The Rhodes Colossus

For other uses, see Colossus of Rhodes (disambiguation).

The Rhodes Colossus
See adjacent text.
Cecil Rhodes striding from Cairo
to Cape Town
ArtistEdward Linley Sambourne, Punch
Year1892
SubjectCecil Rhodes
The Colossus of Rhodes, imagined in a 16th-century engraving by Martin Heemskerck, part of his series of the Seven Wonders of the World

The Rhodes Colossus is an editorial cartoon illustrated by English cartoonist Edward Linley Sambourne and published by Punch magazine in 1892. It alludes to the Scramble for Africa during the New Imperialism period, in which the European powers, beginning in 1884, expanded their colonial expansion in Africa by dividing the continent up amongst themselves.

The image depicts British business magnate Cecil Rhodes as a giant standing over the continent holding a telegraphic line, a reference to his desire to build a "Cape to Cairo" rail and telegraph line and connect most of the British colonies in Africa.[1] It is a visual pun based on the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

  1. ^ Crossette, Barbara (13 November 1983). "AN AFRICAN JOURNEY, FROM THE CAPE TO CAIRO (Published 1983)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 21 November 2020.