Abstract
In the 19th century, the Czech Lands were part of the Austrian and later Austro-Hungarian empire. The Czech revivalists considered it as a colony of sorts and were very critical about it.
Interestingly, some authors advocated and even used the colonial narrative that was frequent among the intellectuals in other parts of Europe. One of them was also Czech playwright and traveller Josef Štolba (1846-1930).
As a young man, in 1873, he stayed in North America and the Caribbean for one year. He intended to visit these parts of the World and present his eyewitness experience to the broader Czech public, for the first time in their native tongue.
As his fellow travellers were part of the Austrian aristocracy, he associated himself frequently with the American upper class. These encounters formed his opinions about issues like colonialism, social Darwinism, and slavery.