes and pipes of various services, the sound of all that is in motion.
Here two women from Brittany wait outside a mourning chamber, where the body of a deceased lies. Their expressions and creepy hoods would scare the crap out of me!
In Mourning
Below a trio of young women from Pont Avon in Brittany chat next to a doorway. They are wearing their peculiar traditional dresses that features wing like shoulder adornments. The girls of Brittany liked to make themselves look pretty and had a well -deserved reputation for flirting and coquetry.
young women
Brittany has always depended on the sea, and many men and women worked in the fisheries. Here woman are setting sardines out to dry.
Drying Sardines
Filling the cans of sardines. Note the lack of any automation.
An Old Fisherman
So now it is time to say goodbye to the grizzled old fishermen, and the pretty country girls of Brittany.
In 1902 the northern coast of Africa was the battleground of competing European empires picking the bones of the dying Ottoman Empire. Italy had designs on Libya and Tunisia, but France snatched Tunisia from it and also held modern day Algeria and Morocco. This photo gallery gives a glimpse of what North Africa was like as it transitioned from the centuries of decay and neglect under the corrupt Ottoman Empire to an uncertain future as a colony of European powers.
A View of Tunis Facing the Harbour
A Street in Tunis
Note some of the details: all the people in the photograph are wearing traditional dress, indicating a lack of western cultural influence at that point in time. There are few women on the street, most of the pedestrians are men. There are no horses or carriages, let alone motorized vehicles. There is no indication of electricity or telegraph wires. But what is also interesting is that no one seems to be paying the least attention to the photographer, indicating perhaps a familiarity with the concept or complete indifference.
A Jewish Woman in Tunis, 1902
Until the post World War 2 period when Arab nationalism and demagogues such as Egypt’s Nasser made the Jews into a convenient bogey man in order to radicalize and manipulate their populations, most Arab countries had sizable Jewish populations living relatively peacefully besides the Muslim majority. This is not to say that the life of Jews in an moslem country such as Tunis would have been easy or that they enjoyed equality. From the time of the Arab conquest, Jews and other non-muslims had been required to pay a special poll tax, they had been required to wear special clothes identifying them as non-believers, they were prohibited from holding certain offices, and were often segregated into their own quarters of the city.
Wealthy Arabs in Tunis - The fellow on the right looks especially cocky and conscious of his social standing.
Becquia the mosque in Tunis.
A Covered Bazaar in Tunis
I have been to the large bazaar in Istanbul, built during the late Middle Ages. It is a huge complex containing thousands of tiny shops. The shops specialize in varioues things, some sell tea, others sell leather goods, while others sell jewelry. The shops are grouped by what they sell, so that in any one area there may be a hundred shops selling basically the same thing. As you walk by the shop keepers attempt to entice you. They may invite you in for tea while they show you their wares, or if they see you looking at an item they will immediately approach you and name a price. The opening price is never the real price and it is expected that you will haggle. I found that the best way to lower the price was to reject their offer and simply walk away without making a counter offer. As I walked away the shopkkeeper would start yelling out lower and lower prices until they would usually reach 50 percent off of their original price by the time you were almost out of ear shot. If I liked the price I would turn around at that time and complete the bargain. It was a fascinating shopping experience but also very tiring. I could not imagine having to engage in heated bargaining to buy even the most basic of items.
Triumphal Arch of Trajan in ruins. Sic transit gloria.
A Village Built into the Side of a Cliff. The minaret of a mosque protrudes from the cavelike structures.
Camels and the Sahara
Tuaregs of the Sahara
The Tuaregs are nomadic inhabitants of North Africa. They lead a primitive existence in a very hostile climate, and controlled the trade routes between North Africa to Timbuktu and sub saharan Africa.
Dancers from the tribe of Oulad-Nayl.
Bougie.-Facing to the sea and the fortress Abd-el-Kader.
View of the city and the quays of Algiers.
This brings us to the end of our tour of Algiers and Tunis of 1902. We hope that you enjoyed your trip back in time with us.
The following is a gallery of photographs showing what life was like in Belgium in 1902. They show a relatively prosperous, happy country which was still largely rural. Women shopped for fresh fish and produce at the market, children played, and people still clung to centuries old traditions. Just 12 years later this innocent country would be ravaged by the invading German armies who passed through Belgium on their way to attack France in WWI. The photographs you see here are all that is left of a way of life that was destroyed forever.
Milk Wagon Drawn by Dogs
In this remarkable photograph a woman is delivering milk using a cart drawn by dogs. The cart is full of milk jugs and she seems to be dispensing the milk directly into containers provided by her customers. This picture in itself captures just how much the world has changed since then: if anyone tried to deliver milk using a team of dogs people would be horrified by the lack of hygiene. Back then this was normal.
