Sailors and Daughters: Early photography and the Indian Ocean

April 14, 2015 7:33 PM

Sailors and Daughters reveals the expansive maritime societies of Zanzibar, the east African coast, and beyond. From the 1840s, cameras traced the international migrations of traders, sailors, sons, and daughters through Indian Ocean ports, continuing trade that dates back over five millennia.
posted by bardophile (9 comments total)

Wow, these are amazing. Love the dhows. Love this guy's (Sultan KCMG) expression.
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:41 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Oh and the "daughters" page, wow.
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:44 PM on April 14, 2015

It's a nicely curated collection but I was a bit disappointed with the size considering the source of some of the photographs [• • •]
posted by unliteral at 8:13 PM on April 14, 2015

Now I feel churlish. They have it adequately (and more, Swahili poetry) covered on the resources page.
posted by unliteral at 8:19 PM on April 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Incredible. Thank you so much.
posted by rtha at 9:09 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

This is amazing. I am so going to use this for fantasy worldbuilding.
posted by destrius at 10:17 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

super impressive site. variety, depth, scholarship. thank you.
posted by TMezz at 12:11 AM on April 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Loved this.
posted by heatherann at 5:23 AM on April 15, 2015

This is fascinating.

My grandfather's grandmother was a photographer in California starting in the 1860s, and apparently traveled to China before settling in Arizona. Family lore has it that her film was lost when some outlaws burned down the the barn in which they were stored in retaliation against her sheriff son. This gives me an idea of what she might have seen!
posted by apricot at 6:19 AM on April 15, 2015 [2 favorites]