Strongman Eugen Sandow’s World Tour of 1904-1905

This book is about strongman and physical culture pioneer Eugen Sandow’s (1867–1925) encounter with colonial Afro-Asia at the turn of the twentieth century, and the fascinating legacy of that encounter. It reveals the significance of Sandow’s 17-month world tour of 1904–1905 (through South Africa, India, the Straits Settlements [Singapore and Malaysia], and China), with much attention devoted to the 8months he spent in India—the British Empire’s “Jewel in the Crown”. It highlights the wider empire, the globalization of physical culture (including yoga and ju-jitsu), and new notions of scientifically sculpted muscular male bodies, entertainment, and transnational or global connections and comparisons in the first decade of the twentieth century.