The Rhodes Colossus

The Rhodes Colossus
Cecil Rhodes striding from Cairo to Cape Town
Artist	Edward Linley Sambourne, Punch
Year	1892
Subject	Cecil Rhodes

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.