On a hot afternoon in Java in 1929, a man went around selling drinks, a woman and her child seemed interested in buying the drink. The man peddled his wares with wooden bearings and carried it around. The man and woman in the photo were barefoot, something that was common at that time.
1929 was the year when the Great Depression began, which impact was felt all over the world including Indonesia which was then still called the Dutch East Indies. Various natural products exported have experienced a sharp decline in demand, including rubber, sugar, coffee and tea. This decline led to the closure of various companies which led to unemployment and decreased people's living standards.
If you think globalization has only happened recently, you are wrong. The man and woman pictured also felt the impact of the collapse of the capital market in the United States which triggered the global economic crisis.
The photograph above is colorized, below is the original one.
(W. Robert Moore/National Geographic Society)
