Unique historical shots that will take you back in time (21 photos)

The 19th century is characterized by such phenomena as protectionism, industrialization, urbanization, and the rise of colonialism. On the other hand, the 19th century was marked by unprecedented achievements in culture and art, as well as technology and science.





Tailfer street sweeper, Rue Saint-Etienne. Street cleaning in Paris. France, 1865.

In 1864, engineer Tailfer invented a horse-drawn street sweeper for cleaning the streets of Paris.

It worked like this: the cross-motion of the chain made the brush rotate in the opposite direction from the rotation of the cart wheel, thereby sweeping the garbage into the container.



Children of the poor. East London, circa 1890.

Barefoot, friendly and holding hands. And at the end of the 19th century, every country in the world had its own poor.





On a walk. South Africa, late 19th century.

Now such walking rickshaws are already exotic, which can still be found in Madagascar cities.



Gold miners cross the pass, 1898.

A mountain pass through the Boundary Range on the border between the United States and Canada. The pass was used by Indians, and in the late 1890s it was the main route for prospectors to the Klondike gold rush.



A telephone exchange in Stockholm, late 19th century.

This tower operated in Sweden from 1897 to 1913 and connected more than 5,000 subscribers.



A street artist writing love letters writes a letter for a girl. Naples, Italy, 1870.



The Young Hortensia, stranded at St Michael's Mount. May 17, 1888, Marazion, Cornwall, England.

One of the rarest photographs of intercontinental sailing ships. The lifeboat Penzance is shown in the foreground. This sturdy brigantine survived until the next voyage.



Children on bicycles, early 20th century.

Three-wheeled adult bikes are generally underestimated! A cool thing and, most importantly, a safe form of transport, you won’t fall on them.



A tractor with a steam engine. Late 19th, early 20th century.

Pictured: Locomobile is a portable steam engine designed to drive stationary agricultural machinery, pumps, and electric generators.



Gold miners with their loot. Australia, 1872.

B. O. Holtermann (2nd left), Richard Ormsby Kerr (center), and Beyers (2nd right) with gold from the Star of Hope mine.



Suffragette Marie Høgh and a man swap clothes. Norway, 1895.



Nellie Brown, African-American cowgirl, 1880s.



Post Office engineers with Marconi equipment on Flat Holm Island in the Bristol Channel, May 1897.



A double exposure photograph of the French illusionist Henri Robin with a "ghost" in 1863.

Henri was a French illusionist born in Hazebrouck. In the early 1850s, he performed at Windsor Castle at the request of Queen Victoria. In 1861, he became the first illusionist to offer a full program of tricks at the Egyptian Hall in London.



Ablution fountain in the courtyard of a mosque. Constantinople, Turkey, 1855.

The fountain still stands today.



Giant telescope.

Optical telescope built by Irish astronomer William Parsons in 1845 at his family estate, Birr Castle. It was considered the largest in the world until 1917. With this instrument, Parsons was able to observe the spiral structure of galaxies.



A cab on the street of Victorian London. Late 19th century.



American inventor from Minnesota Albert Marshall patents the first refrigerator. August 8, 1899.

His invention was very energy-intensive, it ran on wood, coal and kerosene.



Portrait of a young Indian woman. Bombay, India, 1865.

Indian women have not changed much over the centuries.



East Coast Fishermen, circa 1886.