Vintage World

The world before the 21st century ◍ Europe ◍ North America ◍ South America ◍ Africa ◍ Asia ◍ Oceania

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Wilhelmina van Eede, a biracial or multiracial Surinamese girl who was photographed at the age of 17 in fashionable attire in a studio in Paramaribo, 1883.

Prince Roland Bonaparte Collection, Smithsonian.

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A full face studio portrait of a seated woman wearing numerous pendant ornaments from her braided hair and around her neck, also wearing a textile body cloth.

Sudan, 1877-1879

Richard Buchta 

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Street in Saint Pierre, Martinique, ca. 1848.

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Lydia Kamakaʻeha Pākī, the future Queen Liliuokalani, in her youth. Honolulu, Hawaii, 1850s.

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Edward James Royce, the fifth President of Liberia, ca. 1858.

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Norwegian Bride (1870 - 1920)

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Alberto Henschel, Brazil, ca. 1870.

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Family of Mountain Jews, Baku Guberniya, Kuba Uyezd, Quba, 1870-1880s. Photographer: Yermakov D.I.

“The men’s costume of the Mountain Jews is similar to that of their neighbouring Shiite Muslims, Tatars, and Tats. The women’s costume has retained more characteristic features. Interesting are decorations and amulets with prayers, necklaces often made from ancient beads of stone, or paste, or amber. All silver decorations are made for the Jews by the Lezghins, but to a special fashion.” (From A.A. Miller’s report on his trip to the Caucasus).

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Māori woman, Mrs. Rabone, in 1870.

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Portraits of Moroccans by Spanish artist José Tapiro y Baro (1830-1913) 

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Two female water bearers, Sardinia, Italy, ca 1910.

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Jewish (Sephardic) couple from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1910.

The first Jews came to Sarajevo, later called "Little Jerusalem", from the Iberian Peninsula in the early 16th century, bringing with them the Ladino language and Sephardi customs. A prosperous Jewish quarter with a synagogue was erected in 1577 under the pasha Siavush. Known to the Bosnians as tchifut-khan, the Jews themselves called it El Cortijo (the communal yard). Making up more than 20% of Sarajevo' total population, they maintained excellent relations with their Bosnian Christian and Muslim neighbors and held renowned positions as merchants, weavers, tailors, blacksmiths and hatchims (from the Arabic-Turkish Hakīm, "doctor"). With the Holocaust, this rich Jewish life and history tragically came to an end.

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Young ladies at the beach near Melbourne, Australia in 1910.

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Ajaccio, Corsica, 1910

Photo: Jacques Boyer

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Postcard featuring a liquorice-water (coco) dealer from Salonica (Thessaloniki), Greece, 1910s

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Togo, circa 1910

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The Chinese Pagoda in Maputo, Mozambique, built in 1903.

Jumma masjid at Rue da Gavea, Maputo, Mozambique. The first modest mosque was built at this site in 1876 when Maputo (then Lourenço Marques) was still a small village surrounded by marshes. In 1887, the current building was constructed in richly ornate Arabic style. It was remodeled in 1902.