Omgevallen boom in het bos van Mayombe before 1892

This anonymous photograph, titled "Omgevallen boom in het bos van Mayombe," meaning "Fallen Tree in the Forest of Mayombe," captures a scene within the vast forests of the Congo. It comes from a time when European colonial powers sought to exploit the natural resources of the African continent, particularly its timber. This image, while seemingly a benign depiction of nature, implicitly speaks to the aggressive extraction of resources from the Congo, framing the landscape as a commodity for European markets. The fallen tree becomes a symbol of both the natural abundance of the region and its vulnerability to colonial exploitation. The felling of the tree is a gesture of dominance, an assertion of power over the land and its people. This photograph prompts us to consider the human and environmental costs of colonial expansion and consider how this history has shaped contemporary relationships between Africa and the West.