# Antwerp’s ‘human zoo’: Belgium confronts shame of colonial past

https://mins.news/en/item/15969

- France 24, 2026-08-07 08:57 UTC
- Culture
- Original: https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/focus/20260807-antwerp-human-zoo-belgium-confronts-shame-colonial-past

> During the 1894 World’s Fair in Antwerp, 144 Congolese people were forcibly taken to the Belgian city and displayed in the Congo Pavilion. The exhibition, described as a “human zoo”, ended with seven Congolese men dying from disease. More than a century later, the episode continues to haunt Belgium. It remains regarded as one of the darkest chapters in the country’s colonial history.

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- [Antwerp's 'human zoo': Belgium confronts the shame of its colonial past](https://mins.news/en/video/15994) — France 24 English, 2026-08-07