Cotton handkerchief with printed border in red and black. The border panels of this printed cotton handkerchief caricature the impact of British colonial policy on Africa. It was probably produced at the end of the 19th century, at a period when European colonial rule led to increasing social and political intervention in African societies. It illustrates the rescue of a group of slaves by a British military detachment and their subsequent ‘westernization’ through the introduction of European goods and commodities.