Everyday life on the sun-baked streets of 19th century North Africa are captured in some of the earliest colour photographs snapped by colonial tourists
Rare colour postcards have shed light on everyday life on the sun-baked streets of North Africa at the end of the 19th century.
The pictures, taken in 1899 by European tourists, offer a glimpse into what life was like in the region over 100 years ago.
The original photos were put through a Photocrom process - a technique used to apply realistic colour to black-and-white images which predate practical colour photography.
They show men at the mosque, children at school and women having tea in North Africa.
At the turn of the 19th century, countries such as Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia were popular destinations with the colonial classes of Britain and France.
And with this European tourists who sought exoticism, wanted to snap pictures of local people going about their daily lives to show people back home.
Among the newly emerged images are those showing a man riding a camel near the pyramids, men gathering around a performance by a snake charmer and men standing outside a Tunisian cathedral.
These photographs sit in a moment in time when the growth of industry, science and engineering were leading to an increasing number of privileged Europeans travelling abroad.
The 19th Century saw a number of European countries, including England, empires.
'The scramble for Africa', as it was termed, which saw the rapid European colonisation of Africa also took place at the start of the 19th Century.
By the end of the century Egypt was a British protectorate, while Algeria and Tunisia were European colonies and Morocco, though not yet a colony, had a heavy European presence.
One result of this was that by the end of the century European colonists had begun capturing photographic images from colonies across North Africa.
The Photochroms capture a particular moment in history before the First World War and rising protests by the colonised changed life in Africa.
A man rides a camel through the desert close to the Grand Pyramid in Egyptian capital Cairo in newly emerged pictures from North Africa from 1899
Arab men wearing traditional robes chat to each other as they file out of a mosque in the Tunisian capital Tunis after prayers
At the turn of the 19th century, countries such as Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia were popular destinations with the colonial classes of Britain and France. Pictured is a crowd gathering around a snake charmer in Tunis
The images were put through a Photocrom process - a technique used to apply realistic colour to black-and-white images which predate practical colour photography. Pictured are Moorish women taking tea in Algiers, Algeria
Children sit down at looms to weave fabric at the Luce Ben Aben, School of Arab Embroidery in Algiers in Algeria
Among the newly emerged images are those showing a man riding a camel near the pyramids, men gathering around a performance by a snake charmer and men standing outside a Tunisian cathedral, pictured
Colour postcards of life on the sun-baked streets of Tunisia at the end of the 19th Century have been revealed. Pictured is a market in Kairwan in northern Tunisia
The original pictures, from 1899, were put through a Photocrom process - a technique used to apply realistic colour to black-and-white images which predate practical colour photography. Pictured is a busy street in Kairwan in northern Tunisia
Invented by a Swiss printer in the 1880s, the process began with coating a tablet of lithographic limestone with a light-sensitive emulsion, then exposing it to sunlight under a photo negative for up to several hours. Pictured are Arabs in the capital Tunis
Following detailed notes on colour made by the original photographer, additional litho stones would be prepared for each tint to be used in the final color image often more than a dozen stones for a single postcard. Pictured is the drawing room of the Kasr-el-Said
When completed, the delicate process produced surprisingly lifelike color with far greater precision than traditional hand-colouring. Pictured is the bedchamber of the late Bey of Tunis, Kasr-el-Said
These images capture the ornate palaces and bustling markets of Tunisia in its first decades as a French protectorate. Pictured is a view of Kairwan from the minaret of the Great Mosque
This picture shows a group of men talking in the streets of Kairwan in 1899. These color postcards of the sun-baked streets and Moorish architecture of Tunisia were created using the Photochrom process
Men dressed in blue and white robes walk through the sun-kissed streets of Kairwan in the north of Tunisia
Street cafe: Pictured is what al-fresco dining looked liked in Kairwan, north Tunisia, at the end of the 19th Century
People are seen roaming the beautiful waterfront area of Sousse - which is around 100 miles south of the capital Tunis
Pictured is a view of the capital Tunis from the Paris Hotel - one of the luxury hotels in a grand, belle epoque-style building
A view of Marr Street in the capital city Tunis as men and women walk by, with some sitting on the pavement in the shade
Pictured are a family of Bedouin beggars in the Tunisian capital city. In those days Bedouin people were found in Middle Eastern deserts, especially in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Israel, Iraq, Syria, and Jordan
This picture shows men sitting outside a Moorish cafe in Tunis. Moors refers to the Muslim people Maghreb, North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and Malta during the Middle Ages. They were initially Berbers and Arabs from North Africa
Pictured is the hustling and bustling Bab Suika-Suker Square, in the capital city of Tunisia - Tunis
The throne room of Bardo Palace, Tunis. Built by the Hafsid dynasty in the 15th Century, the name Bardo comes from the Spanish word 'prado' meaning a garden. Bardo became a residence of the Tunis court in the 18th Century
Bardo became a political, intellectual and religious centre. The ancient beys' residence was the site of the Tunisian National Assembly headquarters and the National Museum opened there in 1882. Pictured is the tribunal chamber
Sick patients, waiting to receive treatment, sit on cushioned benches outside the Sadiky Hospital in the capital city of Tunisia - Tunis
Men try to do deals and grab a bargain at the Kasbah Market in Tunis. Today, Kasbah Square is a popular tourist attraction
Two men selling carpets and rugs smile for the camera at a bazaar in Tunis. Bazaars still exist in Tunisia today and are very popular with tourists looking to buy high quality goods for low prices
Pictured is the Barbouchi Freres store in the Arabic bazaar in Tunis. The shop, which sold ornaments, was run by the Barbouchi family in 1899
Children of a nomadic family are seen sitting on the grass outside their community's camp on the outskirts of Tunis
These colour postcards of the sun-baked streets and Moorish architecture of Tunisia were created using the Photochrom process. A group of men are pictured at Bab Aleona
A snake charmer - pretending to hypnotise a snake by playing an instrument called pungi - puts on a performance in Tunis
St Louis Cathedral in Carthage. Since 1993, the cathedral has been known as the 'Acropolium'. It is no longer used for worship, but instead hosts concerts of Tunisian and classical music
A procession, with men holding large flags, goes through the centre of Kairwan, in the north of Tunisia in 1899
A Bedouin woman, wearing grey robes held together by a gold chain, poses for a photograph in the capital city of Tunisia
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by Nick EM 162