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This old postcard was published by The Cairo Postcard Trust (CPT), apparently for Britisj people interested in their empire. . It was taken in 1917 showing Sudanese boys. Unfortunately the location is not indicated, but the boys look as if they are from the southern Sudan
A rreader writes, "Are you sure that the image shows Sudanese boys? I found this other description:
"Somali Soldiers" Young teenagers, in a studio setting, in Aden, between 1900-1910. It is quite similar to an other photos taken in Aden, located accross the Red Sea from Somalia."
The question is important because we need to know what degree of validity to assign to the captions on these and similar CPT postcards.
I do not know much about the CPT. Apparantly it was a fancy name for posrcard company founded in 1898 by Joseph Max Lichtenstern of Vienna. He had a Mouski-based laboratory/studio. Lichtenstern sold his company to Max Ruddman, another Central European. World War I complicated the ability of Austrians and Germans to do business in Egypt.
We note large numbers of images sold as postcards in Egypt and mailed home to England, Europe, and America by tourists. The scenes include both ethnographic studies as well as Egyptian scenery and landmarks. The CPT photographers seemed to have traveled all over Egypt. As to the image here. They may be Sudanese boys living in Cairo. Here we are not sure.
As to our readers comment, HBC is not expert on such matters, but the boys here do not look luke Somalis to me. As to Aden, I am not sure who was taking the photographs being sold there. Our reader accurately reports that CPT postcards were being sold in Aden with he caption changed to "Somali soldiers".
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