Life on the Imperial Frontier. Colonialism entangled the lives of Europeans, natives, and immigrants, as seen in this 1886 painting of the city of Durban in the British colony of South Africa, the site of a minor gold rush. Here European settlers view an exhibit of gold nuggets found in local mines, as a South Asian migrant laborer and an African Zulu, both dressed in their native clothing, pass by. (Photo © Tarker/The Bridgeman Art Library)