| This study describes the nineteen ethnic villages displayed within the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. The villages, as performance environments, were located primarily on the Midway Plaisance entertainment area of the fair and included a variety of dramatic, dance, folk and popular performances. There were also displays of arts, crafts and historical artifacts of the regions represented by the villages. The cultures represented by these villages were Germany, Austria, Ireland (two villages), Japan, China, India, Java, Samoa and other South Pacific Islands, Dahomey (contemporary Benin), Lapland, Turkey and the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, Persia, Algeria and Tunisia, Bedouin cultures of various Middle Eastern Nations, Aztec and other North American Indian tribes.;This investigation shows that a wide variety of intercultural performance forms were first seen in the United States during the 1893 Fair. The development of these displays of villages of foreign cultures as an entertainment form and their incorporation into international exhibitions of the late nineteenth century are discussed as the prototypes for such modern enterprises as theme parks, historical villages and the World Showcase complex of Epcot Center in Disney World. |
