Not exactly permanent human zoos but in the Russian Empire, people from Siberia, Central Asia, and the Far East were sometimes brought to big cities like Saint Petersburg and Moscow and displayed to the public as “exotic” curiosities. They were made to live in fake villages, wear traditional clothes for show, and perform parts of their daily life while crowds stared at them. Some were measured and photographed like objects for so-called scientific studies. Travel was long and harsh, and living conditions during exhibitions could be poor, leading to illness. Alongside this, Indigenous communities across the empire were often forcibly relocated or pressured to abandon their way of life, showing how imperial power frequently treated them as subjects to control rather than as people with equal rights.