In the early 1860s, Gustav Fritsch, a 25-year-old German medical doctor and anthropologist, travelled through southern Africa on a scientific expedition to study the ‘native races’, making great use of the new medium of photography. Fritsch’s portraits of southern African people are extraordinary images, bringing to life a whole gallery of both known and unknown figures with astonishing veracity. Retrieved from archives in Germany and reproduced here in their entirety for the first time, these photographs can now be reclaimed as part of our common cultural heritage. They are accompanied by several essays that describe Fritsch’s journey and scientific project and set them in the context of his racial theories and life’s work.