Imperial projections: The Royal Geographical Society of Antwerp and the magic lantern

Abstract

Between 1876 and World War II, Antwerp's business elite regularly convened at the lectures of the Société Royale de Géographie d'Anvers (SRGA, ‘Royal Geographical Society of Antwerp’). Similarly to other geographical societies emerging across Western Europe at the end of the nineteenth century, these lectures employed the magic lantern to project visual images from distant lands. The SRGA had close ties with King Leopold II of Belgium and his imperial pursuits. Nestled within the international port city of Antwerp, the society attracted an audience vital to Leopold II's colonial ambitions – the city's commercial and financial elite. This study reflects on knowledge production and dissemination within this scientific circle in a Belgian colonial context. Rather than academic enrichment, the evenings were leisure activities, fostering connections among the business elite. Against this backdrop, the article reflects on the concept of scientific legitimacy during a specific era of Belgium's colonial past.