Fish Sellers at Ostend, Belgium
A Belgian Flower Market
A Morning Market
Vegetable Market
Antwerp Cathedral
Belgium in 1902 was described as a nation of bells; the church bells would sing joyously several times a day. Above is a photo of a woman who was the custodian for one of the bell towers. During World War I, the invading Germans took most of the bells from the countries they conquered and melted them to make weapons. I wonder what became of this woman and her bell?
Brussels, 1902
Brussels in 1902 was a spacious and orderly city, known as a Little Paris because of its magnificent architecture and wide boulevards. It was the cultural and financial center of Belgium.
A Boulevard in Brussels
The Brussels Bourse (Stock Exchange)
Children in the Park, Belgium
City Hall, Antwerp
Antwerp Port
Flemish Draft Horses
Traditional Belgian Costume
And so ends our little tour of a by-gone Belgium.
The following pictures of Holland were taken from a book written in Dutch called De Aarde en haar volken (”The Earth and Its People”) written in 1906. The photos show daily life in various parts of the world and offers a glimpse into a world far different than our own: a world were telephones, motor cars, electricity, antibiotics and most of the conveniences we now take for granted did not exist. Later articles will focus on different parts of the world as depicted in the book.
Dutch Women in Traditional Dress Shopping At the Fair
Skinny Old Dutch Woman
The original Dutch caption reads “Een mager oudje” which Google Translate says means “A Skinny Old Woman”. I am not sure if the picture is labeled correctly because this person does not look like a woman to me. The sign on the building in the background translates as Edek Music and Art Trade.
Young Dutch Peasant Girl
Above is a picture of a young peasant girl taken in 1906. Although she is a member of the working class, the girl is well dressed in a traditional Dutch costume. Her head is covered by a bonnet and she is carrying a large woven basket which is tied to what looks like a halter around her neck, presumably to help her carry the heavy load more easily. The basket is empty so it is difficult to tell what she would normally have carried, but she likely would have used the basket to carry goods to market or to bring food home.
Draw Bridge - Holland, 1906
In this picture several Dutch men and women wait while a draw bridge is raised to allow a sailing ship to travel down a canal. It is interesting to note that the road appears to be made of cobblestone and that the people waiting are all pedestrians. There are no cars or carriages waiting to cross the draw bridge.
Dutch Housewives Out Shopping
Dutch Housewives Buying from a Street Vendor
Chatting on a Wet Street in Holland, 1906
In this picture a married couple is chatting with an old man on a rain soaked cobblestone street. The original caption for this photograph reads “Conferentie over de dikte van de bieten.” which Google translates as “Conference over the thickness of the beat.” I am assuming that this is some sort of Dutch figure of speech for gossiping.
Horse Drawn Cart
Two men are riding in a horse drawn cart down a cobblestone street in Holland.
A Train
I think that this picture is of a man and a woman standing next to a train carriage.
A Grandfather and His Grandson
A Dutch grandfather and his grandson walk down a cobblestone street. They look very stylish – the man is wearing a top hat and has a walking stick; the boy is wearing a suit. I wonder where they were going that day in 1906.
The Bridge Master
A bridge master, whose job it was to raise and lower the draw bridge to let ships and traffic pass through the canal, keeps watch.
Gossip Girls
The innkeeper’s daughters gossiping with a neighbor girl over the fence.
A Load of Hay
A cart full of hay is being drawn by two strong work horses. Note the extremely narrow lane.
Dutch Boy and Girl
Dutch Farm Children
Dutch Girls Doing Traditional Dutch Dance by the Seashore
Lost in Thought
A Dutch man stands by the seashore looking out to sea. Note the traditional wooden clog shoes that he is wearing.
Holland - Sheep Grazing on a Canal
In this picture a Dutch shepherd and his sheepdog are grazing a flock of sheep on the banks of canal. Notice the stereotypical Dutch windmill in the background.
Man With Horse
A pipe smoking man stands next to his horse. The man is wearing clog shoes which probably are not the best suited for riding.
Windmill
A large windmill in Holland, located on the Wemeldinge dike.
Two men look out to sea on the west coast of Holland. They are wearing Dutch clogs. The wooden stakes are to prevent erosion.
Dutch boys wearing clogs march down a quiet cobblestone street. Their clogs must have made quite the racket.
Traditional Dutch Dancing. Boys and Girls dance with clogs.
Dutch Girls Perform a Traditional Dance Around a Pole. Is this related to the May Pole?
Wash Day in Volendam, Holland (1906)
The Dutch Village of Volendam, in 1906.
Women Working and Caring for Children - Holland, 1906
A Young Mother
Fisherman Wearing Baggy Pants. Holland, 1906
Two Old Men Hanging Out
Two Dutch Children
A Washerwoman Putting the Clothes Out to Dry
Dutch Girls Skipping Along
A Shy Boy and Girl
This brings us to the end of our journey back in time to 1906 Holland.
