The Colonial City: Empire,Authenticity,and Urban Imagination at the 1906 Marseille Colonial Exposition

This article examines the significance of the 1906 French Colonial Exposition in Marseille by situating it in its local, urban context. Rather than promoting solely national or imperial interests, local Marseille elites such as Jules Charles-Roux and Edouard Heckel sought to use the Colonial Exposition to demonstrate the central role played by their city in French trade and industry. To assert Marseille’s unique value, they emphasized the “authenticity” of the exposition, particularly by making reference to Marseille’s identification as “the colonial city” in France. By accentuating Marseille’s coloniality and its pivotal position in colonial networks, the organizers of the Exposition hoped to demonstrate the city’s national and imperial relevance to Paris and the rest of the nation. These conclusions reveal the important insights to be gained by relocating exhibitions in urban history.