Why did tattooed people appear in European and American fairs and circuses during the 18th and 19th centuries?

During the 18th and 19th centuries, tattooed people appeared in European and American fairs and circuses primarily because they were viewed as exotic curiosities by Western audiences.1

Following the Age of Exploration, Europeans encountered indigenous peoples in the Americas and Polynesia who practiced tattooing, a tradition that had been largely absent in Europe since the rise of Christianity. These individuals, along with Europeans who had been tattooed while traveling abroad, were exhibited at fairs, circuses, and in sideshows to satisfy public fascination with the "exotic" and the unfamiliar.12

It is important to recognize that these exhibitions were often exploitative, as they frequently categorized individuals with unique physical traits—or those who deviated from perceived social norms—as "freaks" or "human curiosities". While some performers achieved a degree of professional success within the entertainment industry, many were displayed as objects of wonder or pathology rather than as individuals, reflecting the era's tendency to commodify human difference.2