Thomas Friedman’s best selling book “The World is Flat” was published in 2005. This cabinet card photograph demonstrates that the world has been flat for a number of centuries. This image features a Portuguese family and their maid, posing for their portrait in Bombay, India. It is likely that their maid is Indian, given their location at the time of the photograph. The family consists of parents and their three sons. Five first names are written on the reverse of the cabinet card, but they can not be listed, because of legibility and language barriers. The photograph is dated 1888. The photographer is Joseph D. Coutinho of Bombay, India.
PORTRAIT OF A PORTUGUESE FAMILY IN BOMBAY, INDIA (THE WORLD WAS FLAT EVEN BACK IN THE 1880’S)
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 