Dahomey Village, on the Midway

Dahomey Village, on the Midway

This is the outside of Dahomey Village, a recreation of a West African village. The visitors, all white and dressed in modern Western clothes make a sharp contrast with the posters outside the village of half naked men with weapons. Also, the building is made of wood which symbolizes that the village is not modern and still uses logs to build walls for buildings. There is what appears to be a man standing on the platform above the village walls looking down at all the visitors. Perhaps he is a "guard" for the village.
There is a price for admission to enter the village which could explain why no villagers can be seen and why there is a wall around the village.

Official views of the World's Columbian Exposition

Press Chicago Photo-gravure Co.

1893

http://dcc.newberry.org/system/artifacts/65/original/Official_Views_Dahomey_Village.jpg