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Theme: Industry of all Nations
Held in London from May 1 to October 15, 1851, the Great Exposition is generally regarded as the first in a series of World's Fairs.
Theme: Agriculture, Industry, and Art
Held in Paris from April 1 to November 3, 1867, the Exposition Universelle was attended by Napoleon III—the first president of France, from 1848 to 1852, and the last French monarch, from 1852 to 1870.
Theme: Culture and Education
Held in Vienna from May 1 to October 31, 1873, the fair also commemorated Franz Joseph I's 25th year as emperor.
Theme: Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine
Held in Philadelphia from May 10 to November 10, 1876, this was the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States and celebrated the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Theme: Arts, Manufacturing, Agriculture
Held in Melbourne from October 1, 1880 to April 30, 1881, this was the first official World's Fair in the Southern Hemisphere.
Theme: Fine and Industrial Arts
Held in Barcelona from April 8 to December 10, 1888, this was Spain's first international world's fair. One of the surviving monuments is the Neo-Mudéjar Arc de Triomf (triumphal arch), the fair's former gateway and today a city landmark.
Theme: French Revolution
Held in Paris from May 5 to October 31, 1889, the Exposition Universelle's lasting structural legacy is the Eiffel Tower, built especially for the event.
Theme: Discovery of America
Held in Chicago from May 1 to October 30, 1893, the fair celebrated the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the New World in 1492.
Theme: Transport
Held in Milan from April 28 to November 11, 1906, the International Commission on Occupational Health was founded at the Milan International (and is still active).
Theme: Inauguration of the Panama Canal
Held in San Francisco from February 20 to December 4, 1915, the exposition, while celebrating the completion of the Panama Canal, was also seen in the city as an opportunity to showcase its recovery from the 1906 earthquake.
Theme: Arts, Industry, and Sport
Held in Barcelona from May 20 to January 30, 1930, this was the second fair of its kind to be held in the city and this time highlighted the destination's further technological progress as well as increasing awareness abroad of modern Catalan industry.
Theme: Building the World of Tomorrow
Held from April 30, 1939 to October 27, 1940, at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, the event was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis' Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904.
Theme: A World View: A New Humanism
Held in Brussels from April 7 to October 19, 1958, this was the first major World Expo after World War II. The event is best known for the Atomium, a giant model of a unit cell of an iron crystal (each sphere representing an atom), which still stands today.
Theme: Centennial of Italian Unity
Held in Turin from May 1 to October 31, 1961, Expo 61 featured a monorail and aerial cableway, both of which proved very popular with visitors.
Theme: Man in the Space Age
Held in Seattle from April 21 to October 21, 1962, the construction of the futuristic Space Needle was commissioned for the event, which also provided the setting for the Elvis Presley movie 'It Happened at the World's Fair' (1963).
Theme: Progress and Harmony for Mankind
Held in Osaka from March 15 to September 13, 1970, this was the first world's fair to be held in Japan. Pictured is the Toshiba Pavilion covered by 1,500 tetra-shaped units. It's supposed to represent the "forest of the future."
Theme: The World of Rivers–Fresh water as a source of life
Held in New Orleans from May 12 to November 11, 1984, this world's fair has the dubious honor of being the only exposition to date to declare bankruptcy during its run.
Theme: Transportation and Communication: World in Motion-World in Touch
Held in Vancouver from May 2 to October 13, 1986, Expo 86 coincided with the city's centennial and to date is the last world fair to be hosted in North America.
Theme: The Oceans: A Heritage for the Future
Held in Lisbon from May 22 to September 30, 1998, the event's theme was chosen in part to commemorate 500 years of Portuguese discoveries. The site is now occupied by the city's highly successful Parque das Nações commercial and residential area.
Theme: Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life
Held in Milan from May 1 to October 31, 2015 (the second time the city had hosted a world's fair), the theme encompassed technology, innovation, culture, traditions, and creativity, and how they relate to food and diet.
See also: The most thrilling amusement parks in Europe.
Theme: Louisiana Purchase
Held in St. Louis from April 30 to December 1, 1904, and informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, this event is where the use of mustard as a hot dog condiment is said to have been first seen in the US.
Theme: The Independence among Industry and Scientific Research
Held in Chicago from May 27 to October 31, 1934, the fair showcased the city's centennial. Pictured is a ticket for the opening day ceremonies at Soldier Field.
Theme: Isolationism
Held in Omaha from June 1 to November 1, 1898, the idea of the exposition was to showcase the development of the entire West, stretching from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Coast. Pictured is the night illumination of the Grand Court.
Theme: Arts and Technology in Modern Life
Held in Paris from May 25 to November 25, 1937, the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne is noted for the Soviet pavilion and that of Nazi Germany, both of which faced each other (pictured). Hitler's architect, Albert Speer, and the Soviet architect, Boris Iofan, were awarded gold medals for their respective designs.
Theme: Better City, Better Life
Held in Shanghai from May 1 to October 31, 2010, this is currently the most expensive Expo in the history of the world's fairs. On October 16 2010, the expo set a single-day record of over 1.3 million visitors; by the end of the event, over 73 million people had visited—a record attendance!
Theme: The Era of Discovery
Held in Seville from April 20 to October 12, 1992, Expo 92 celebrated the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus reaching the Americas after departing from Seville's port. A theme park, Isla Mágica, now occupies the site.
Ever since the first "World Expo" was hosted at London's Crystal Palace in 1851, these grand international exhibitions have been held periodically around the globe as a way of showcasing the achievements of nations. Part cultural exchange, part country branding, a World's Fair, or exposition, is used as a platform to improve national image while encompassing universal themes that affect the full gamut of the human experience. Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, was due to host Expo 2020, but it has been postponed until 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But there's no need to wait! Instead, click through the following gallery and revisit the great world's fairs of the last 170 years or so, and discover some fun facts along the way.
Theme: Peace Through Understanding
Held for two seasons from April 22, 1964 to October 18, 1964 and April 21, 1965 to
October 17, 1965, at the same venue as the 1939–1940 fair, the theme was symbolized by a 12-story-high, stainless-steel model of the earth called the Unisphere designed as part of a water feature. It's still turning heads today.
Theme: Man and His World
Held in Montreal from April 27 to October 29, 1967, Expo 67 is considered to be the most successful World's Fair of the 20th century. The event set the single-day attendance record for a world's fair, with 569,500 visitors on its third day.
Theme: The Living Ocean and Coast
Held in Yeosu from May 12 to August 12, 2012, the event in South Korea received a positive reaction for addressing global issues like climate change and the protection of the ocean through story-telling events.
A nostalgic look at the most celebrated world's fairs and expositions
Revisit these amazing events in popular culture
TRAVEL Exposition
Ever since the first "World Expo" was hosted at London's Crystal Palace in 1851, these grand international exhibitions have been held periodically around the globe as a way of showcasing the achievements of nations. Part cultural exchange, part country branding, a World's Fair, or exposition, is used as a platform to improve national image while encompassing universal themes that affect the full gamut of the human experience. Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, was due to host Expo 2020, but it has been postponed until 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But there's no need to wait! Instead, click through the following gallery and revisit the great world's fairs of the last 170 years or so, and discover some fun facts along the way.