History of the World Expo

April Dykes
7月22日
読了時間: 5分

With the World Expo currently being held in Osaka, many of us are curious about expos. What is a World Expo? What is the purpose behind it? With this article, I hope to answer most, if not all, of those questions.

Did you know that Japan planned to host a World Expo before the 1970 Osaka Expo? It is called the “Phantom Expo”.

Let’s start with the basics: what is a World Expo? “World Expos, officially known as International Registered Exhibitions, are a global gathering of nations dedicated to finding solutions to pressing challenges of our time by offering a journey inside a universal theme through engaging and immersive activities” (Bureau International des Expositions).

To simplify that, an expo is a chance for nations to come together to solve global problems through inventions that are showcased at the expo during its 6-month period in a designated host country. There is a theme that the pavilions, occupied by countries or organizations, follow in their inventions or pavilion design. For more than 170 years, the expos have provided a global stage for inventions that have changed our way of life. You’ll be surprised to discover which inventions made their debut at an expo.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, countries were constantly competing to produce the best art and technological advancements. France began hosting industrial exhibitions after the French Revolution to showcase French goods, inspire the French people, and demonstrate its ability to compete internationally. Britain began sponsoring exhibitions to showcase tools and other “labor-saving mechanical devices that were based on the latest scientific inventions” (Findling).

These institutes and exhibitions inspired Sir Henry Cole to pose the same question the French had already asked themselves: ‘Should the exhibitions be international?’ While the French decided to keep their exhibitions national, Prince Albert decided that Britain should make theirs international; thus, Britain’s Great Exhibition was born. This international exhibition, grand in scale, and the introductory stage for many brilliant inventions and inventors, laid the foundation for the World Expos we see today.

With a royal commission, Prince Albert began planning the exhibition and searching for a designer to create the venue. After hosting a design competition and rejecting all applicants, Joseph Paxton, a greenhouse builder renowned for his exquisite iron and glass creations, including the Chatsworth conservatory and the Lily House for the Duke of Devonshire, submitted his design despite the deadline having passed. The commission fell in love with Paxton’s innovative design, which was later called the Crystal Palace. This design set the tone for the inventions that would be shown to the world at the exhibition. “ With more than 300,000 glass panes, the structure offered an immense and naturally-lit area of 92,000m2 for exhibitors to showcase their inventions, art, products and ideas” (Bureau International des Expositions).

“Inside the Crystal Palace, there were displays of over 100,000 objects, with 'every conceivable invention', on show, in the words of Queen Victoria. There were a total of 17,000 exhibitors, around half of whom came from the United Kingdom and its dependencies, with the other half coming from 24 countries around the world. The exhibits were grouped into four divisions: raw materials, machinery, manufactures, and fine arts (including architecture and sculpture, but not paintings)” (Bureau International des Expositions).

Among the inventions that debuted at this exposition were vulcanized rubber, a hydraulic press, and the latest locomotives. Britain's Great Exhibition inspired many world fairs throughout the world, but until the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) was created, there were no set regulations or standards. Every country would host them according to their wishes, and it often created issues for international visitors who were unfamiliar with local laws and customs.

According to the Bureau International des Expositions, 3 major problems occurred in the numerous world fairs and expos that countries were inspired to host after Britain’s Great Exposition. They felt that these problems “threatened the quality and image of World Expos:

A lack of transparency and information regarding national laws, regulations and taxations, which were said to sometimes favour the organizing country
A multiplication of Expos, as each country wanted to overdo the last event. This cost host and participant countries important sums of money.
The emergence of new types of Expos such as colonial, sectorial or much smaller expos that didn't match the nature of World Expos but were held under their name” (Bureau International des Expositions).

These issues didn’t go unnoticed by the international community, as Britain’s Commission General, the senior representative for Britain at the Expo 1867 Paris, issued a memorandum to bring a semblance of order to the way that the expos were run. The memorandum, which set size and time limits, a rotation system for who would be hosting, a clarification on the types of expos, and set a quality standard, was signed by Austria, Prussia, Italy, Russia, and the USA. As time passed and the number of world fairs and expos increased, more countries began to see that there was a need for a set of rules that would be followed across the board. At the Convention of 1928 on November 22, 1928, the Convention Relating to International Exhibitions was signed.

This convention was signed by 31 members and applied to all international exhibitions that met the following criteria:

Non-commercial
Lasted more than 3 weeks
Not a fine art exhibition

In addition to identifying different types of expos, the BIE was created to guarantee the ‘proper application of the convention’. Since its creation, the BIE has overseen 17 world expos, including the Osaka World Expo. While the initial goal of the expos was to showcase industrial progress, as the needs of the world changed, so did the goal of the expos. In 1972, education became a primary expo goal, and then in 1994, the BIE issued a resolution that further changed the scope of expos.

This resolution stated that moving forward, all expos had to address current issues as well as environmental protection challenges. This is why recent expos have themes like ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life’, ‘Nature’s Wisdom’,‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’, as well as this year’s theme of ‘Designing Future Society for Our Lives’. Since the 1988 World Expo, expos have been held every 5 years, and that tradition continues today.

Now that we’ve covered the history, let’s move on to the fun part: inventions that debuted at past conventions that have positively impacted society.

Flush toilet- Britain’s Great Exhibition 1851
Singer sewing machine- 1855 Paris Exposition
The first QWERTY format typewriter- 1876 Centennial Exposition
Dishwasher- Chicago World’s Fair 1893
Ferris wheel- Paris Exposition 1889
The Eiffel Tower- Paris Exposition 1889
The telephone (telegraphy)- Philadelphia World’s Fair
X-ray machine- 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis
Mobile phone prototype- World Expo 1970 Osaka
IMAX- World Expo 1970 Osaka
Color TV- 1964 World’s Fair in New York City’
Video calls- 1964 World’s Fair in New York
Touchscreen- Knoxville World’s Fair in 1982
The humanoid robot- Expo 2005 Aichi

The World Expos have such a rich history that broke down borders, gave inventors an international stage to debut innovations that changed the world for the better, and inspired the world to tackle world issues together. Without world expos, the world would look very different, and the distance between countries would likely be vast. Each inventor has a story behind their inventions and as well as the expos that brought those inventions to the stage. If you’re interested in curated invention lists, you can find a few through CNN and History. If you’re interested in seeing a list of world expos starting from 1851, you can find one through the virtual Dubai Expo website or the BIE website.